da betcris： The match between South Africa and Netherlands could have finished inthree hours if Netherlands had chosen to bat first
Anand Vasu21-Jan-2000The match between South Africa and Netherlands could have finished inthree hours if Netherlands had chosen to bat first. Instead, onwinning the toss, RV Ierschot put the South Africans in to bat on aslow pitch at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy. The South Africans tookto the Dutch bowling with joy and toyed with it for the best part ofthe morning. Yet, it was only Johan Myburgh who made it to the halfcentury mark. For Netherlands, R de Graff, playing his first match ofthe tournament bowled a tidy line and picked up four wickets asPuttick (33), Smith (44) and U Abrahams (40) got starts but lost theirwickets to careless shots.Morkel used the long handle to good effect and clouted two sixes inhis 10 ball essay that yielded 25 runs. In the end South Africafinished up with 278 runs off 50 overs.The Dutch bowlers took half an hour longer than they should have, andended up being penalised one over when they came out to bat. This,however, was of no consequence, as they never looked to seriouslychase the total. The South Africans for their part did not appear tobe operating in top gear. The Dutch struggled, played, poked andmissed but somehow stuck around. In a replay of the match between theAmericas and South Africa played at the same ground two days back, itwas only the captain who showed any batting prowess. R van Ierschotmade 31 before he swung across the line to an offspinner to Myburghand was trapped plumb in front.The Netherlands batted out their 49 overs in quiet fashion and endedup with 124. While it must have been a learning experience for theDutch, it was also a loss by 154 runs.