Edwards, lower order prop Netherlands to handy total
South Africa were taken aback by a riveting slog-overs assault from Netherlands led by skipper Scott Edwards with entertaining cameos from Roelof van der Merwe and Aryan Dutt. A whopping 104 runs came off the final nine overs of the innings as the Dutch ended with a more than handy score of 245 in the World Cup encounter at Dharamsala on Tuesday (October 17). Persistent showers meant that the game was reduced to 43-overs-a-side right after the toss was held. Given the overhead conditions and the expectation of inclement weather later on, South African skipper Temba Bavuma opted to bowl. He’d have opted for some movement as the surface had been under covers for a long time. Also, Dharamsala has historically favoured the quicks, which is why the Proteas got in the extra pacer in Gerald Coetzee in place of Tabraiz Shamsi. Despite a slightly wayward start, South Africa’s pacers vindicated their skipper’s decision and had the Dutch struggling at 50/4 in no time. Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen with their varying skill sets had Netherlands’ batters in a lot of trouble while Coetzee’s extra pace also proved to be a handful on the pacy deck. When Edwards walked to the middle to join Teja Nidamanuru, the score read 82/5. The duo was just about starting to put the innings on track before the latter became the victim of a searing Jansen yorker. Logan van Beek also got a start but he too wasn’t able to hang around for long with his skipper. At 140/7, you couldn’t have faulted South Africa for wishing to wrap up the innings quickly. Except that they couldn’t. van der Merwe is known across the globe for his ferocity on the field, be it with bat, ball or on the field. Not many will forget his incredible running catch in the 2022 T20 World Cup to dismiss David Miller. He came out today with that typical grit and threw the South African bowlers off-guard with his brand of unconventional hitting. Suddenly, the Proteas weren’t sure of where to bowl and the set Edwards also feasted on some lackluster death bowling. Their 64-run stand came off just 36 balls to completely reverse the momentum in Netherlands’ favour. van der Merwe’s cameo was cut short by a sharp Ngidi bouncer but more drama awaited South Africa in the form of Dutt who smoked three sixes in his nine-ball innings to give the perfect finishing kick to the innings. At the other end, Edwards kept doing his thing by finding regular boundaries and the cumulative effect of the trio’s efforts is a competitive total on the board for the Dutch. It may not be a daunting total but South Africa certainly have a game on their hands now as far as the chase is concerned. Brief scores: Netherlands 245/8 in 43 overs (Scott Edwards 78*, Roelof van der Merwe 29; Marco Jansen 2-27, Kagiso Rabada 2-56) vs South Africa
