Before a ball was bowled at the Twenty20 World Cup, the Netherlands were rocked by accusations from within their own camp of cheating to squeeze Australian batsman Tom Cooper into their squad.

Now, with Cooper starring at every turn through the qualifying rounds, they’ve conjured a record-breaking comeback victory over Ireland to qualify for the elite Super 10 stage of the competition – with a belief they’ve got a big scalp in their sights.

“Definitely – out of all the forms Twenty20 is the easiest form to be able to create an upset,” Cooper said when asked about the potential for upsets in their four remaining clashes, including against heavyweights Sri Lanka and South Africa.

“You only need one or two guys to have a day out and anything can happen.

“We can just relax now and let natural ability take over. Hopefully a few of the boys can do what we’ve done (against Ireland), and if not beat a few top sides at least give them a couple of scares along the way.”

Cooper was unwittingly caught up in the scandal which saw Tim Gruijters post a YouTube video in which the disgruntled allrounder called Dutch officials a disgrace and accused them of bullying him into having scans on a back injury.

Gruijters was ultimately ruled out of the tournament, opening up a spot for the Wollongong-born Cooper.

The Netherlands’ coaching staff disputed the claims, and were cleared of wrongdoing by the International Cricket Council.

“On that, I was just fortunate to get the call-up. It hasn’t been too much of a distraction,” he said.

Cooper thrust himself front and centre in the Netherlands’ staggering win on Friday night, in which they chased down 190 in just 13.5 overs.

Needing to reach the target within 14.2 overs to lift their run rate sufficiently and top their qualifying group, the Dutch were well led by man-of-the-match Stephan Myburgh (63 off 23) and Peter Borren (31 off 15) before Cooper unleashed.

The 27-year-old blasted 45 off just 15 balls, taking particular liking to offspinner George Dockrell – smashing four consecutive sixes to start an over.

“The most disappointing thing was that the fifth ball (of that over) was in the slot and I didn’t get it,” Cooper joked.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s one of those things where everything just aligned perfectly, I guess. On most days you’d struggle to chase that total in 20 overs, so to do it in 14.2 was unbelievable.”