T20 Cricket World Cup: South Africa eliminated from tournament after shock loss to Netherlands

The Netherlands took crucial wickets at crucial times against South Africa. Photo / Getty

New Zealand will not have the honour of beating South Africa in another Cricket World Cup knockout game, as the Proteas have been embarrassingly dumped out of the Twenty20 World Cup after a defeat to the Netherlands.

Usually, the Proteas save their eliminations for the knockout stages, but in this event they managed to provide a fresh twist by bottling it even earlier, contriving to lose to the Dutch by 13 runs when a victory would have secured them safe passage to the semifinals.

The Proteas had never lost to the Netherlands in any format, but they left the door open for Pakistan, who beat Bangladesh by five wickets this afternoon, to fly into the semis. They are likely to play the Black Caps in Sydney on Wednesday, with India merely needing to beat Zimbabwe tonight to secure top spot and a clash against England in Adelaide on Thursday. A Zimbabwe win will see New Zealand play India.

It may not be the best result for the Black Caps, who would have likely been at shorter odds to beat South Africa, with their skillsets matching up better against the Proteas than perhaps against a subcontinent side.

Additionally, the Proteas never inspire confidence at this stage of a World Cup, though even they were expected to get the job done against a Dutch side whose only victory in the Super 12 stage had come against Zimbabwe.

But instead, the Netherlands’ 158-4 proved too difficult for South Africa to chase down, with none of their batsmen passing 25 and their long tail having no chance of stemming the flow as the required run rate soared.

“It is really disappointing,” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said. “I think we played well up until this game to get to this point in the tournament.””We had a lot of confidence and belief in ourselves to get to the finals but unfortunately for us we couldn’t do it when it really mattered.”

South Africa’s top-order failed to fire and they were 90-4 in the 13th over. With six overs remaining, South Africa still needed another 60 runs.

To compound their predicament, No 8 batsman Keshav Maharaj was hobbled by a left leg injury and forced to hop when running between wickets. Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada required 26 runs from the final over but fell short.

”We lost wickets at crucial times,” Bavuma said. “We just couldn’t get any momentum into our innings.

“The wicket maybe got a bit harder, maybe they used the dimensions of the field a lot better than we did, but at the end of the day from all of us it just wasn’t good enough.”

Earlier, Colin Ackermann top-scored with an unbeaten 41 from 26 balls in the Dutch side’s 158-4.

The Netherlands’ openers Stephan Myburgh (37 from 30 balls) and Max O’Dowd (29 from 31) featured in a 58-run partnership. And Australian-born Tom Cooper, whose mother was born in Dutch New Guinea, struck two sixes in making 35 from 19 deliveries.

South African paceman Anrich Nortje continued his strong tournament, taking 1-10 from four overs, and left-arm spinner Maharaj claimed 2-27.

”We’re sort of used to those conditions in the Netherlands, so we were pretty happy getting around that 160-run mark and had confidence in our bowlers,” Netherlands captain Scott Edwards said. “It’s another experience, another big upset from the Netherlands at a World Cup. I’m just stoked for the boys, the team and the supporters back home.”

- With AP