World Cup: Netherlands whipped but coach Cook exudes confidence

Netherlands on Wednesday succumbed to an ignominious defeat, losing to Australia by 309 runs, which is the biggest margin of defeat for any team at the World Cup.

Australia had made 399/8 in 50 overs, on the back of a 40-ball century (106 off 44 balls) by Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell’s century is the fastest-ever in World Cup history, beating 49-ball century made by Aiden Markram at the same venue on October 7.

Bas de Leede went for 115 runs in his 10 overs which is the most by any bowler in ODI cricket history.

In response Netherlands were bowled out for just 90 runs.

However, Netherlands coach Ryan Cook was still hopeful of making the semi-finals and said that the game against Australia was a lesson for them.

“We're going to back ourselves against any team that we come up against. Obviously, we do have four more matches left and we'll be aiming to try and get as many victories as we can,” Cook said after the match against Australia on Wednesday at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in the Indian capital of Delhi.

“We said that at the start of the tournament when we got here that we'll sort of be pushing for semi-finals. That looks a bit distant at the moment but obviously if we can get a couple of wins along the way from any of the teams that we come up against we'll be preparing really well for that and we're trying our best to make that happen.”

Cook admitted that the World Cup journey has been a sort of a roller-coaster ride with the high of beating South Africa and the low of losing to Australia. But he said that this is a learning experience.

“Yeah, it's been a bit of a roller coaster the last couple of weeks or so, but no, you know, the guys are experiencing things that are new, they're experiencing things that are different. I think all of us are, even as the coaching staff,” he told the media. 

“These things are coming at us thick and fast and we've got to find a way to be able to deal with them. The team prides themselves on great resilience. They pride themselves on sort of taking ownership and learning going forward. So, we hope to keep getting better and progressing for every game that we play. And if this experience will serve us, maybe not only in this tournament, but going forward, that'll be really good for us.”

Cook, however, said that a tournament like the World Cup provides his players a great platform to gain experience.

“Yeah, I think it's great to compete against the best teams in the world. You get to play against some of the best players in the world. You have a whole lot of experience at these types of venues, in these types of matches and some of our players obviously don't have any of that experience.”

Netherlands are at the bottom of the points table with two points in five matches. They are below Bangladesh since the Australia match made their run rate inferior.  

 

Cricket, Australia, Netherlands, World Cup, ICC World Cup, 2023 World Cup