It wasn’t just the result. It was stunning enough, yes.

It wasn’t just the margin, either. It was impressive enough, too.

But it was the manner in which the Netherlands beat South Africa at Dharamshala on Tuesday to author one of cricket World Cup’s biggest upsets of all time. The Dutchmen outplayed and out-thought the Proteas.

Look at the way the inspirational Netherlands captain Scott Edwards — after playing probably the innings of his life — marshalled his bowlers throughout the South African innings. Especially the way he used the spinners inside the first PowerPlay to good effect, making them bowl seven of the first eight overs. Or the way he moved the fielder squarer when Rassie van der Dussen came on strike and obliged, reverse-sweeping a catch.

Edwards got a fair bit of assistance, as the sheet of paper Max O’Dowd pulled out at the fall of each wicket suggested. Planning minutely — which may not be that difficult given the data available for the think tank in modern day cricket — is one thing, but the execution part is quite another.

South Africa surely wouldn’t have planned to give away 32 extras in 43 overs (the rain shaved off seven). In contrast, the Dutchmen gave away only eight; they couldn’t have afforded to be more generous, as they didn’t have in their bowling line-up the pedigree and experience of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi or Keshav Maharaj. What they had in plenty was discipline and an urge to prove that they belonged.

When they batted, they showed they had the resilience to overcome the top- and middle-order collapses: they had been reduced to 112 for six with only 16 overs remaining. Led by the captain’s unbeaten 69-ball 78, they knocked off 104 in the last nine overs. Then their bowlers destroyed the formidable South African batting — perhaps as strong as any in the competition – within the first 12 overs, at the end of which the score read 46 for four.

Seven overs later, when Heinrich Klaasen fell, South African hopes must have begun to fade. This wasn’t the first major victory for the Flying Dutchmen in an ODI this year. It was, in fact, the third within the last four months.

It was because of those previous wins that they could board the plane to India. In two memorable games at the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, they defeated the West Indies and Scotland.

Logan van Beek was the architect of the win against the former World champion. The West Indies scored 374 for six and the Netherlands responded with 374 for nine, with van Beek providing late fireworks (28 off 14) and getting out on the last ball.

But his request for redemption was granted by coach Ryan Cook. In the Super Over, van Beek hammered his good friend Jason Holder for 30, hitting every ball for a boundary, and then took both the West Indies wickets with his seam bowling.

That victory, the articulate van Beek told this correspondent on a rainy afternoon in Thiruvananthapuram early this month, meant a lot to the team. “It gave us the belief that we could go against the best in the world and we could win those key moments,” he said. “To take the match to the Super Over, we had to chase a big total. You have got to have that full belief, that full confidence to go out there and do it. I think that’s the environment that we have created right now… The guys that come in can feel that energy.”

van Beek was born in New Zealand, for which he played in the Under-19 World Cup. In fact, the last time he toured India, a year ago, he was playing for New Zealand-A in a Test and ODI series.

Like him there are others in the team who were born or grew up in other countries. Roelof van der Merwe, who struck a 19-ball 29 down the order and then removed Temba Bavuma and van der Dussen with his left-arm spin, had played for South Africa till 2010.

Edwards was born in Tonga and grew up in Australia, while Teja Nidamanuru, who scored a superb 111 off just 76 balls in that great chase against the West Indies in the Qualifier, and Vikramjit Singh were born in India. O’Dowd’s roots are in New Zealand. Vikramjit, though, learnt his cricket in the Netherlands, as did Aryan Dutt, another player of Indian origin.

“The diversity of the team is something that we celebrate every day,” Cook, the coach from a prominent cricket family of South Africa, told The Hindu at Thiruvananthapuram after a training session. “It is something that we really pride ourselves on, bringing that diverse group of people together.”

The team also boasts talented cricketers of Dutch origin such as Bas de Leede, the man who played a key role in the crucial Super Six game against Scotland in the Qualifier. It was, in fact, one of the finest all-round performances ever in ODI cricket.

de Leede, whose father Tim played in three World Cups, took five for 52 with his seam bowling and then smashed 123 off 92 balls to lead his team’s successful chase, which had to be completed inside 44 overs to overtake Scotland on net run-rate and thus qualify for the World Cup. He became only the fourth male cricketer in history to score a hundred and take five wickets in an ODI.

His heroics thus helped the Dutch return to the World Cup for the first time since 2011. The coach has played a significant role in it.

“It has been amazing to work with the guys,” Cook said. “They have been just fantastic in terms of their work rate. Their work ethic is incredible. They want to learn. They want to grow. They want to improve.”

They are improving, no doubt. The performance at Dharamshala is ample proof. They had shocked South Africa in the T20 World Cup at Adelaide last November.

In the 2014 edition of the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, they had advanced to the Super 10, in which they scored a famous win against England. They dismissed England for 88 after making 133 for five.

They have shown this year that they have the game to surprise their much stronger rivals in the ODI format. After playing in the ODI World Cups in 1996, 2003, 2007 and 2011, the side arrived in India looking to ruffle a few feathers, with the captain eyeing nothing less than a semifinal finish.

That may sound too ambitious, but then, you have to aim for the moon, if you want to hit a star. Shows like the one against South Africa could help cricket gain attention back home in the Netherlands, where the game has to compete with more popular sports like football and hockey.

“Hopefully the World Cup will provide the aspiration to people to make a career out of cricket,” Cook said. “So that’s what we are hoping for. I think that will take some time. But this is really a stepping stone in that direction.”

It is.

Netherlands captain Scott Edwards plays a shot during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match against South Africa at the HPCA Ground in Dharamshala on Tuesday October 17, 2023.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

The historic upset win over South Africa is not a fluke as Netherlands have the potential to beat any side in the ongoing World Cup if they play their best brand of cricket, asserted captain Scott Edwards.

The Dutch stunned South Africa by 38 runs in their round-robin league clash here on Tuesday, their first win against a Test playing nation in World Cup history. The match was reduced to 43-over-a-side affair due to rain.

“We go into every game with our plans and our ways that we’re going to try and win the game. For us it’s just about playing our best brand of cricket and we feel like if we play well enough on the day, we can beat any side,” Edwards said at the post-match press conference.

It was also Netherlands’ third 50-over World Cup win and first in 16 years. They recorded their maiden victory against Namibia in the 2003 edition in South Africa. Their second win was against Scotland in the 2007 edition in the West Indies.

Netherlands made it to the main tournament in India through the qualifying round and Edwards said his side did not come here just to make up numbers.

“Yeah, absolutely. I think after qualifying we were pretty quick to set our minds to what we wanted to do at this tournament. We weren’t coming here just to have fun and enjoy it. We’re here to win games of cricket and give ourselves the best chance to make the next stage,” Edwards said.

“South Africa is obviously a very strong side and they’ll be close to that semi-final spot. So, if we want to be amongst them, we’ve got to beat sides like this,” said the 27-year-old wicketkeeper.

The Dutch were reeling at 140 for seven in the 34th over before Edwards himself engineered a remarkable recovery with an unbeaten 78 off 69 balls to take his side to a fighting 245 for eight. They then shot South Africa out for 207 in 42.5 overs.

Asked what transpired between him and other batters when they were looking down the barrel, Edwards said, “As a group we pride ourselves on playing total cricket which is guys that are coming in at number 8, 9, 10 have just as much of the ability to put on those partnerships.

“But out there batting with them, it was just about giving ourselves a chance to go harder later in the innings. And luckily enough, Roelof (van der Merwe) and Aryan (Dutt) in there played some unbelievable cameos to get us to what we thought was probably a par score.”