It’s raining upsets in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2023 and this time, high-flying South Africa have been put in their place by the Netherlands after an exhilarating match. Indian fans will be eyeing the result with a big grin as this would mean India remain top of the table with six points accumulated by winning three matches out of three played in the tournament.
Today’s shocker comes after Afghanistan defeated defending champions England in their World Cup encounter in a result that will reverberate for some time.
The Dutchmen had a start to forget in the match after being put to bat by South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma, who won the toss at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala.
Netherlands lost wickets at regular intervals as the South African bowling attack took their toll on them. At one point, they were down to 82 for the loss of five wickets with just 20 overs bowled out of the 43 permitted in a rain-curtailed match.
However, they recovered spectacularly from that position buoyed by the spirited knock of captain Scott Edwards who remained unbeaten and forged important partnerships with tailenders to drag the team to a respectable total of 245 for the loss of eight wickets. He remained unbeaten on 78 runs off 69 balls.
In response, South African batters, who had lighted up the tournament up until this point, failed miserably in front of the Dutchmen. The Netherlands bowlers found some wind under their feet knowing they had a grasp on the game and went for it.
South Africa suffered a collapse for the history books as they were reduced to 145 for seven with the last of their batters in David Miller sent home. Miller top scored with 43 runs as the top order capitulated miserably. Their batting performance was so poor in front of the bowling masterclass that Netherlands put on display, that Keshav Maharaj remained the second highest run scorer of their innings.
In the end, South Africa fell to a 38-run defeat at the hands of the Dutchmen in the second giant-killing game of the tournament already!
