July 31, 2007 – When Netherlands Women batted nearly 1000 balls without hitting a boundary

South Africa Women toured Netherlands and England during the summer of 2007 where they featured in all three formats. They were scheduled to play two 50-over games against England Development squads before a T20I match each against England and New Zealand. However, prior to the matches in England, South Africa Women would be facing the Dutch team in a one-off Test match and a 3-match ODI series.

The European tour of Proteas Women began with the Test match which marked to be the Test debut of the home team. The South Africans were short of longer format experience as well. All the 11 players in the visiting team’s XI were making their Test debut. Hazelaarweg in Rotterdam stood host for the historic game for the Netherlands. The South Africans were put in to bat but started off well due to top-order’s contributions.

Opener Magdalena Terblanche’s unbeaten fifty and double-digit scores from fellow batters took South Africa to 157/3. But the visitors lost two wickets in fading light and ended the first day on 159/5. The second day was a complete washout but when the game resumed to 3rd day, Magdalena reached 83 off 203 before getting out stumped. South Africa ended up with a solid total of 232 but the reply from the Netherlands was even more solid one.

Stonewalling by the Netherlands!

Opener Leonie Hoitink was dismissed on the second ball of the Netherlands’ innings while skipper Helmien Rambaldo fell at the score of three. At this stage, it seemed as if the game would be finished before stumps. But the other opener Violet Wattenberg and the No.4 batter Maartje Köster stitched on a big partnership in terms of facing the ball. The duo put on 63 runs for the 3rd wicket but it was spread across three hours.

Claire Terblanche trapped Köster in front to put an end to her gritty 178-ball 29. Two balls later, Marijn Nijman was dismissed in a similar way as the Netherlands stood at 73/4 from 89 overs by end of day three. 45 runs came in 37 overs during the second session and just 25 runs across 43 overs in the final session. Wattenberg continued her resilience on the final day morning before she eventually got out on 49. The wicketkeeper faced 378 balls for those 49 runs during her 380-minute stay at the crease.

Netherlands’ first innings finally came to an end after 123.3 overs but only 108 runs were made in this process. Sunette Loubser recorded figures of 5/37 by strained 40.3 overs for it by bowling 18 maidens. With a 124-run lead in hand, South Africa Women made 85/2 from 21.3 overs in their second essay thanks to a 64-ball 51 from Susan Benade. This helped the visitors set a target of 211 in front of the Netherlands in 49 overs.

The home team continued their strategy of batting through but lost wickets more often than in first innings. They scored 31 runs for the loss of two wickets in the first hour where nearly 18 overs were bowled. But things turned around quickly once their skipper Rambaldo got out scoring 17 off 49 balls. From 31/2, the Netherlands Women bowled out for just 50 runs but batted out 40 overs. Had they battled another nine overs, their struggle would have been meaningful with the match ending in a draw.

Where are the boundaries?

Netherlands Women aggregated 158 runs during this Test match across 163.3 overs. Out of the 158 runs, a total of 138 runs came off the bat but none of them through the boundaries. Adding up two no-balls bowled by the visitors, the Netherlands’ batters faced as many as 981 deliveries during the game but couldn’t hit a boundary. In fact, the South Africans found it tough hitting boundaries as they struck only nine fours across both the innings where they aggregated over 300 runs.