To be in semifinals, we've to beat sides like SA, asserts Edwards

It was a long journey for the Netherlands to be where they have reached. After trouncing sides like West Indies and Zimbabwe in the really high-fought ICC Cricket World Cup qualifiers, the Dutch confirmed their berth in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, which was designed in a way to keep the associate countries at bay.

Brick by brick, they built on their squad, and after coming close to moving Pakistan off their perch in their first game of the tournament, the Scott Edwards-led side beat South Africa in a stunning fashion in Dharamsala on Tuesday. While this might be considered as an upset, thanks to the wide gap that exists between both sides, it was just a step in the right direction for the Dutch people as far as achieving their dreams of making it to the semi-final are concerned. 

“I think after qualifying, we were pretty quick to set our minds to what we wanted to do at this tournament,” Edwards said in the post-match press conference. “Yeah, and we weren't coming here just to have fun and enjoy it. We're here to win games of cricket and give ourselves the best chance to make that next stage. So, yeah, South Africa is obviously a very strong side, and they'll be close to that semi-final spot. So, yeah, if we want to be amongst it, we've got to beat sides like this.

“As a group, we pride ourselves on playing total cricket, which is guys that are coming in at number 8, 9, 10 have just as much of the ability to put on those partnerships. But out there batting with them, it was just about giving ourselves a chance to go harder later in the innings. And luckily enough, Roelof and Aryan in there played some unbelievable cameos to get us to what we thought was probably a roundabout par score.”

One of the striking aspects of the Netherlands' batting was how they snuck in singles and doubles from the position of difficulty. Edwards put it down to their physical preparation and a strong focus on strengths and conditioning.

“A lot of that goes down to our S&C [strength and conditioning] sort of work that the guys put in. It's a brand of cricket that we want to play. And to be able to play that, guys have got to be fit enough. Most teams around the world are, but that's definitely one of the focus points we have and they're always nice when you can sneak a few runs here and there,” the Dutch skipper added.