Scott Edwards led from the front to take Netherlands to their most famous ODI World Cup win – their first over a Test-playing nation in five appearances at the tournament – when they beat South Africa in Dharamsala on Tuesday. He was “extremely proud” of his team, and “very excited to get our first win out of the way” in this edition, Edwards said at the presentation ceremony after the game.

“We came into this tournament with high expectations, we feel like we’re playing good cricket, we’ve got a lot of good players… but in saying that, we know that there are nine other very good sides here,” he said. “So, yeah, very excited to get our first win out of the way after three games and hopefully a few more to come.

“That’s a massive boost for us. In both the first two games, we were in decent positions, but we sort of fell away through the middle. Nice that we could put a few partnerships together at the end [against South Africa] and get ourselves to a total which we thought could be competitive.”

Edwards walked out when Netherlands, after being put into bat, were 82 for 5 with not many batters left. That soon became 112 for 6 and then 140 for 7, but Edwards partnered with Roelof van der Merwe for 64 runs for the eighth wicket and then had a 41-run stand for the ninth with Aryan Dutt in next to no time – Dutt smashed 23 not out in nine balls – to take Netherlands to 245 for 8.

It didn’t appear a match-winning total at the time, but it was certainly competitive, as Edwards put it, and possibly more than what South Africa thought they would have to chase.

Edwards finished with 78 not out in 69 balls, which later earned him the Player of the Match award.

“I think over the last couple of games, our issue’s been too many of our middle-order batters getting out before the end of the game,” he said. “So I was just sort trying to take it deep and hope that a couple of guys around me chip in and… yeah, we were lucky enough to get I don’t know how many towards the end there, but it was nice.”

First, there was van der Merwe, the one-time South Africa international, who scored 29 in 19. “He’s good fun to bat with,” Edwards said. “He runs hard, which I like, and he hits it to quite strange areas. Good to watch and I am sure it’s good from the outside as well.”

And then Dutt. “I think it was pretty easy on my behalf [batting with Dutt],” Edwards said. “I just sort of got him on strike and he was just clearing the ropes. That’s some of the best hitting I have seen in a long time, especially from a No. 10 bat. So, yeah, he’s got the talent and it was awesome to see today.”

For the record, Dutt hit three sixes in his cameo, one each off Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Gerald Coetzee in the last three overs.

And then the bowling group came together. South Africa were 44 for 4, then 109 for 6, and much like the Netherlands innings, there was a bit of late-order resistance, but it was way too much for them to pull off.

“Obviously, yeah, proud, I suppose, of the group, and putting in that performance, as a whole and being able to play my part,” Edwards said. “We came into the tournament and, we wanted to have a chance of making the semi-finals, and if you want to do that, you’ve got to beat teams obviously. South Africa is probably one of the favourites, the way they have been playing. It’s a big win for us.”

With Netherlands playing South Africa, there is always the talk of how much some of the Netherlands players have benefitted from their time playing in South Africa. There is a sense of familiarity and, not to forget, Netherlands did beat South Africa at the T20 World Cup last year too.

“We obviously have guys who have played with these guys before so, yeah, we come up with a few match-ups, and some days it works and some days it doesn’t,” Edwards said. “So yeah, it’s nice that a few things came off today.”

And, of course, it’s a time for Netherlands cricket fans, some of who were at the ground, to celebrate.

“I’m sure there’s plenty of fans staying up [back home] from watching the game,” Edwards said. “There’s always a lot of supporters around. So, yeah, extremely grateful for all the support we’ve had and hopefully a few messages from them and that sort of thing.”