The Netherlands on Tuesday defeated mighty South Africa by 38 runs at the Cricket World Cup as the European outsiders humiliated the Proteas for the second time in a year.
Chasing 246 to win from a rain-reduced 43 overs after Dutch captain Scott Edwards made a crucial 78 not out, South Africa, one of the tournament favorites, were bowled out for 207 in the shadow of the Himalayas.
In November last year, the Dutch sent South Africa crashing out of the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia.
Photo: AFP
The victory was the World Cup’s second major shock in three days after Afghanistan defeated defending champions England on Sunday.
“When we came into the tournament we wanted to have a chance at playing [in the] semi-finals and if you want to do that you’ve got to beat teams,” Edwards said. “Obviously South Africa are probably one of the favorites the way they are playing so it is a big win for us.”
South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma said it was a painful defeat.
“There is no point trying to forget what happened. It will hurt and it should hurt. Tomorrow we’ll get back on the journey, our campaign is by no means over,” said Bavuma, whose indisciplined side earlier conceded 32 extras, including 21 wides.
It was the first win for the Netherlands against a Test-playing nation at the 50-over World Cup, and Edwards said his team have a shot at making the semi-finals.
“We feel like if we play well enough on the day, we can beat any side,” he told reporters after the win.
Some Dutch media yesterday hailed the victory as the “Miracle of Dharamsala.”
Former coach Ryan Campbell had predicted the 38-run win over one of the tournament favorites would “make the front pages” in the Netherlands, not one of the traditional cricketing heartlands.
However, there was only a brief mention in the sports sections in most of the main printed dailies, the focus firmly on the Oranje European Championship qualifier win over Greece in the soccer-mad country.
Nevertheless, De Telegraaf devoted an entire page to the “legendary win” in a piece headlined “Miracle of Dharamsala,” in which the paper noted the eclectic makeup of the Dutch side.
“It’s funny, the names of the South African players (Jansse, Van der Dussen, Klaasen and De Kock) ... sounded more Dutch than the Dutch team (O’Dowd, Nidamanuru, Edwards and Dutt),” the daily wrote.
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