South Africa went down to the Netherlands in one of the major upsets in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in recent times. The result will surely sting the Proteas, especially because they dominated most of the first half, i.e., the bowling innings having the Dutch reduced to 141/7 but let them score 245 runs in their allocated 43 overs, which eventually proved to be too much. This was South Africa's first loss to an associate nation in the Cricket World Cup and became the 9th Test-playing nation to record a defeat against a non-Test-playing nation.
South Africa's loss to the Netherlands meant New Zealand are the only team not to lose to an associate nation in ODI World Cup history. And the record is set to be intact for the Kiwis as they have already beaten the Dutch in the ongoing tournament and all other eight teams are full-member nations.
Defeats for Test-playing nations against non-Test-playing teams (at that time)
India - against Sri Lanka in 1979
Australia - against Zimbabwe in 1983
England - against Zimbabwe in 1992
West Indies - against Kenya in 1996
Pakistan - against Bangladesh in 1999
Bangladesh - against Canada in 2003
Sri Lanka- against Kenya in 2003
Zimbabwe - against Kenya in 2003
South Africa - against Netherlands in 2023
Despite leaking 104 runs in the last nine overs, South Africa would have fancied themselves chasing 246 runs in 43 overs but it seemed like they took it too easy as the Netherlands bowlers got assistance from the surface which had an up-and-down bounce and a great match awareness helped the Men in Orange do a double over the Proteas. South Africa are still in third place on the points table but would rue those two points lose as they would have liked to go into the game against England 3-0.
