Miller keeps his cool to put South Africa's Netherlands demons to bed

David Miller's unbeaten half-century meant South Africa beat the Netherlands by four wickets and made it two wins from two in the Men's T20 World Cup

Oscar Ress | 08/06/2024 at 18:58

New York: Netherlands 103-9, South Africa 106-6 - South Africa won by four wickets

David Miller's unbeaten half-century helped South Africa beat the Netherlands by four wickets and made it two wins from two in the Men's T20 World Cup.

The Netherlands managed just 103 before South Africa recovered from their worst powerplay ever to chase the target down with an over to spare.

The Netherlands struggled to get going with the bat, consistently losing wickets to South Africa’s pace attack and electric fielding display. The pick of the bowlers was the impressive Ottniel Baartman (4 for 11) while there were two wickets apiece for Marco Jansen (2 for 20) and Anrich Nortje (2 for 19).

Late resistance in the form of a 54-run partnership between Sybrand Engelbrecht (45) and Logan van Beek (23) ensured the Dutch reached 100 but Vikramjit Singh (12) and Scott Edwards (10) were the only other batters to reach double figures.

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South Africa celebrate Marco Jansen's diving catch at slip to remove Max O'Dowd (2) (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

South Africa were reduced to 3 for 3 as Quinton de Kock was run out without facing a ball, Reeza Hendricks (3 off 10) was bowled by Logan van Beek, and Aiden Markram (0) was strangled down the leg side.

It got worse for the Proteas when Heinrich Klaasen (4) was caught at deep square leg to hand Vivian Kingma (2 for 12) his second wicket.

This brought Tristan Stubbs (33) and Miller (59*) together, who forged a partnership worth 65 runs.

In truth, South Africa were lucky the chase was a manageable total but Miller mastered the chase expertly after such a poor start to the chase.