After South Africa Surprise, Netherlands Dreaming Of Cricket World Cup 2023 Semi-Final
Following his side’s 38-run win over South Africa in their ICC Cricket World Cup match, Netherlands captain Scott Edwards said that he is proud of the team for their victory and came into the tournament aiming for a shot at the semifinals.
A three-wicket haul by Logan van Beek, a half-century by skipper Scott Edwards and an all-round show by Roelof van der Merwe helped the Netherlands beat South Africa at Dharamshala, two days after Afghanistan caused an upset by defeating England.
“Hopefully a few more [wins] to come. Over the last couple of games, too many of our middle-order batters were being out before the end of the game, so I wanted to take it deep and hope a couple of guys around me chip in and we were lucky enough to get that score in the end. Roelof van der Merwe is good fun to bat with, he runs hard and hits into some strange areas which is good fun to watch from the other end. I just got him (Aryan Dutt) on strike and he was clearing the ropes, he has got the talent and it is all there to see tonight. I am proud of the group. We came into the tournament where we wanted to have a chance in the semi-finals and if you wanna do that you gotta beat teams and South Africa is one of the favourites the way they are playing, so it is a good win for us,” said Edwards in the post-match presentation.
Coming to the match, South Africa put Netherlands to bat first, reducing them to 112/6. But knocks from Edwards and his quickfire partnerships with Roelef van der Merwe (29 in 19 balls with three fours and a six) and Aryan Dutt (23 in nine balls with three sixes) helped Netherlands reach a total of 245/8 in 43 overs. The match was cut to 43 overs per side due to rain.
Marco Jansen (2/28), Kagiso Rabada (2/56) and Lungi Ngidi (2/56) were the main strikers in South African bowling. Gerald Coetzee and Keshav Maharaj got a wicket each.
In the chase of 246, Proteas lost wickets at regular intervals. Despite fighting knocks from David Miller (43 in 52 balls, with four boundaries and a six), Keshav Maharaj (40 in 37 balls with five fours and a six), Heinrich Klaasen (28) and Gerald Coetzee (22) in the middle/lower order, SA was bundled out for 207 in 42.5 overs.
Logan Van Beek (3/60) was the pick of the bowlers for the Netherlands. Roelef van der Merwe, Bas De Leede and Paul Van Meekeran also took two wickets. Colin Ackermann got one wicket.
South Africa are now at the third spot with two wins and a loss and four points. The Netherlands are ninth with a win, two losses.