South Africa’s bowlers initially dominated the Netherlands in helpful conditions before a brave fightback saw the underdogs reach a genuinely challenging 245-8 after captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and chose to bowl first in their World Cup group match at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Tuesday.

Netherlands captain Scott Edwards top-scored with a highly skillful 78* from just 69 balls and added 64 for the eighth wicket with Roelof van der Merwe who belted 29 from only 19 balls with three fours and a six.

Number 10 batsman, Aryan Dutt (23*), smashed three sixes off Kagiso Rabada and Gerald Coetzee to transform the innings from ‘respectable’ to genuinely worrying for South Africa.

Rain delayed the start of the match by two hours reducing it to 43-overs per side and there was plenty of seam movement and bounce to encourage the fast bowlers with Rabada (2-56) and Marco Jansen (2-27) initially very much to the fore as the Dutch slipped to 112-5 and 140-6.

Gerald Coetzee (1-57), recalled to the starting XI in place of spinner Tabraiz Shamsi following the 134-run drubbing of Australia, was too quick for most of the Dutch top order although, like Rabada and Lungi Ngidi (2-57), bowled too short in the second half the innings and paid a heavy price.

Rabada rushed opener Vikramjit Singh (2) into a top-edged hook which Heinrich Klaasen caught on the run from slip and fellow opener Max O’Dowd (18) edged a straightforward catch to ‘keeper Quinton de Kock off Marco Jansen.

Bas de Leede (2) was trapped lbw by Rabada and the Netherlands slipped to 50-4 when Colin Ackermann, one of three South African born players in the side, was bowled off an inside edge by Gerald Coetzee for 13.

Former Western Province and SA under-19 batsman Sybrand Engelbrecht pulled a short ball from Lungi Ngidi straight to Jansen on the deep square-leg boundary to depart for 19 before Teja Nidamanuru (20) was trapped plumb lbw by Jansen.

But Edwards led the fightback with a hooked six against Rabada and Van der Merwe slashed a Coetzee short ball over third for another maximum as the Proteas’ pace attack insisted on targeting the body rather than the stumps.

Victory for South Africa, far from certain, would maintain their 100 per cent record in the tournament and move them to the top of the log ahead of India and New Zealand on net run-rate while the Netherlands are still looking for their first victory after two defeats.

SOUTH AFRICA:Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wkt), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.

NETHERLANDS:Vikramjit Singh, Max ODowd, Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards (captain/wkt), Sybrand Engelbrecht, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren.