< >
Cricket Betting us

Cricket World Player of the Week - Fred Klaassen

Cricket World Player of the Week - Fred Klaassen
Cricket World Player of the Week - Fred Klaassen
©CWM
By Cricket World

Pacer Fred Klaassen (2/20) was the architect-in-chief as the Netherlands produced one of the most famous upsets in World Cup history to send South Africa packing.

It had already been written down, proofread and published: South Africa would beat the Netherlands and despite Pakistan beating Bangladesh, South Africa, India, England and New Zealand would be the four teams to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2022 T20 World Cup.

The match between the Netherlands and South Africa was almost perceived like a mere formality. As it turned out, even odder than the match starting so early in the morning in the super 12 stage was Netherlands overhauling the Proteas.

Bavuma's men had entered the tournament as one of the favourites to win the title. Their pace attack was the best in the competition, only comparable to Pakistan, and they seemed to have left the chokers tag behind them this time around, playing an aggressive brand of cricket through and through.

However, Netherlands who had been on the money in the qualifying round but weren't at their best in the super 12 stage, stepped up to the plate to steel South Africa's thunder.

First of all, it was their batters who set the pace by giving South Africa a fighting target of 159. Even then, South Africa were expected to chase it down with relative comfort.

But, once Fred Klaassen got the better of Quinton de Kock in the third over, things began to turn in favour of the Netherlands. Klaassen returned to bag Aiden Markram as well, the two scalps breaking the back of the South African batting line-up as the favoured team fell short by 13 runs and Netherlands recorded a victory for the ages.

© Cricket World 2022