Netherlands registered their first win of the T20 World Cup at the Adelaide Oval over Zimbabwe by chasing down a modest target of 118 with five wickets and 12 balls to spare.
Craig Ervine’s decision to bat first backfired rather quickly as pacers Brandon Glover and Paul van Meekeren made early inroads to leave Zimbabwe 20/3 with Wessly Madhevere (1), Ervine (3) and Regis Chakabva (5) back in the dugout.
Sean Williams (28 off 23) and Sikandar Raza (40 off 24) strung a 48-run partnership to help their side put 117 on the board.
For the Netherlands Paul van Meekeren (3/29), Bas de Leede (2/13), Brandon Glover (2/29) and Logan van Beek (2/17) helped bowl out Zimbabwe for a less-than-par score.
In reply, Max O’Dowd (52 off 32) and Tom Cooper (32 of 29) helped their side recover from the early wicket of Stephan Myburgh (8) scoring 73-runs for the second wicket to take a huge chunk out of the total.
With an easy win in their sights, the Dutch stuttered with quick wickets of Max O’Dowd, Tom Cooper, Colin Ackermann and Scott Edwards rattling them a little leading to a steady hand by Bas de Leede to help them guide home with 5 wickets still left in the tank.
The win over Zimbabwe was the first of the T20 World Cup Super 12 stage for the Netherlands and eliminates the African nation from unlikely semifinal contention which was kept alive due to their win over Pakistan.
