In a remarkable turn of events, the Netherlands achieved a memorable upset, defeating the South African team led by Temba Bavuma with a 38-run victory in Dharamsala on October 17.
The Dutch side meticulously prepared for the match, devising specific strategies for dealing with individual South African batsmen, ultimately gaining the upper hand. After their historic win, Dutch captain Scott Edwards disclosed the contents of a frequently consulted piece of paper, which seemed to correlate with taking wickets.
The wicketkeeper-batsman, scoring an unbeaten 78 off 69 balls, played a pivotal role in helping the Netherlands post a total of 245/8. He received valuable support from Roelof Van der Merwe and Aryan Dutt during the slog overs. As a result of his outstanding performance, Edwards was named the ‘Player of the match.’
“We do a fair bit of research. We come up with a few matchups. Some days it works and some days it doesn’t,” Edwards revealed during the post-match presentation.
In recent games, the Netherlands had experienced difficulties with the middle-order batsmen getting dismissed prematurely. Consequently, Edwards made it his priority to anchor the innings and hoped for contributions from the players around him.
He praised his teammates, noting, “Batting with Van der Merwe is a joy; he combines hard running with unconventional shot placement, making it entertaining for me at the other end. I simply rotated the strike for Aryan Dutt, and he cleared the ropes consistently; his talent was on full display tonight.”
Despite their underdog status, Edwards remains optimistic about the Netherlands’ chances of reaching the semi-finals.
As of now, the Netherlands occupies the eighth position in the points table, surpassing five-time World Champions Australia and Sri Lanka. Their next challenge awaits them in the form of a match against Sri Lanka at Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on October 21.
