Image Credit- AFP
Sybrand Engelbrecht may have enjoyed the satisfaction
of reaching a significant personal milestone – a first ODI half-century – in a
World Cup match if this was the Netherlands in 2007, or possibly even in 2011.
But the 2023 class holds a different viewpoint.
The Netherlands appeared to have lost their way early
against Sri Lanka in Lucknow, three nights after shocking South Africa in a
sensational defence in Dharamsala. At 91 for 6, there was no movement, wickets
kept falling, the scoreboard appeared to be frozen, and the situation seemed
dismal. Teams in the past might have disintegrated. This Dutch team did not.
In a 130-run stand, Engelbrecht and Logan van Beek
each scored a brisk half-century, bringing them back into the match and giving
their bowlers a target to defend. Despite their spinners’ best efforts, who had
combined statistics of 4 for 125 off 28.1 overs in a defence of 263, it was not
to be. Aryan Dutt was especially brilliant with his offspin, which netted him 3
for 44.
“I must admit it’s still a bitter pill to
swallow,” Engelbrecht said after Netherlands’ six-wicket loss to Sri Lanka
in which he made 79. “Getting 260-odd after that start we thought it was a
very competitive score. Maybe the pitch got a little bit better, but I thought
they controlled the innings really well. And we just didn’t quite pitch up
today with the ball, unfortunately. So, yeah, not the ideal result for us, but
we’ll move forward and we’ll try and be better and learn from this as quickly
as possible.”
“I think a lot of credit needs to go to Logan, I
thought he batted brilliantly, and we just tried take it as deep as
possible,” he said. “We just told ourselves, if we can get to the
last ten overs with six down, we’re giving ourselves a good chance.
“So, for us, it really wasn’t necessarily about
trying to accumulate runs. It was just about making sure that we got into
positive positions and pick up the runs when we could. But to try and lay a bit
of a foundation for us to start scoring a little bit more freely to the back end,
which we managed to do. So, happy with the partnership.”
“We were very confident in the growth that we’ve
shown as a team over the last 6-12 months,” Engelbrecht said. “We’re
a better team now than we were when we played them at the Qualifier and we thought
that if we stick to our processes, if we implement our plans and execute well
for long enough, we stood a really good chance. And I think there were periods
in the game that you could definitely see that. So, credit goes to them. They
played well. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t string it together for long
enough.”