Netherlands vs South africa | Match 40 | Shock defeat ends South Africa's World Cup
That sinking feeling! The all-too-familiar 'c' thing, which will reverberate - again - for a while to come. Furthermore, the sadness, took out of one more World Cup but having everything under their control…
South Africa should manage all of that and more after their shock run in Adelaide finished in one more misfortune, this one maybe greater than anything they have endured in recent times on the cricket field.
In any case, Netherlands, they will celebrate long and hard in the wake of prearranging a seminal moment in their cricket history. On the off chance that capability into the Super 12s was big, victory over one of the pre-tournament favourites on Sunday could be significantly greater, for a main four completion in the group will guarantee them programmed capability for the next edition of the T20 World Cup, in 2024.
Alongside Netherlands, all of Pakistan and Bangladesh would have celebrated, as well. The match between those two teams later in the early afternoon - which might have been dead had South Africa won - was transformed into a knockout challenge to decide the second semi-finalists from Group 1, since Netherlands' win also meant India qualified for the final four.
Unexpectedly, it was Johannesburg-born Roelof van der Merwe, who represented South Africa in two editions of the tournament [2009 and 2010], who put a dagger in South African hearts with a mind boggling catch to turn the game around.
With South Africa requiring 47 off 29, van der Merwe ran almost 20 yards back, from short fine-leg towards square leg, to hook on to a catch from David Miller off Brandon Glover. Taking care of all that ground, while looking straight into the sun from the start, he put in a jump as he pulled off a blinder with the ball swirling in the air.
The man who had been standing in the way of Netherlands and an unlikely win was gone. What followed was mayhem and magic in equal measure. South Africa imploded, Netherlands swelled with passion and pride. It was a victory to savour for the team in orange, a bitter pill to swallow for the men in green.
The Myburgh support at the top
The Netherlands' charge begun of Stephan Myburgh's big-hitting up front. In the second over, he hit Kagiso Rabada on the up two times to the extra-cover boundary to make his intentions clear. Throughout the span of the next 20 minutes, he gave a fine exhibition of aggressive batting, seemingly unperturbed by the reputation of Rabada and Anrich Nortje, as he pulled, whipped, cut and drove his way to seven boundaries. At 56 for no loss in eight overs, he had set a firm base. Even as Myburgh went hell for leather, Max O'Dowd was happy to turn the strike over and play the perfect second foil.
Cooper wrenches it up
Netherlands lost Myburgh to a slog sweep, however Tom Cooper, with all his experience of playing in the BBL, kept up the rhythm. Let off on 11 whenever Aiden Markram put down a tough return chance, Cooper used the shorter boundaries to his advantage as he punished Markram and Rabada. Yet, it wasn't simply the force that he benefitted from. With fields set for the shot, Cooper turn around cleared Keshav Maharaj for six over deep point where there were no boundary riders. He was starting to look dangerous, yet South Africa hit back with the wickets of O'Dowd and him one after another.
The big finish
Going into the last four overs, Netherlands were in a log jam with Colin Ackermann battling for timing. He was on 9 off 11 and just needed to find his hitting range rapidly. The wickets of Cooper and Bas de Leede didn't help. In any case, Netherlands figured out how to wrest back the energy in the nineteenth over when Rabada was hit for three fours, including a neat reverse scoop by Scott Edwards. Ackermann then, at that point, kicked up the ideal wrap up by muscling two sixes in the last over, bowled by Wayne Parnell, to get done with 41 not out off 26. The last two overs brought Netherlands 31 and all the momentum heading into the break.
Match Summary
Netherlands 158 for 4 (Ackermann 41*, Myburgh 37, Cooper 35, Maharaj 2-27) beat South Africa 145 for 8 (Rossouw 25, Glover 3-9, Klaassen 2-20, de Leede 2-25) by 13 runs.
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