World Cup points table: South Africa’s net run-rate has been affected after their first defeat.© AFP
South Africa’s march to the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup came to a rude halt as the country slumped to defeat against the Netherlands. Going into the Cricket World Cup match, hardly anyone expected the result, but the Dutch team remained confident that they would pull off a major upset against the world’s third ODI team, South Africa. The Netherlands recorded a good total of 245/8 in a rain-shortened match, with the number of overs reduced to 43 per team. In response, South Africa could never make a good stand and managed just 207 runs in 42.5 overs.
Before the match, South Africa was ranked third with a net run-rate of +2,360. After the loss, their net run rate was lowered to +1,385, although their position did not change. The Netherlands, so far the last team in the 10-team rankings, is currently ninth. India continues to lead the rankings.
Scott Edwards played a captain’s knock and led the Netherlands’ remarkable recovery to take the Netherlands to 245 for eight in a rain-affected match against South Africa at the World Cup on Tuesday.
Intermittent rain added chill to the mountain air and reduced the match to 43-over a side match.
South Africa predictably opted to bowl in the overcast sky and their bunch of formidable pacers, including Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi, made the most of the surface.
However, their death overs bowling left a lot to be desired as Netherlands plundered 68 runs in the last five overs. The Netherlands were struggling at 140 for seven in the 34th over.
Edwards (78 off 69) shared an entertaining partnership of 64 runs off 37 balls with Roelof van der Merwe (29 off 19) towards the end of the innings to take the team past the 200 mark.
With PTI inputs
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