The gulf between the above 2 teams, who share minimal similarities concerning their cricketing history and culture, has never been as short as it will be on the 25th of October when the Netherlands will take on Australia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
Netherlands will be proud of how they have fared with the bigger teams so far but they would want to make the most out of their remaining games as the team maintains that making the semis is their main aim for CWC 23.
On the other hand, Australia have gotten back on track after their initial halt and would like to prevent the event that will haunt their protean rivals in the near future.
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Netherlands
Riding high on their win against South Africa, the Netherlands succumbed to 91/6 against Sri Lanka. Top-order collapses have been a constant issue with the Dutch side, especially the openers not providing good starts nor consistently anchoring the innings. However, the lower order has really been the backbone for the men in orange and the protagonist this time was Sybrand Engelbrecht, a man whose last professional game before CWC 23 was way back in 2016!
Aryan Dutt finally picked up the wickets to show for his tremendous powerplay bowling throughout the tournament. Still, a resilience from Sadeera backed by lacklustre middle-overs bowling, another prolonged woe for the Netherlands, meant the Dutch couldn’t string back-to-back upsets.
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The starting 15-20 overs of their batting innings is where the Netherlands have struggled and the Hazlewood-Starc duo is only going to amplify this issue.
Australia
A team that always manages to perform/outperform the fans’ expectations when it comes to the grandest stage; Australia seemed to be out of its depth, losing their opening 2 matches, including a 134-run spanking from South Africa. However, they have rallied a comeback winning their next 2 games and have set their eyes upon the men from Europe.
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Openers Marsh-Warner were the stars against Pakistan, stitching a 259-run opening stand. However, the Aussie middle-order continued its dry run with the 3rd highest run-scorer(in an innings which saw all 10 wickets falling) being 21. Fielding was again substandard, the reason Australia has the lowest catch efficiency of the tournament.
Probable Playing XI
Australia: Mitchell Marsh, David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
With 2 wins on trot, a team is expected to make no changes but Travis Head might make his way into the side. The 29-year-old is yet to make a mark on CWC 23 due to a left-hand fracture he picked up in the South African series. We are yet to receive confirmation of his availability for the Netherlands bout but he is back with the team in India. The person who will most likely make way for him is Marnus, although Steve Smith’s performance has been terrible so far, averaging 23.22 across 10 games in 2023. Selector Bailey has hinted Head will come back to his opening slot. If so, Marsh will have to make the sacrifice and move to the middle order.
Netherlands: Vikram Singh, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Bas De Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Logan Van Beek, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul Van Meekeran
Once again, Wesley Barresi’s inclusion is the only change that can occur in the Netherlands’ XI. Max O’Dowd has been terrible so far, averaging 13.75 with a strike rate of 72.36.
Barresi has experience of playing at the top order and his positive approach might shake up the Aussies who themselves have been inconsistent with the new ball in this tournament.
Pitch Report
A pitch that was expected to hoist the highest scores of the tournament, behaved exactly like that in its first 2 games of CWC 23. However, the Afghan-England bout saw the pitch retaining its IPL characteristics, with spinners bowling 55% of the overs. One can expect similar outcomes on the 25th, with Dutch utilizing their part-time options and Zampa making hay of his regained form.
Players to Watch Out For
Aryan Dutt: A spinner who averaged 48.25 before the commencement of CWC 23, Aryan Dutt has seriously stepped up his game in this tournament. Although he did pick up 3 wickets in his last match, he had been unlucky against South Africa and Pakistan to not pick up more wickets for his brilliant opening spell.
With an economy of 4.94, his battle against the explosive Australian openers will be a treat to watch and if he can manage to replicate his performances, the Dutch bowlers may finally land the knockout punch in the middle overs, given the condition of the Australian batting line-up.
Mitchell Starc: 22-0 is one of the most talked about streaks of current cricketing gossip. It’s the amount of CWC matches Starc has taken part in, and he has managed to pick at least a wicket in each of those 22 matches. A colossal of the format, Starc averages 16.69 in ODI WCs and picked up a hat-trick against this same nation in the warm-up match. If he gets going, the match can be over very soon. Left-handed opener Vikramjit will hold the key against Mitchell.
Mitchell Marsh: Having made his ODI debut way back in 2011, Marsh has only played 83 ODIs so far, however, 2023 has been a completely different chapter for him in this format
597 runs at a strike rate of 114.15, “the Bison” registered his highest ODI score of 121 in the last match against Pakistan.
As stated earlier Aryan has kept his opponents quiet in the Powerplay and Marsh will be the key to counter-attack the off-spinner.
AUS vs NED Dream11 Team for Match 24 of 2023 WC
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