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All-rounder Logan van Beek is optimistic about Netherlands' chances against Australia in World Cup 2023, predicting another possible upset when they take on five-time champions at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Wednesday.
The Netherlands, who were considered underdogs, defeated an in-form South African team last week. The win against the Proteas left many cricketing world and pundits in disbelief. The Dutch won by a comfortable 38 runs. Despite being six wickets down for roughly 110 runs, the Dutch team led by skipper Scott Edwards managed to register a modest score of 245 runs. Edwards scored 78 runs off 69 balls. Van Beek stated that the team is here to go to the semifinals and that they may attempt to cause another upset against the five-time World Champions. "Why not? It's, you know, we've come here to reach the semifinals. That's our goal. It's been pretty clear throughout the whole preparation phase. And the South African win just gave us that extra belief...On our day we can still beat a good team," Van Beek said in a pre-match press conference. Van Beek attributed the Netherlands' ability to stun South Africa earlier in the World Cup to consistency in preparation. "I think it's the consistency of preparation. So no matter who we're going up against, we consistently prepare exactly the same every time, whether it be Australia, whether it be Oman, that we go through the same process in terms of preparation. We don't leave out anything in terms of how hard we train or the analyst work that we do or the preparation we do in our recovery, everything. It's all consistent. That stems from Ryan Cook and the way he goes about it. He's very professional, very organized and also, he's got this positive belief," Van Beek added. Van Beek believes that the Netherlands should focus on white-ball cricket while still allowing players to participate in other competitions. "Yeah, I love Test cricket. Test cricket is something that I grew up watching. I still play four-day cricket in New Zealand and in county cricket. I firmly believe it's a great baseline to learn how to bat time, how to bowl long spells, but also learn how to play when you're tired. And for me the other day, in that Sri Lanka game, I batted for a couple of hours, and then I had to go open the bowling. But I knew that I could do it because I had done it in four-day cricket," he said. "So that was the benefit of longer-form cricket. I think in terms of the Netherlands, I think chasing Test status could hamper getting more players involved in the Netherlands. I think the beauty is, for me personally - like if the Netherlands had Test status, then I wouldn't be able to go back and play in New Zealand or Colin Ackerman they can't go play County cricket or anything like that," the all-rounder added. The Netherlands have so far registered one win out of four matches and are placed in the 8th position with a net run rate of -0.790. (ANI)
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