‌SA vs NED | Twitter reacts to cool-headed Miller deny Dutch scare to steer Proteas home

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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South Africa break the Netherlands jinx in ICC tournaments by chasing down 104-run target with seven balls to spare. The Dutch pacers almost equalised the counterparts’ bowling brilliance during the second innings before David Miller’s composed half-century steered the Proteas home in a nail-biter.

The toss favoured Aiden Markram and the South African captain decided to field first with Quinton de Kock’s brilliant presence of mind earning Marco Jansen the scalp in the first over itself. In a first change, Ottneil Baartman struck from the other end with Anrich Nortje following up their brilliant start by removing Bas de Leede in the tenth over. With the score reading 35/4 in ten overs, Nortje made further inroads with Markram inducing a brilliant runout to depart Scott Edwards. Subsequently, Sybrand Engelbrecht anchored from one end, and Logan van Beek supported him to build a 54-run seventh wicket stand before Ottneil Baartman bucketted three wickets in the final over to halt the Netherlands at 103/9 in 20 overs.

In response, South Africa got off to a horrendous start with Quinton de Kock’s suicidal run out on the first ball of the innings paving the way for a couple of wickets on consecutive overs with the score reflecting 8/3 in three overs. Losing Heinrich Klaasen in a quick span, the Proteas could add just eight more runs in the next three overs to beat their opposition’s lowest powerplay score record in the ongoing tourney. Tristan Stubbs and David Miller added 16 runs in the next four overs, taking the tally to 32/4 in ten overs. The pair orchestrated a 65-run fifth wicket stand to ease up the chase before Paul van Meekeren’s maiden 16th over exerted pressure and Stubbs succumbed to it. From a position of 29 required from the last five overs, the Dutch bowlers dragged the game to 25 required off the last three overs. With Marco Jansen getting cleaned up in the 18th over, the pressure further epitomized on Miller who ensured no more hiccups and raced to his fifty on the back of an 18 run 19th over to steer South Africa home.

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