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Former South African cricketer and now a vital cog in the Netherlands' team, Roelof van der Merwe infused life in the match at HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala. Van der Merwe played the perfect cameo to push the scoring rate as slog overs approached. But in the 35th over against Gerald Coetzee he played a shot that looked like Mahendra Singh Dhoni's trademark shot but off a short delivery.
The unusual uppercut worked in favour of Van der Merwe as third-man fielder Heinrich Klaasen could only see it sail over the ropes. Coetzee could do nothing but smile as the Dutch all-rounder pulled off a ridiculous shot for a six. The International Cricket Council (ICC) posted a video of the shot and one of the users in the reply wrote “Helicopter shot ultra pro max”.
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The 38-year-old scored 15 runs from Coetzee's sixth over. He showcased more unorthodox shots during his innings. Lungi Ngidi put an end to his cameo in the 40th over. He contributed with 29 runs from 19 balls including three fours and a six.
Van der Merwe shared a 64-run partnership for the eighth wicket with skipper Scott Edwards from 36 deliveries. This is the third instance of an eighth-wicket partnership of over 50 runs at a run rate of 10-plus runs per over in ODI World Cup history.
After the eighth wicket fell, Aryan Dutt hit three sixes from nine balls he faced. On the other end, Edwards remained unbeaten for 78 runs from 69 balls. The captain's knock helped the Netherlands post a fighting total of 245/8 on the board in a rain-curtailed 43 overs per side game.
“It was one of those nights today, I tried different things and it has come off. The start was not good, we had to work with that and got a few after that. It’s a good wicket but it’s a bit two-paced. We have a score on the board. We will take it, we have to execute well and put them under pressure in the field,” the all-rounder told the broadcasters during the innings break.
Van der Merwe made his ODI debut for South Africa in 2009. He played for South Africa in ODIs till mid-2010. Nine years later, he represented the Netherlands in 2019. He has been a regular in their T20I side as well. He featured in the side that beat South Africa in T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
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