T20 Cricket World Cup: South Africa eliminated from tournament after shock loss to Netherlands

New Zealand will not have the honour of beating South Africa in another Cricket World Cup knockout game, as the Proteas have been embarrassingly dumped out of the Twenty20 World Cup after a defeat to the Netherlands.

Usually, the Proteas save their eliminations for the knockout stages, but in this event they managed to provide a fresh twist by bottling it even earlier, contriving to lose to the Dutch by 13 runs when a victory would have secured them safe passage to the semifinals.

The Proteas had never lost to the Netherlands in any format, but now the door is open for the winner of this afternoon’s match between Bangladesh and Pakistan to fly into the semifinals and secure a showdown with the Black Caps, with India, now secured of a semifinal place, merely needing a victory over Zimbabwe to secure top spot and a showdown against England.

It may not be the best result for the Black Caps, who would have likely been at shorter odds to beat South Africa, with their skillsets matching up better against the Proteas than perhaps against a subcontinent side.

Additionally, the Proteas never inspire confidence at this stage of a World Cup, though even they were expected to get the job done against a Dutch side whose only victory in the Super 12 stage had come against Zimbabwe.

But instead, the Netherlands’ 158-4 proved too difficult for South Africa to chase down, with none of their batsmen passing 25 and their long tail having no chance of stemming the flow as the required run rate soared.

“It’s a hard one to swallow,” said South African captain Temba Bavuma. “We had the confidence and belief in ourselves as a unit to make the playoffs. Unfortunately for us, we couldn’t do it.”

– More to come