Chances of the Dutch U19s at the World Cup are dwindling despite a heroic battle against Scotland
Published at 09 August, 2023The Netherlands U19 has lost to Scotland and thus reduced its chances of World Cup qualification. However, the Scots were not given the win. The Dutch made serious efforts to chase the 296 Scottish runs and ended up with 250. The 16-year-old lefthander Cedric de Lange made a beautiful century.
The Scots got off to a good start against the Netherlands. According to scores from Alex Price (82) and Bahadar Esakhiel (55), there is depth in the batting line-up. In the slotovers, Teun Leijer and Michael Molenaar were tackled by Mackenzie Jones (40 from 20 balls). With 196/3 in just under forty overs, the Scottish total was set at 296/8. Although Teun Leijer was expensive, he took four wickets.
Cedric de Lange opened excellently. With Udit Nashier he had a partnership of 60 for the third wicket and with Teun Kloppenburg another 68 for the fourth wicket. The only 16-year-old lefthander from VCC has already played 49 games this year and now made his season-high (103).
At 193/7 with the fast scoring Kloppenburg (42 from 38 balls) out, it seemed game over for the Orange. Jacobus Nel (18) and Aaditt Jain (30) still believed in the win and together made 45 runs for the eighth wicket. When they both went out, the Dutch hope was over.
Earlier this week, the European U19 Qualifier in the Netherlands had a wet start. Despite the hard work of the ground staffs of VOC, Excelsior and VCC, heavy overnight rain meant that the games on Sunday, August 6 could not take place. On Monday, however, a bright sun smiled at the cricketers. Our U19 were “itching to go” as witnessed by their great performance against Guernsey, going all out for 46. In the attack of the Netherlands, Michael Molenaar, son of former VCC member Maarten, took 3-16 and Teun Leijer 2-9. The Dutch beat Guernsey in 11.5 overs.
Scotland did much better against Jersey. Mainly thanks to opener Jamie Dunk (87) and Mackenzie Jones (63 in 58 balls), the Scots scored 276. For Jersey, Louis Kelly took 5-42. With a total of 206 (William Perchard 64), Jersey then came up short to make the Scots really nervous.
The Netherlands U19 must now hope for a misstep by Scotland, which still has to face Norway and Italy. On Thursday, August 10, the Netherlands U19 will play against Jersey (at VCC) and on August 12 against Norway at Excelsior '20 in Schiedam.
