Geelong (Australia): Netherlands made heavy weather of a small target before eking out a five-wicket win against Namibia in the T20 World Cup here on Tuesday.
This is Netherlands’ second victory in as many games and keeps them firmly in contention for a place in the next round.
Netherlands dished out a fine bowling effort to restrict Namibia to 121 for six before taking the game deep. They completed the task in 19.3 overs in their first round Group A match.
Sitting pretty at 92 for one, Netherlands made a harakiri towards the end to allow Namibia to make a comeback.
Vikramjit Singh (39 off 31) and Max O’Dowd (35 off 35) got Netherlands’ chase off to a blazing start, sharing 59 runs for the opening wicket.
However, from 92 for one, Netherlands slumped to 101 for four, thanks to twin blows from left-arm pacer JJ Smit (2/24) in the 16th over.
Skipper Scott Edwards did no good and perished in the next over.
But Bas de Leede (30 not out off 30) held his nerves, and in the company of Tim Pringle (8 not out), saw Netherlands home with a 20-run stand.
Earlier, de Leede (2/18) shone with the ball as well, to help Netherlands restrict Namibia to the modest total.
Besides, Roelof van der Merwe (1/6), Pringle (1/15), Colin Ackermann (1/17) and Paul van Meekeren (1/18) also registered their names in the wicket column for Netherlands.
Electing to bat, Namibia endured a poor start, losing their first three wickets for 32 runs.
Jan Frylinck (43) tried to resurrect Namibia’s innings in the company of skipper Gerhard Erasmus’ (16) before de Leede accounted for both the batters in a span of three balls in the 19th over.
Michael van Lingen (20) and Stephan Baard (19) got starts at the top before being dismissed.
Wiese (11 not out) and Smit (5 not out) remained unbeaten for Namibia.
two wins from as many games, Netherlands topped Group A ahead of Namibia (2 points from 2 games), and are better placed to qualify for the Super 12 stage.
Netherlands had defeated the UAE by three wickets in their opener, while Namibia stunned Sri Lanka by 55 runs.
With two good outings, Netherlands skipper Edwards is eager to finish off their campaign on a positive note.
“We did well in terms of front-loading the runs. We knew Namibia had some great bowlers in those conditions. It’s well and truly in our hands, but for us, it’s just about winning the third game,” he said after the match.
Namibia captain Erasmus said batting was a bit difficult on this wicket.
Never nice to be on the losing side…With the bat it seemed difficult for both sides. They ran better. We tried our best,” he said.
Sri Lanka make strong comeback, beat UAE by 79
Surprised by Namibia in their tournament opener, Sri Lanka made a strong comeback, thrashing UAE by a massive 79 runs to better their net run rate, which got a beating in the first match.
Opener Pathum Nissanka hit a 60-ball 74 with the help of six boundaries and two hits over the fence to take Sri Lanka to 152 for 8.
It was a yet again an unimpressive batting display from Sri Lanka, as besides Nissanka, Dhananjaya de Silva (33) and Kusal Mendis (18) were the only two batters to register double digit scores.
Asked to bat, Sri Lanka were cruising at one stage at 92 for 2 before leg-spinner Karthik Meiyappan (3/19) claimed a hat-trick in the 15th over, dismissing Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka as the Islanders slumped to 117 for 5.
Despite wickets falling at the other end, Nissanka kept Sri Lanka’s scoreboard ticking and was the last to be dismissed in the penultimate ball of the innings, but not before helping his team cross the 15-run mark.
UAE never looked in the chase as right-arm fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera (3/15) inflicted the early damage with the wickets of Muhammad Waseem, Aryan Lakra and captain Chundangapoyil Rizwan to break the opponent’s backbone.
From there on it was always an uphill task for UAE as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals to be bowled out for 73 in 17.1 overs.
Aayan Afzal Khan (19) was the top-scorer for UAE.
Besides Chameera, leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva (3/8) and Maheesh Theekshana (2/15) also chipped in with a few wickets.
Sri Lanka will take on Netherlands in a must-win last group match on Thursday, while Namibia will be up against UAE.
—PTI

KR Desk