From bashing Sri Lanka and Australia to being bashed by Netherlands, the Temba Bavuma-led side has been pulled down from cloud nine! This World Cup has been opened up now. Afghanistan and Netherlands tasted success, while England and South Africa have been given bitter pill to swallow. Tomorrow, we have one such encounter coming our way as New Zealand take on Afghanistan at Chennai.
For now, it's me AkshayaKrishnaPolya, signing off on behalf of my co-commentator, Akshay Bhide, who, alongside our scorer/analyst Zeeshan Naiyer brought you a banger of a fixture from the World Cup 2023. We will meet again. Until then, it's cheers!
Scott Edwards (Netherlands Captain): "Yes, obviously, extremely happy. We came into the tournament with high expectations. We had a very good bunch of players. It was a good one, and I am happy to get the first win out of the way. We are now hoping for a few more wins.
Yeah, we do a fair bit of research on the opponents as well. We came up with matchups, and that worked for us again. Some days it does work, and some days it doesn't.
See, we were in a good position in the recent games, but we fell away in the last stages of those games.
I am sure that there will be plenty of fans staying up and watching us play. We are extremely happy with this win."
Temba Bavuma (South Africa Captain): "I think we got them to 112/6, we should have restricted them below 200. But while batting, we were confident of chasing down the total. But we didn't get any partnerships. Credit to them for bowling well.
We were clinical against Australia. But the challenge is always to come back and replicate the same performance. Bowling 32 extras is not good. It should have been controlled and that will be spoken about.
Fielding wasn't up to the mark. The way we fielded against Australia, it was good but today we were not up to the standard we have maintained. The boys will have some time to reflect on this performance.
You have to let the emotions seep in. There is no point in trying to forget. Let this loss hurt and come back tomorrow with your head held high.
It was a proper display from them. To get to that total after being on 112/6, credit goes to them. They also bowled well and kept us under constant pressure. It shows that they were well-prepared for today's fixture."
Appreciation post for this guy ππ
Scott Edwards (Player of the Match): "I think over the last couple of games, our issue has been losing wickets before the innings ends. So I just thought of sticking around and I was supported nicely from the other end.
It's good fun to bat with Roelof. He hits in some strange areas and runs hard between the wickets, which is always challenging. I just tried to get him on strike and he was clearing the ropes. Certainly one of the best hitting I have seen in a while, especially from a number 10 batter.
Really proud of the boys. We came into the tournament and hoped to play in the semi-finals. To do so, we have to beat the top teams and South Africa are certainly favorites in this tournament. So happy to get over the line."