Miller aids nervy South Africa to edge Netherlands in a thriller

NEW YORK: David Miller scored an unbeaten half-century to spearhead South Africa to a hard-fought four-wicket victory over spirited Netherlands in the 16th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 here on Saturday.

Despite chasing a modest 104-run target, South Africa had to make hard yards to achieve the total. The Proteas lost six wickets in the process and completed the pursuit with just seven balls to spare.

South Africa had a disappointing start to the run chase as they were four down for just 12 in 4.3 overs.

Following the debacle, David Miller joined Tristan Stubbs in the middle and the duo launched an astounding recovery.

Stubbs and Miller batted sensibly under pressure and pulled South Africa out of trouble with a gritty 65-run partnership which lasted with the former’s dismissal in the 17th over.

Tristan Stubbs scored a crucial 33 off 37 deliveries, peppered with one four and a six.

South Africa sustained another blow to their expedition as Marco Jansen (3) perished in the next over, needing a further 16 runs.

David Miller then switched gears and smashed Bas de Leede for two sixes and a four in the penultimate over and steered South Africa to victory.

He remained the top-scorer for South Africa with an unbeaten 59 off 51 deliveries, featuring three fours and four sixes.

Vivian Kingma and Logan van Beek led the Netherlands’ bowling attack with two wickets each while Bas de Leede chipped in with a wicket.

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Put into bat first, the Netherlands batting unit struggled against a pace-heavy South African bowling attack and thus registered a meagre total on the board.

The Dutch had a disastrous start to their innings as they lost their opener Michael Levitt on just the third delivery of the innings.

Levitt’s dismissal halted the flow of runs for the European side and they began to lose wickets at an alarming. The Netherlands, as a result, slipped to 48/6 in 11.5 overs.

Meanwhile, Sybrand Engelbrecht, who came out to bat at No.4, finally found subtle support at the other end in the form of Bas de Leede.

The duo took on the fight against a ruthless South Africa bowling attack and added valuable runs to the Netherlands’ total with a 54-run partnership that lasted with Engelbrecht’s dismissal in the final over, bowled Ottneil Baartman.

Sybrand Engelbrecht remained the top-scorer for the Netherlands with a gutsy 40 off 45 deliveries with the help of two fours and a six.

The Dutch then lost two more wickets in a sensational final over as Tim Pringle and van Beek also fell victim to Baartman.

Logan van Beek remained a notable run-getter for the Netherlands with a 22-ball 23 which featured three boundaries.

Ottneil Baartman led the bowling charge for South Africa with 4/11 in his four overs, followed by Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen, who bagged two wickets each.

It is worth mentioning here that both South Africa and the Netherlands won their opening games of the T20 World Cup 2024 but the African side lead the Group D standings due to a superior net run-rate.

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