RSA VS NED - 15th Match, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023

What more can I say? This is a red (read orange) letter day in the history of cricket. The Dutch were never meant to be meek pushovers but the valour and courage that they showed is going to be retold so many times in times to come whenever there is an adverse situation. The weather threatened to spell doom but even mother nature wasn't supposed to dampen the Dutch spirits today. The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective. The Dutch skipper saw it as an oppurtunity to shine and so did a few others alongwith him. The stars aligned for the Dutch side and they have ensured SA have tripped on the third hurdle. Many more hurdles to follow for both. But we are ready to dash off. It has been a massive pleasure to have covered such a historic game. This is our team of Abhinav Guha, Raju Peethala, Kumar Abhisekh Das and Venky signing off.

Scott Edwards | Netherlands captain: Extremely proud. We came in with high expectations. We had very good players. Happy to get the first win out of the way. Hopefully, few more wins. We do a fair bit of research. We come up with a few matchups. Some days it works and some days it doesn't. We were in decent positions in the first few games but then fell away. I am sure there will be plenty of fans staying up and watching this. Extremely happy with the win.

Temba Bavuma | South Africa captain: I think we had them at 112 for 6. We shouldn't have allowed them to go past 200. We dropped the ball there. Still we were confident with the chase. But they were able to extract some deficiencies in our batting department. We were clinical against Australia. We could have controlled the extras. The fielding wasn't up to the standard. Not the same standard we had against Australia. We need to have some conversations with the boys. You got to let the emotion to seep in. It will hurt. Our campaign is not over by any stretch of the imagination. That was a proper display from them. They put us under pressure throughout. Good luck to them.

Stats courtesy Deepu Narayanan

South Africa batting totals - last six ODIs
338/6 vs Aus
416/5 vs Aus
315/9 vs Aus
428/5 vs SL
311/7 vs Aus
207/10 vs Net

Netherlands wins in ODI World Cups
Beat Namibia by 64 runs, Bloemfontein, 2003
Beat Scotland by eight wkts, Basseterre, 2007
Beat South Africa by 38 runs, Dharamsala, 2023

This is the first instance of Netherlands beating a Full Member nation other than Zimbabwe and Ireland in ODIs. (They tied against West Indies in WC Qualifiers and beat them in a Super Over)

This is the first instance of South Africa losing an ODI against an Associate nation

Scott Edwards | Player of the Match: Over the last couple of games too many of our middle order batters were being out before the end of the game, so I wanted to take it deep and hope a couple of guys around me chip in and we are lucky enough to get that score in the end. He's (Roelof van der Merwe) good fun to bat with, he runs hard and hits into some strange areas which is good fun to watch from the other end. I just got him (Aryan Dutt) on strike and he was clearing the ropes, he's got the talent and it's all there to see tonight. Proud of the group. We came into the tournament where we wanted to have a chance in the semi-finals and if you wanna do that you gotta beat teams and South Africa are one of the favourites the way they are playing, so it is a good win for us.

What could SA have done better? When Netherlands were 82 for 5, SA could have closed the game off. But Edwards and van der Merwe had other ideas. The last few overs just went for plenty. Death bowling is a major concern for them. The top-order had been scoring massive runs for the SA unit but it was polished off soon today. Miller was expected to take the chase deep but even he faltered and that I guess was it for them in this chase. What the Dutch did well? Their never say die attitude. They ran Pakistan close but have managed to go the distance here. RVM once a former Protea just managed to be a thorn once again in the eyes of his former unit. He took a superb catch in the T20 WC to help Netherlands win that and today he was everywhere with bat as well as the ball.

23:02 Local Time, 17:32 GMT, 23:02 IST: Lightning has struck twice! SA have been shocked. Or is it the Orange fever which started off as an epidemic in Adelaide which has taken the form of a pandemic at Dharamsala? SA will find this loss tough to swallow. A loss like this ousted them from the T20 WC in 2022. They were one of the teams to beat coming into this on the back of wins against SL and Australia. They were on top as well. The ball was zooming around. But Edwards with RVM just turned the game around with some enterprising batting. The chase started for SA and derailed in the first 10 as they lost four wickets. The spin from the Dutch made life tough for the SA batters. They had them on a leash. Aryan Dutt started with a maiden. RVM then entered the scene with the ball and just like he did with the bat he turned the game on its head, literally as well as metaphorically. Credit to the skipper of Netherlands who played the role of the saviour with the bat and then was one step ahead with his moves on the field. This is a historic win as Netherlands for the first time have defeated a Test playing nation in a 50 Overs World Cup. Afghanistan dished the bitter pill to England a couple of nights ago and now Netherlands have hunted the Goliath in the form of SA.

van Beek to Maharaj, out Caught by Edwards!! Another upset! The Dutch have decimated the applecart of the SA unit once again. They win by 38 runs. Was banged in short, Maharaj backed away and managed to glove it to the keeper. Easy take for the keeper. The SA unit has been shocked here. Maharaj hung in there for long but not long enough or quick enough as SA just went through the motion in the last few overs. Maharaj c Edwards b van Beek 40(37) [4s-5 6s-1]

van Beek to Maharaj, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

van Beek to Maharaj, SIX, this will boost the NRR a little. Moves to 40. Good hit finally. Was a slower length delivery and Maharaj smashed it down the ground for a sixer. 39 off 2 balls. How many more can Maharaj get?

van Beek to Maharaj, FOUR, 200 up for the Proteas. Length delivery, takes the edge and goes over short third man for a four

van Beek to Maharaj, no run, another dot. Maharaj has tried hard but has managed to bridge the gap a little. Fuller ball, slower ball, angled in and Maharaj missed the heave

van Beek to Maharaj, no run, banged in short, Maharaj backs away and looks to steer it but misses

Bas de Leede to Ngidi, 2 runs, good sliding stop by the man at long-on. That was a length delivery and Ngidi drove it down the ground for the man at long-on to slide and stop it

Bas de Leede to Maharaj, 1 run, only a single. 51 needed now. 7 balls to go. Short ball, Maharaj looks to pull and manages to get it over short fine. Near yet so far...

Bas de Leede to Maharaj, no run, slower delivery well outside off, Maharaj throws his bat at it and misses

Dane Van Clisters: I m in Hague at the moment and i am so happy..This win might pav the way for young Dutch boys to look up for this game of cricket !!!!

Bas de Leede to Maharaj, 2 runs, 52 needed off 9 balls. Chips down the track and lofts it inside out to send it over cover. They get a brace