Dutch press hail 'Miracle of Dharamsala' after cricket shock

Ready to 'beat any side' after win over Proteas

FE Team | Published: October 18, 2023 23:23:34

THE HAGUE, Oct 18 (AFP): "Legendary win", "Huge shock", "Miracle of Dharamsala": The Dutch press hailed its heroes Wednesday after the cricketing minnows pulled off a sensational World Cup win over South Africa.
Former coach Ryan Campbell had predicted the 38-run win over one of the tournament favourites would "make the front pages" in the Netherlands, not one of the traditional cricketing heartlands.
In fact, there was only a brief mention in the sports sections in most of the main printed dailies, the focus firmly on the Oranje European Championship qualifier win over Greece in the football-mad country.
But De Telegraaf daily devoted an entire page to the "legendary win" in a piece headlined "Miracle of Dharamsala", in which the paper noted the eclectic make-up of the Dutch side.
"It's funny, the names of the South African players (Jansse, Van der Dussen, Klaasen and De Kock)...sounded more Dutch than the Dutch team (O'Dowd, Nidamanuru, Edwards and Dutt)," noted the right-wing daily.
De Volkskrant hailed a "sensational win" while the AD daily called it an "enormous shock". It was the first win for the Netherlands against a Test-playing nation at the 50-over World Cup, and the Dutch skipper Scott Edwards said his team have a shot at making the semi-finals.
"We feel like if we play well enough on the day, we can beat any side," he told reporters after the win.
The Dutch seem to like playing South Africa -- they had also beaten the Proteas in the Twenty20 World Cup in Adelaide last November.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands are confident they "can beat any side" after a shock win over South Africa, with skipper Scott Edwards eyeing a spot in the World Cup semi-finals.
The Dutch stunned South Africa by 38 runs in a rain-reduced 43-overs-a-side contest in Dharamsala on Tuesday for their first win over a Test-playing nation at cricket's 50-over showpiece event. Edwards led from the front with an unbeaten 78 to steer the Orange army -- ranked 14th in men's ODIs -- to 245-8 before they bowled out third-placed South Africa for 207.
"I suppose we go into every game with our plans and our ways that we're going to try and win the game," Edwards told reporters after the win.