One of the reasons why the Netherlands squad is so relatively young is that many quit the sport when they get better paying jobs. Most of the Netherlands players are not even a professional cricketers. The cricket season in the Netherlands ends in September; they had to wait until March to play again. The Dutch cricketers either go abroad to play in the local leagues or do other jobs to make end meets.
On Sunday, they needed a win against mighty South Africa to qualify directly for the next T20 World Cup, and guess what they produced one of the upsets of the tournament. The Netherlands stunned South Africa by 13 runs to register probably one of their biggest win.
For South Africa, their story in the World Cup continues as they choked again.
Turning point
The turning point of the match was a piece of sheer on-field brilliance by a 37-year-old veteran Roelof van der Merwe, took the catch of the tournament, without sunglasses, under the white sky, to dismiss the dangerman, David Miller. van der Merwe, who has represented South Africa in the T20 World Cups in 2009 and 2010, was placed at short fine leg, and turned around and started running the moment the ball took off Miller’s top edge, kept on running with an eye on the ball, and took an excellent tumbling catch to his left.
Ackermann’s show
Colin Ackermann’s 26-ball 41 helped the Netherlands to reach a respectable total with his lusty strokes down the order. His knock was studded with three fours and two sixes. In the last three overs, Netherlands collected 35 runs. With the ball in hand, Ackerman choked the scoring rate of the Proteas with his offies. However, he failed to pick any wickets and gave only 16 runs in three overs.
Flying start for the Dutch
Stephan Myburgh (37) and Max O’Dowd (29) gave them a decent start adding 58 runs for the opening stand. Tom Cooper made 35 to keep the momentum going. Skipper Scott Edwards played a couple of reverse ramp shots against Kagiso Rabada to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Impressive Nortje
Anrich Nortje produced the most economical bowling spell in the Super 12 stage. But he never got enough support from other pacers as Rabada, Ngidi and Parnell went for runs.
South Africa choke again
Defending the target, Netherlands bowlers rose to the occasion and restricted South Africa to 145 for 8 with Brandon Glover (3/9) scalping three batters. Rilee Rossouw top-scored for South Africa with a 25-run knock.
Brief Scores
Netherlands: 158 for 4 in 20 overs (Colin Ackermann 41 not out; Keshav Maharaj 2/27).
South Africa: 145 for 8 in 20 overs (Rilee Rossouw 25; Brandon Glover 3/9).
