Johannesburg – Don’t sleep when it comes to the Dutch if you’re in the Proteas team because while they don’t have a future in the T20 World Cup beyond Sunday, they’d delight in taking down a major scalp before heading home.
There’s enough motivation in that side to do so, with at least three players having South African roots, including Roelof van der Merwe, Colin Ackerman and Stephan Myburgh, who was born in Pretoria, but doesn’t have as much extensive playing time in SA as the other two.
Van der Merwe, of course, played 13 times for the Proteas between 2009 and 2011, earning a man of the match award on debut in a T20 International against Australia at his home ground Centurion.
He’s only faced the Proteas once since switching allegiance in 2015, which came last year in the rained out One-Day International that was played at SuperSport Park. The 37 year old all-rounder is still fond of a scrap and will relish taking on the land of his birth in a match the Proteas must win to qualify for the semi-finals.
It’ll be the same for Ackerman, who was born in George and was a kingpin for the Warriors franchise team in the "twenty-teens". He was the leading run-scorer in the Four-Day competition in 2016/17, which resulted in him being named the Domestic Player of the Year by Cricket SA.
The Dutch have run both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh close in this year’s tournament, and the Proteas, will have to be wary, particularly as the orange-clad South African contingent are all experienced campaigners.
The teams’ sole meeting in a T20 International was also in a Group stage match, at the 2014 World Cup, where a Proteas team containing luminaries such as Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy and Dale Steyn, among others, struggled to a six-run win in Chattogram. Myburgh made a half-century in that match.
The pressure is very much on the Proteas and no doubt, Van der Merwe and Ackermann will enjoy reminding them of that fact at the Adelaide Oval. Temba Bavuma’s men got their wake up call against Pakistan on Thursday and the South African captain thought that defeat may have served the team well as it brought the players back down to earth.
While at home the 2am start time for the match may mean many will be tucked up in bed when the game is on, the Proteas can’t afford to be caught napping.
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