Clean sweep Emirates vs Netherlands
Published at 08 August, 2019Neterlands loses four in a row
The third and fourth T20 Internationals between home side the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates ended in a clean sweep for the visitors. On both days (6 & 8 August) at VCC in Voorburg, Ryan Campbells young squad had to surrender to the UAE. The highest score for the Netherlands was the one on the first day at VRA (168/4). At VCC the Dutch side could not come close to this total.
Captain Seelaar won both tosses and he chose to field first in the third T20I. This time his bowlers kept the UAE reasonably under control: 152/8, with Sebastiaan Braat (photo) bowling succesfully ánd economically with 3-26/4. The fielding again was of a high standard and the team conceded less extra's (6) than in the first two matches. Opener Asfaq added another good score to his already high totals of 54 and 25 in his first two outings with the bat. This time he reached 56 off 41 balls (5x4, 2x6). He ended up as one of Braat's victims. The chase by the men in orange was dominated by the efforts of Max O'Dowd with 65 runs off 54 balls. The other batsmen were rather too impatient; none of them getting to 20 or more, no sixes to be admired either, and the final total was 14 runs short: 138/9.
Two days later the Netherlands had a chance to bat first and get a higher total on the board. A pretty fiery start by openers O'Dowd (28) and Myburgh (25) meant an opening partnership of 46 for the first wicket (O'Dowd) in exactly 5 overs. However, the UAE bowlers, especially Asfaq Ahmed (1-20/4), restricted the Dutch batsmen to mainly boundaries 4. One huge six was produced by Tonny Staal, who with his powerful innings of 28* in 16 balls pepped up the score to 150/6. Still that total was not enough, as the Emirates won, albeit on the second-to-last ball of their innings. Asfaq Ahmed also used his bat effectively, producing the highest individual score of the series with a blistering 75 (11x4, 2x6), with which he steered his team to victory: 153/3.
