4 Associate Nations you may not know have a World Cup victory to their name
The Associate Nations gain a huge amount of attention when they take part in the Cricket World Cup. Teams like Afghanistan and Ireland have achieved Test status due to their performances in the limited overs cricket.
While the Afghan team did not perform well at their only World Cup, the Irish team are known as the giant killers of the Cricket World Cup. Unfortunately, there will no associate nation in the 2019 World Cup as it has been reduced to a 10-team tournament which resulted in even the Test playing nations like Zimbabwe and Ireland missing out on a spot.
However, in the history of the World Cup, the associate nations have left their mark and four of them were lucky to earn a victory at the grandest stage.
Here is a list of the four Associate Nations who have won a World Cup match -
(Note - This list only considers the 50 overs World Cup and the Associate nations who have not achieved Test status yet)
#1 The Netherlands - 2 victories
The European nation made its maiden World Cup appearance in 1996, but registered its first victory in the 2003 World Cup. Playing against minnows Namibia, Kloppenburg and van Noortwijk's centuries helped the Netherlands score a mammoth 314/4 in their 50 overs.
Kloppenburg displayed phenomenal bowling skills too as he scalped 4 Namibian wickets in the second innings. He was ably supported by Adeel Raja's 4 wicket haul as the Dutch won the match by 64 runs.
In the next World Cup in 2007, the Netherlands won their second ever World Cup match when they defeated Scotland in a group stage match. Bowling first, they bowled out the Scottish team for just 136 to chase down the target losing just 2 wickets in 23.5 overs.
Stelling's 3 wicket haul helped Netherlands register their second victory in World Cup match. However, the team failed to win a single match in the 2011 World Cup and has not qualified for the event ever since.