• Source:JND
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Netherlands scripted history in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023 by defeating South Africa at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Tuesday. The Dutch team registered their second win in the history of the tournament which uplifted their morale for the remainder of the competition.

Netherlands outclassed South Africa, who were cruising on with two straight wins against Sri Lanka and Australia, by 38 runs in a 43 overs per side rain-curtailed affair.

Netherlands captain Scott Edwards' 78-run unbeaten knock-off 69 balls played a huge role as they set a 246-run target for South Africa to win the match.

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Logan van Beek picked three wickets while Paul van Meekeren, Bas de Leede and Roelof van der Merwe scalped two dismissals each to bundle out South Africa for 207/10 in 42.5 overs.

After the win, Edwards said his side can beat any team in the marquee tournament while adding that they had come to win matches and not to have fun.

"I suppose 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," said Edwards in the post-match press conference.

"I think after qualifying we were pretty quick to set our minds on what we wanted to do at this tournament. Yeah, and 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 that next stage. So, yeah, South Africa is obviously a very strong side and they'll be close to that semi-final spot. So, yeah, if we want to be amongst it, we've got to beat sides like this," he added.

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Talking about his game-changing knock, 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."