South Africa have taken their second win from three Group One games in the Twenty20 World Cup, but were pushed all the way by the Netherlands on Thursday.
The Proteas' innings started well after the early dismissal of Quinton de Kock for a duck, with Hashim Amla looking on fine form. He hit a quick-fire 43 from 20 balls to put his side onto 45-2 in the fifth over.
South Africa's scoring rate slowed slightly, but at 84-3 from nine overs when Faf du Plessis was dismissed on 24 they were set for a high-scoring innings.
However, the wickets tumbled and only AB de Villiers (21) reached the 20s as South Africa reached 145-9 from their allotted overs.
In response the Dutch made 58 runs before the first wicket fell, which was Michael Swart, but the key wicket was Stephan Myburgh who was bowled by JP Duminy after reaching 51.
Imran Tahir was the key man with the ball for South Africa as he took four of the remaining eight wickets for just 21 runs, which proved just enough to get rid of the Netherlands for 139 and to take a key win for the tournament favourites.
Matt Domm
