South Africa beat the Netherlands by four wickets in a low-scoring T20 World Cup 2024 thriller in New York on Saturday (June 8).
In a nail-biting contest on the two-paced New York wicket, South Africa lost early wickets, but David Miller kept his nerve to take the Proteas over the line. He finished unbeaten with 51-ball 59 to his name. In the process, South Africa also addressed their recent bogeyman at World Cups, having lost to the Dutch in the 2022 T20 World Cup and at the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Chasing a paltry 103-run target, South Africa had a nightmare start. They lost Quinton de Kock for a diamond duck off the very first ball after a run-up mixup with Reeza Hendricks, who soon followed his opening partner back to the dugout in the second over, managing just three runs off 10 balls.
Vivian Kingma made further inroads into the Proteas batting line-up, sending captain Aiden Markram packing for a duck. Three for three soon became 12-4 as Kingma struck again in the fifth over, dismissing the big fish Heinrich Klaasen for four off seven.
The run rate was not a concern for the batting team, but they needed someone to arrest the slip amid the chaos. In a period of consolidation, Tristan Stubbs and Miller put on a 65-run stand before Stubbs was dismissed in the 17th over for 33 off 37. With South Africa needing 25 off 18 balls, Miller dispatched Logan van Beek for a six off the first ball of the 18th over before Marco Jansen (3 off 5) was bowled off its final ball. Like before, Miller brought the equation down to 10 off 11 by hitting the first ball for a six in the 19th over. A four on the fourth ball off Miller’s bat against Bas de Leede, followed by a six over deep-square leg, sealed the match for South Africa with seven balls remaining.
Clutch. 👊
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) June 8, 2024
𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 was in full swing in NYC! #WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #OutOfThisWorld #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/VEJxNtGoWw
Another 20-30 runs extra could have made it difficult for South Africa if a collective bowling performance, spearheaded by Ottniel Baartman’s 4-11, hadn’t restricted the Dutch to 103-9.
South Africa have won two out of two, having beaten Sri Lanka earlier in their tournament opener and are currently topping the Group D standings.
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