Dutch team records sensational World Cup win over South Africa

To the frustration of the average Dutch fan, the stadium in Dharamsala initially gave a desolate look. It was only after a few hours that it was possible to start. There were 43 overs available for both teams. Scott Edwards lost the toss and was sent in. Logan van Beek, who recovered from a hamstring injury, joined the team for Ryan Klein.

In the picturesque stadium at the foot of the imposing Dhauladhar Mountains, Vikram Singh did not get an inch of space and was the first to go: 22/1. After several beautiful cover drives, Max O'Dowd (18) was dismissed as well.

The Dutch initially did not escape the South African pressure. Engelbrecht (19) hit a hook shot straight to Jansen and Teja Nidamanuru (20) had a start, but did not make a big score. Thanks to Scott Edwards' partnerships of 28 with Van Beek and especially Van der Merwe (64 for the eighth wicket), the Orange team went from 112/6 and 140/7 to 204/8. Another 41 runs came for the ninth wicket thanks to Aryan Dutt (23 off nine balls!), who played a gem of an innings with three sixes. The big eye-catcher was of course Scott Edwards, who was unbeaten did with a monumental 78. 245/8/43 was the defendable end result.

South Africa innings

Ackermann drew first blood when he had Quinton de Kock (20) - who had just made centuries against Sri Lanka and Australia – caught behind. A huge boost which was followed by van der Merwe's very first ball with which he cleaned captain Bavuma: 40/2. Aiden Markram - who scored 175 runs in a previous ODI against the Netherlands - fell for just one run through a fantastic delivery from Paul van Meekeren. One over later, Van der Dussen hit a reverse sweep into the hands of Dutt at point. The wickets fell like dominoes at this stage: 44/4.

Heinrich Klaasen was immediately beaten twice by an unleashed Van Meekeren, but held on, and Klaasen/ Miller was now the partnership to be broken. Van Beek provided the much-desired breakthrough; the hook shot from Klaasen to Vikram Singh was a carbon copy of the Engelbrecht dismissal earlier in the day.

Bas de Leede, one of the team's best fielders, had a chance to catch Miller on 23. That didn't happen; instead of 103/6, it was now 107/5 as the ball trickled over the rope. Van Meekeren (2-40) however did clean up Miller's partner Marco Jansen with another beauty: 109/6.

Van Beek did the Netherlands a huge favour by dismissing Miller (43) (145/7). String-tight overs from Van der Merwe (2-34/9) had already increased the requested run rate to almost nine runs per over. Bas de Leede (2-36) got both Coetzee and Rabada. At 9/166 it took a long time before the last wicket fell. That honor went to Logan van Beek (3-60) as South Africa were all out for 207.

This was the men's first 50-over World Cup victory over a Test playing nation. Previously, only Namibia (2003) and Scotland (2007) were beaten. However, the Netherlands did beat a top country several times at a T20 World Cup, such as England (in 2009 and 2014) and… South Africa (in 2022).

Photo credit: ICC/Getty