David Miller’s unbeaten half-century (59*) helped South Africa defeat the Netherlands by four wickets in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, here on Saturday.
In another low-scoring encounter at the venue which has been criticised for the unpredictable bounce and injury scare, the Proteas nearly escaped the Dutch threat and prevailed in the match to register their second consecutive win of the tournament.
Chasing 104, pacer Vivian Kingma’s opening spell along with support from Logan van Beek and Bas de Leede reduced South Africa to 12/4 in 4.3 overs. Quinton de Kock (0), Reeza Hendricks (3), captain Aiden Markram (0) and Heinrich Klaasen (4) were sent back to the pavilion well inside the powerplay to put pressure on the batting side.
However, Miller and Tristan Trubbs did not bow down to the pressure and paved the way to rescue the side and build a steady partnership of 65 runs for the fifth wicket. Netherlands were very much alive in the game till the second-last over with the late wickets of Stubbs (33) and Marco Jansen (3) in the 17th and 18th overs respectively.
In the end, Miller flexed his arms and smashed two sixes and a four to finish things for the side. He remained unbeaten on 59* off 51 balls including four sixes and three fours. He kept his composure and played according to the situation to guide them over the line with seven balls to spare.
For the Netherlands, Kingma and van Beek picked two dismissals each.
Put in to bat first, Netherlands had a sluggish start as they lost Michael Levitt on the third ball of the innings. Marco Jansen provided the early breakthrough for Proteas.
Vikramjit Singh joined Max ODowd in the middle and the duo could not manage to stitch a big partnership. In the fourth over, Ottneil Baartman picked ODowd for two runs before Jansen cleaned up Vikramjit for 12 runs in the next overs.
Sybrand Engelbrecht and Bas de Leede tried to move the scoreboard after early hiccups and played some steady shots. The pair added 15 runs for the fourth wicket before Anrich Nortje broke the stand in the 10th over.
Despite unfavourable conditions to bat, Engelbrecht played an anchor role as wickets kept falling from the other end. Skipper Scott Edwards (10) and Teja Nidamanuru (0) failed to prolong their stay at the crease and departed cheaply.
The 54-run crucial partnership between Engelbrecht and Logan van Beek gave the Dutch some respite and crossed the 100-run mark.
Engelbrecht top-scored for Netherlands with a score of 40 runs off 45 balls while van Beek played a late knock of 23 off 22 balls studded with three fours. Netherlands finished their innings for 103/9 in 20 overs.
For South Africa, Baartman returned with the figures of 4-11 while Jansen and Nortje grabbed two scalps each.
Brief scores: South Africa 106/6 in 18.5 overs (David Miller 59*, Tristan Stubbs 33; Vivian Kingma 2-12, Logan van Beek 2-21) beat Netherlands 103/9 in 20 overs (Sybrand Engelbrecht 40, Logan van Beek 20; Ottneil Baartman 4-11) by four wickets.