In yet another major setback of the ongoing ICC World Cup, Netherlands stunned South Africa by 38 runs in the 15th match of the tournament that was played in Dharamshala on Tuesday. Chasing the score of 245 runs by the Netherlands, South Africa were bowled out for 207 runs.
None of the South African batsmen were able to stay at the crease for long and take the team out of trouble, as the Netherlands bowlers Logan Van Beek, Paul van Meekeren, Roelef van der Merve and Bas de Leede ran through the South African batting line up.
David Miller top scored for South Africa
David Miller was the top scorer for South Africa with 43 runs off 52 deliveries. His innings had four boundaries and a six. Keshav Mahararaj played a crucial role in the end with 40 runs to take South Africa close to the target. Apart from them, the only notable contributions came from Heinrich Klaasen, who scored 28 runs from as many deliveries, which included four boundaries. None of the other batsmen were able to stay at the crease as South African wickets fell at regular intervals.
Earlier, asked to bat first by South African skipper Temba Bavuma at the toss, Netherlands were able to set a competitive target of 245 runs on the board. Skipper Scott Edwards led from the front, scoring 78 runs off 69 deliveries, which included 10 boundaries and a six.
Wonderful knock by Scott Edward
Practically, he alone steered Netherlands to competitive runs as the next highest score came from Roelof van der Merve, who contributed 29 runs from 19 balls, which included one six. Aryan Dutt also played an important role with the bat with 23 runs off 9 deliveries that included three mammoth sixes. Notably, South Africa also bowled 32 extras that helped Netherlands total.
To be fair to South Africa, the team was not in the mood to let go of easily, as the lower order was trying its best to get closer to the target and possibly take the team to victory, but it was simply Netherlands day today.
Netherlands victory came just two days after Afghanistan thrashed defending champions England by 69 runs.