How the Netherlands used ‘total cricket’ to claim a famous World Cup upset over South Africa

The Dutch skipper, who was top scorer on the day with an unbeaten 78, was accompanied by van der Merwe (29 off 19) and Dutt (23 off nine), adding 64 runs for the eighth wicket and 41 runs for the ninth. This, after South Africa had managed to reduce them to 140/7 with nine overs left to be played in the innings.

Dutch seamer Paul van Meekeren added that it was the contrasting vulnerability of the South African lower order batting that he and his fellow bowlers looked to exploit having gotten 245 runs on the scoreboard.

“We felt pretty comfortable with the total. We knew we had to start well because their top six is very comfortable and they’ve got a lot of firepower in there. We felt from 7 to 11, there’s a real weakness there. So we spoke about if we got the opportunity to open up one end, we had to take it,” he’d tell reporters after the game.

South Africa’s number six David Miller, whose wicket by Logan van Beek looked to have ended all Proteas hope, weighed in on the matter of a short batting lineup and how it played on his mindset in a tricky chase.

“That was partly why I was batting the way that I was. I didn’t want to give anything away and just wanted to make sure that I was being responsible and put us in position to still win the game,” Miller said post-match.