Netherlands men shock South Africa

While most teams in Adelaide opt for batting first, South Africa preferred to field first. Stephan Myburgh can be very destructive in the first overs, but had not yet shown that in this World Cup. He did this time; playing his usual attacking game, he hit six fours in the first four overs. After the Powerplay (six overs) it was 48/0 and shortly after the openers reached the 50 partnership. Myburgh (37 off thirty balls) was eventually dismissed playing a slog sweep: 58/1. Aided by a big six from O'Dowd, it was 70/1 midway through the innings.

Tom Cooper (35 off 19 balls) also played offensively, was dropped by Markram, but also hit two sixes (one of which was a reverse sweep) and two fours. Just before reaching 100, Max O'Dowd (29 out of 31) was caught by Rabada.

Colin Ackermann initially struggled with his timing, but started to play his shots as the innings progressed. With a quickfire 12 off seven from Scott Edwards, the Dutch team looked like it would finish around the 150 mark. After three fours in the nineteenth over and two sixes by Ackermann (41 not out off 26) in the twentieth, however, the picture looked very different. Suddenly the Netherlands had put a challenging 158/4 on the scoreboard.

South Africa innings

Africa hopped to 22 quickly, but then Fred Klaassen caused an important breakthrough: Quinton de Kock was caught behind by Scott Edwards in the third over. Three overs later, Van Meekeren cleaned captain Bavuma and it was 39/2. When the dangerous Rilee Rossouw also went for 25 (ct O'Dowd b Glover) the runrate started to become a factor. Miller and Markram stepped up the pace, but Markram had to pay for it with his wicket – caught by Myburgh in the covers.

It was 91/4 in the thirteenth over and a sensation was looming, especially when Brandon Glover got both Miller and Parnell out in the sixteenth over. Miller's top edge seemed to whirl over short fine leg Van der Merwe. However, he went after it and took an impossible catch.

All this increased the required runrate to eleven runs per over - and more, after economical overs from Van Beek and De Leede. The Netherlands could even afford a dropped catch. South Africa stumbled to 145/8. Four Dutch bowlers took wickets, of whom Brandon Glover had the unlikely figures 3-9. However, the Player of the Match Award went to Colin Ackermann.

Pakistan was happy with the Dutch win, because the door was now wide open to a semi-final spot. It seized this opportunity by defeating Bangladesh. An additional advantage for the Dutch is that it finishes fourth in the group and thus qualifies for the next World Cup, provided that India wins against Zimbabwe later today (Sunday).

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