PREVIEW: Proteas take on Netherlands in Super League series

In any other circumstances the Netherlands visit to South Africa to play one-day internationals against the Proteas would be regarded a rare and treasured opportunity to compete against one of the best teams in the world with hopes and expectations suitably limited. But these are exceptional circumstances.

The hosts have to win in order to qualify automatically for the World Cup in India in October and the visitors are still dining out on their famous victory against the Proteas in Adelaide last year which eliminated them from the T20 World Cup.

The two ODIs, scheduled for Willowmore Park in Benoni on Friday (1:00pm) and the Wanderers on Sunday at 10:00am, are the completion of a three-match series which started on November 26, 2021, but was then postponed because a new strain of Covid meant the Dutch players might not be able to return home if the series had been completed.

In that game at Supersport Park South Africa limped to 209-7 before being rescued by a late blitz from Andile Phehlukwayo who smashed 48 from 22 balls to steer the Proteas to a respectable 277-8. The Netherlands reached 11-0 before rain ended the match and the decision was made for the tourists to return home.

In order to mitigate against any similar scares South Africa announced a full-strength squad for the two matches including all nine of their IPL players who will consequently miss one or two of the first two games, depending on their Franchise fixtures. It was a bold decision by CSA and another indicator of how much is riding on victory. Should the Proteas not win, they will have to pre-qualify in a 10-team tournament in Harare in June featuring hosts Zimbabwe, Ireland, Scotland and one of Sri Lanka or the West Indies among other potentially awkward opponents.

Despite their difficult Dutch memories Temba Bavuma’s team should be bristling with confidence and self-belief following an ODI series victory against England and a rumbustious final ODI against the West Indies which saw them chase down 267 with over 20 overs to spare.

The greatest danger to what should, ordinarily, be a demolition of the Dutch will be a concern for the consequences of defeat. What if they don’t win? What if they have to go to Harare and pre-qualify? What if they don’t reach the World Cup, just four years before they are hosting it? New coach Rob Walter has quickly instilled a sense of joy and admonition of the ‘fear of failure’ to the white ball teams. He just needs to ensure that remains.

The Dutch, meanwhile, have nothing to lose. They will be without three of their best players – South Africans Colin Ackermann and Brandon Glover and allrounder Bas de Leede – who are occupied with pre-season commitments with their English counties. But they remain a competent and skilful outfit always capable of causing upsets. And they still have Roelof van der Merwe.

SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Wayne Parnell, Marco Jansen, Bjorn Fortuin, Sisande Magala, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.

NETHERLANDS SQUAD: Scott Edwards (captain), Musa Nadeem Ahmad, Shariz Ahmad, Wesley Barresi, Tom Cooper, Aryan Dutt, Vivian Kingma, Fred Klaassen, Ryan Klein, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O'Dowd, Vikram Singh.