No issues with travelling around, we're enjoying it: Engelbrecht

The Netherlands is one of the most travelled teams at the T20 World Cup. They play their four group-stage matches in four different venues. They started their campaign against Nepal in Dallas and moved to New York, where they took on South Africa.

They will now fly to St Vincent in the Caribbean for their next match against Bangladesh on June 13. They will then play Sri Lanka on June 16 in St Lucia.

Earlier in the tournament, Sri Lanka bowler Maheeesh Theekshana complained that the players' excessive travel was preventing them from getting enough practice, but Netherlands batter Sybrand Engelbrecht, though, sees no problems with that.

"I think we're loving it. The privilege of seeing all the different areas, going to the West Indies now. All of our guys are super excited. We don't get to do this very often. So, no issues with travelling around. We're enjoying it," Engelbrecht said after Netherlands' four-wicket loss to South Africa.

The Netherlands could muster just 103 on the board after a brilliant bowling performance from the Proteas. However, the Dutch bowlers made a match of it, making it difficult for South Africa to get over the line. Engelbrecht believes his side were about 20 runs short in the short. It took a patience half-century from David Miller to eventually drag South Africa over the line, with seven balls to spare.

"I think we fought really well throughout the game. Being 4-5 down for very little, it was always going to be difficult to get to a half-decent score," Engelbrecht, who scored 40 off 45, said.

"Yeah, look, I think we had a brief chat, maybe 15-odd runs short, but in saying that, we got something on the board, and I thought our bowlers bowled phenomenally well for the majority of the game. So, yeah, it would have been great to get to, I suppose, 120-odd." 

Engelbrecht, who spent a lot of time in the middle, felt that the conditions were tough to bat and lauded the South Africans for executing their plans well.  "Tough, I think there's quite a bit of invariable bounce for hard length, and I think the South Africans executed their plans really well for the majority of the game," the Dutch batter said.

"If you hit that hard length, the ball either just kind of squats on you or goes through the top a little bit, so it's difficult to play cricket shots and you could see that in the South African innings as well. So, it's tough conditions, but it is what it is. Both teams need to play on it and you need to find a way to score runs and get to a defendable and competitive total."

The Netherlands are still very much alive in the race for a top-two finish in Group D. They will hope to get the better of Bangladesh in their next game and consolidate their position.

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