Fresh snow blankets the Dhauladhar Range, creating a breathtaking backdrop to the picturesque Dharamsala stadium; but on Tuesday, the serenity of the white made way for the resplendence of orange.
October 17, 2023 – Match 15 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 – will be etched in the annals of Dutch cricket as a historic “Red Letter Day.” … rather the “Orange Letter day”. In their fifth 50-over World Cup appearance, the Dutch managed their first win over a full nation member, and not just a win; but an emphatic victory – beating South Africa by 38 runs
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“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
An underdog triumph always makes for a great story; but for the Netherlands, who have been through that ‘Associate’ grind for far too long, cannot be considered underdogs. Yes, of course, they are the only associate member of the ICC to participate in the 10-team ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, but the way they managed to run Pakistan close in their opening encounter and then came up with a decent enough performance against New Zealand; you had a sense that the Dutch are not here to only compete; but to win.
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They had Pakistan under the pump with both bat and ball early on, but could not keep the pressure on. Against New Zealand, the Netherlands ended up playing catch-up for most of the game, yet, they were never out of sight.
And in their third attempt, win they did — with an all-mighty scrap. The Netherlands showed they had the grit to fight and they prevailed. And it is not that the Dutch somehow managed to get one up over the Proteas. Ahead of their first match against Pakistan, Bas de Leede, their premium allrounder was asked, what is the team’s goal in the tournament?
He had said: “We want to make the semi-finals. If we want to get there, we’ve got to win four or five games. So, we’d have to take down one of the big teams.”
And today they took down that one big team. South Africa of all teams has their twisted history with World Cups. But, Tuesday was not about any unforeseen twist. It was about individuals coming together, led by their skipper Scott Edwards. Pushed to the brink they refused to surrender and much like Afghanistan a couple of days back, showed that the size of the fight they had in them was much, much more than what South Africa would have expected.
The Netherlands had got the Proteas number in the T20 World Cup just a year back too, but this is different. An unforgiving format to those who do not play often. Your frailties — be it with the bat, ball or in the field get exposed. Even if you are on top for a while in the game, there is always that margin for error and second chances. But, today the Netherlands were not going to give anyone any second chances, and when they got a second chance of their own, they seized it.
Early in the piece, Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee had pummelled the Dutch into submission. At 82/5, it did seem the Dharamsala crowd braved the weather to just witness a dampener. Edwards though stood up with a counter-attacking 78 to give Netherlands the hope. But he could not have done it alone, in Roelof Van de Merwe, Edwards had an old warhorse, who refused to give up. His 19-ball 29 assault had provided Netherlands and Edwards the much-needed impetus to take the score to the vicinity of 240. Aryan Dutt’s 9-ball 23 proved the icing on the cake. But it was Edwards, a Tongan-born, Australian-bred – who held his nerve and played probably the best knock of his career so far handing his team a chance at creating history.
And it is up to the bowlers. Colin Ackermann, Van der Merwe, again and Paul Van Meekeren polished off the top three. With a bit of zip in the air, and moisture around with the weather conditions, Logan Van Beek and Meekeren found movement off the air and they ensured they stuck to what they knew and did not allow the Proteas batter to get going.
Everyone pitched in with their part and when David Miller threatened to take the game away, it was Van Beek, Netherlands’ most experienced pacer and the highest wicket-taker among active players who came up with probably the delivery of the match to knock over Miller, with that the Dutch knew, delight is not too far away.
Appearing for the first time since 2011, the Dutch did the unthinkable, only days after Afghanistan – once an associate nation themselves in the recent past – stunned World Champions England. And went you think of it, these upsets are not upsets anymore, let’s give credit where it is due. The Dutch today outplayed South Africa, plain and simple.
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