World Cup, South Africa vs Netherlands: How Dutch scripted South Africa's doom

Head coach Ryan Cook & Co. exploited Proteas connect to fashion the remarkable upset

Three weeks ago, seven Netherlands batters were out for duck against Karnataka in a practice match. In the fifth over, the scorecard read 3/7, the three runs coming off extras. The question raised then was: will they be able to give a good account of themselves against the best in the sport?

On a rain-swept Tuesday night in Dharamsala, they answered the question, stunning the high-flying South African team for a historic 38-run victory. For Scott Edwards and his men, it has been a journey through hardships, hard work and sacrifice, but underlined by belief.



BATTLING BIG ODDS
As an associate country, their resources are limited, so much so that during a spin and batting camp in August in Bengaluru, head coach Ryan Cook was even counting the number of balls after every session, because of financial limitations. In fact, Cook is the only full-time employee among the coaching staff and the rest are temporary resources drawn from various places, including India from where they roped in their team doctor. The national federation also reached out to a few former internationals for the role of mentors, but they were unaffordable.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONNECT
One of the reasons the Dutch could sort out South Africa was the Proteas presence in the dressing room. Cook, who travelled to India as the South Africa U-19 coach in 2013, plotted the Dutch side's win against his home country. Having spent time at India's World Cup winning coach Gary Kirsten's academy in Cape Town, Cook picked Kirsten's brain to understand Indian conditions and added his knowledge of South African cricket to come up with the recipe for success.

Assistant coaches Ryan van Niekerk and Heino Kuhn are both South Africans, with the former having served as the chief cricket officer for Kirsten's academy in India. Then there is the inspirational 38-year-old Roelof van der Merwe, who made his debut for South Africa in 2009 before switching allegiance to the Netherlands in 2015. Also in the ranks is Colin Ackermann. The 32-year-old, who played for South Africa in the U-19 World Cup in 2010, made his debut for his adopted country against South Africa in 2021.


NO FIXTURES BEFORE WC
After qualifying for the World Cup in Harare in July, the team's first ODI fixture was the campaign opener against Pakistan on October 6. After qualifying, the Dutch team approached many national teams for matches, but were turned down mainly because of packed schedules and their reluctance to play the minnows in the run-up to the competition. Cook even made an appeal to teams requesting for practice at a post match press conference following his team's qualification.

"We reached out to other countries for some practice fixtures but not many were forthcoming. We were generously offered to come and train in Bengaluru and play against Karnataka. Apart from that we haven't played much," Cook pointed out. "Among the associate countries in Europe, it is a lot of little things put together. In India or South Africa, you have a lot of cricketers to choose from, but in the Netherlands, there are fewer players and clubs. The mentality that you can compete with the big nations was big for us," Cook added.

Back home, there is no frenzy about players or a buzz about their participation in the World Cup. As pacer Logan van Beek put it, "It is pleasantly surprising when people come up to us here for autographs and selfies. Back home, we go about work without attention. People barely recognise us on the streets," laughed the 33-year-old.

Cook, who came on board in May last year, believes the team's performance here is crucial for the game's future in the Netherlands.

"Hope a good performance here will translate into inspiring more youngsters," he said.

THE MEN WHO MATTEREDSCOTT EDWARDS
A year ago, at 26, Scott Edwards was handed the captaincy following the retirement of Pieter Seelaar. He had big shoes to fill and the wicketkeeper-batter led from the front with his 69-ball unbeaten 78, which was complemented with three crucial catches behind the stumps.

LOGAN VAN BEEK
Logan Van Beek's goals are driven more by purpose and passion than financial rewards. The New Zealand-born pacer's great grandfather Victor Guillen was a first-class cricketer and international umpire. His grandfather Simpson Guillen is among the very few cricketers to have played Test cricket for two countries - West Indies and New Zealand. Following in their footsteps, the allrounder wanted to make his presence in the team count and he did so with a defining three-wicket haul against the South Africans on Tuesday.

ROELOF VAN DER MERWE
At 38, Van der Merwe is an experienced cricketer, having started his international cricket journey with South Africa. Since 2021, he has been a key figure in the Dutch dugout and showcased his wares with an all-round performance (29 & 2/34).