Group D leaders South Africa will face second-placed Netherlands in match 16 of the 2024 T20 World Cup on Saturday afternoon at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.
The Netherlands have become the Proteas bogey team at ICC events over the past two years, having defeated the South African national team in their last two World Cup encounters.
Match preview
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Netherlands have shown steady improvement in recent years, with their recent successes in both the ODI and T20 formats partly attributable to their successful recruitment of Dutch passport-holders from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the subcontinent.
The Flying Dutchmen will enter this match with confidence following a victory over Nepal in their T20 World Cup opening match where Max O'Dowd led the team with a stellar batting display, ending unbeaten on 54 en route to chasing down 106 with six wickets and eight balls to spare.
This is the seventh time the Dutch national side have reached the T20 World Cup, and they have earned several notable victories along the way, including two famous wins over England at Lord's in 2009 and Chittagong in 2014, as well as recent triumphs against Zimbabwe and South Africa.
While direct qualification for this competition deprived the Netherlands of several potential fixtures in this format, 2023 proved to be a year primarily focused on their ODI campaign in which they qualified for the ODI World Cup and achieved victories over the Proteas and Bangladesh - both of whom are once again in their group in this tournament.
In fact, since the last World Cup 18 months ago, they have played only nine T20Is, winning a tri-series in Nepal, which included Namibia and the hosts in February-March and hosted another with Ireland and Scotland last month.
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Meanwhile, South Africa will be out for revenge here, after they buckled under the pressure the last time these sides met in the T20 World Cup when Brandon Glover (3/9) bowled the Netherlands to a famous victory that robbed the Proteas of a place in the 2022 semi-final.
The Proteas started their 2024 T20 World Cup campaign impressively with a dominant win over Sri Lanka, spearheaded by an outstanding bowling display from Anrich Nortje, who notched up a career-best 4/7, as South Africa limited Sri Lanka to a meagre total of 77.
Perhaps the one disappointment for the South Africans in that match was the performance of their top-order, who were dismissed cheaply, although Heinrich Klaasen and the dependable David Miller got the side over the line with a little over three overs to spare.
Klaasen has been in sensational form over the last year and was part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad that recorded the highest total in Indian Premier League history last month, 287/3, against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Given the recent history between these sides, the Proteas will know better than any that they cannot afford to ease up against this opponent and will benefit massively from having had a taste of cricket in the Big Apple's pop-up stadium on Monday.
Team News
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Against Nepal, Logan van Beek excelled with the ball, taking three wickets for just 18 runs, while Tim Pringle also impressed, claiming three wickets and finishing with figures of 3-20 off four overs. Both players are expected to lead the attack again in this match.
Sybrand Engelbrecht will be a player to keep an eye on in this tournament, having made an immediate impact since returning to cricket. The South African-born batsman had an impressive ODI World Cup campaign and currently averages more than 50 at a strike rate of over 150 in the shortest format.
The Proteas will be looking for a better foundation from their top order, particularly Quinton de Kock, who had a fairly average Indian Premier League campaign with the Lucknow Super Giants over the last two months.
After his excellent spell against Sri Lanka, Notje will almost certainly retain his place in the squad and will serve as the change-up to quicks Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada with the new ball. Keshav Maharaj is expected to carry the spin responsibilities, while Tabraiz Shamsi will be hoping to make the starting 11 after sitting out the first match.
Netherlands squad: Scott Edwards (c), Aryan Dutt, Bas de Leede, Daniel Doram, Fred Klaassen, Logan van Beek, Max O'Dowd, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, Tim Pringle, Vikram Singh, Viv Kingma, Wesley Barresi. Reserve: Kyle Klein
South Africa squad: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs
Series so far
Netherlands
Match One: Netherlands won by 6 wickets
Nepal - 106 (19.2)
Netherlands - 109/4 (18.4)
South Africa
Match One: South Africa won by 6 wickets
Sri Lanka - 77 (19.1)
South Africa - 80/4 (16.2)
We say: South Africa to win
While the Netherlands have emerged victorious in the last two World Cup encounters between these sides, there have also been a couple of one-sided matches the other way too, with South Africa dominating the Dutchmen from gun to tape and the Proteas look like they mean business this year.
It is always an intriguing matchup when these two meet and it should be no different this time, but we feel the side from the Southern Hemisphere will get their revenge in this one.
