NEWS
Follow UsLogan van Beek was at a loss for words after doing the unthinkable at Takashinga Sports Club in Harare. You can’t really blame him though.
Imagine you first get out on the final delivery while chasing 376 and the game goes to the Super Over. You then come out to bat and smoke Jason Holder for 4, 6, 4, 6, 6 and 4 in the Super Over to demoralise the opposition. You would hope that you have played your part and the match is in your pocket, but guess what? The captain also wants you to defend those 30 runs. And, what do you do? You do it with utmost ease.
This all feels like a dream, but it wasn’t, for van Beek. The 32-year-old all-rounder had a GAME TO REMEMBER against West Indies on Monday (June 26) and helped the Netherlands create history in Match 18 of the ICC World Cup Qualifiers 2023.
Let’s not forget, it was Teja Nidamanuru (76-ball 111) and skipper Scott Edwards (47-ball 67) who first put on 143 runs for the fifth wicket to keep the Netherlands alive in the massive run-chase. Van Beek then slammed 28 off 14 but got out on the last ball when his team needed just one run.
“I can't explain it at the moment. We wanted to do something special. Just to watch Scotty and Teja - the more they batted the more we believed. Have been playing for 13-14 years now. Amount of matches I've lost in that situation, it's so satisfying to get one over the line. Tell you what, I'll wait 13-14 years to do it again,” said van Beek.
“For me, it was about keeping my head still. If you miss, I'm going to hit it. I was disappointed with that last ball where I junked it to mid-on. In my head, I said if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. Thankful I got a bit of redemption.”
The Men in Orange needed 30 runs in the last two overs when van Beek took the attack to Roston Chase in the penultimate over, slamming him for 21 runs. “Remember facing Roston, thought I'm going to give myself a chance. When he came on in the 49th, I thought we've got to go here,” said van Beek.
The Netherlands now go to the Super Six stage with two points up their sleeves. “It's in the books now. Massive, massive (what does the result mean to the team?). The culture we've built over the last 18 months. We played a lot of Super League games last year and we were at the other end of the beatings. Nonstop, nonstop, nonstop. The amount of learning this group's had. And to come here, and in a crunch time to give ourselves a chance to go to the World Cup is huge.”
The Netherlands captain Edwards too couldn’t believe what he witnessed. “Still soaking it in. Can't play a better individual game of cricket. We thought we conceded 60 more. We had the belief though. Those innings from Teja and van Beek were special. Logan was in a bit of a trance. I don't think he was listening to me. He was hitting everything for fours and sixes. This was going to be a massive game for us. To go in with two points is good.”
Meanwhile, West Indies are also through to the next stage, but with zero points and will need everything to go in their favour if they want to qualify for the World Cup in India. “We just let ourselves down. I can't see us scoring 375 and losing. Honestly, I thought it was enough. I expected the bowlers to do the job. Just unfortunate we lost. The picture is right in front of us now. We need to do better,” said Shai Hope.
