On social media, an old post from Dutch sprinter Paul van Meekeren from 2020 regarding carrying food for survival has gained a lot of traction. Van Meekeren left a remark on a post about the COVID-19 epidemic causing a delay in the 2020 T20 World Cup. He had advised readers to “keep smiling” when faced with adversity.
By capturing two crucial wickets, the right-arm fast bowler assisted the Netherlands in defeating South Africa by 38 runs on Tuesday in Dharamshala. These were the wickets of all-rounder Marco Jansen and vice-captain Aiden Markram. This was South Africa’s first ODI defeat against a non-Test-playing country as well as their first triumph in ODIs over a Test-playing nation.
Markram has been one of South Africa’s best batters in the competition. Van Meekeren used a lethal cross-seamer to clean bowl the batter for just one run in the eleventh over. Jansen was going to bat at nine, but he was going to take it easy because of his skill with the bat. But the Dutch pacer’s nervous delivery also caused his stumps to fly.
Fans reaction to Paul van Meekeren journey:
Players on the Netherlands team occasionally had jobs outside of cricket due to a lack of finances. This also applies to several other non-playing countries, like Oman and the United States.
This made me cry 😢😢 but happy for him.
— RR KumAR (@RRKumAR83624641) October 17, 2023
Great victory for Netherland
— Dr Crickter (@drcrickter) October 17, 2023
"That's some serious bowler dedication right there! Talk about delivering on and off the field. Congrats to Paul! Cricket saw his potential before anyone else. #CricketLife"
— Anas Chudhary (@anas_chudharyy) October 17, 2023
Another day another upset
— Dr Crickter (@drcrickter) October 17, 2023
He had just been dismissed by Somerset and had not played as many games the previous season due to a misdiagnosed back injury when he sent out this tweet. He said, “I had enough savings, but I don’t want to touch those savings. However, I’ve already depleted my stocks to such an extent that I had to consider my winter plans since there won’t be any cricket. I must have some money.”
For the unversed, Dutch cricketer Paul Adriaan van Meekeren most recently represented Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. He has participated in domestic cricket matches for the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots T20 franchise and the English county teams Durham and Somerset. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler and bats right-handed.
So, this was all about Paul van Meekeren. Also read, Fans react as Shane Bond leaves IPL team Mumbai Indians.
