Cooper and Klaassen secure solid win over Uganda

The Netherlands has also won the third meeting in the group stage of the T20 World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. Thanks to 81 runs from Tom Cooper, the men in Orange made 187 runs. Uganda only managed 90/9 due to left arm seamer Fred Klaassen who bowled brilliantly for his 5-19.

The last match in the group stage was against the number two of the group. If all went well, Uganda could still qualify for the semi-finals, so the Netherlands was facing a motivated Ugandan team.

Uganda, who won the toss, will have drawn hope from the early fall of the wicket of Myburgh, and in the seventh over from the wicket of Bas de Leede, who ‘walked’ on a faint edge. It was 46/2.

Tom Cooper came to keep O'Dowd company. O'Dowd, the man in form, didn't even do crazy things. Singles were interspersed with boundaries in all corners of the field. It all looked very controlled.

At the other end Tom Cooper played a fantastic innings. He had most of the strike and played several beautiful shots, including a perfectly placed cover drive in the fifteenth over.

At this stage, it was mainly Cooper who showed his class with a series of boundaries. The four over the top with which he brought his fifty on the board almost beheaded the umpire.

Cooper’s ramp shots in the eighteenth over were also executed perfectly, followed by a reverse sweep for six off medium pacer Bilal Hassun. With twenty runs of the over, Cooper even overtook O'Dowd.

O'Dowd finally fell in the nineteenth for a rock-solid 73 of 57 balls.

Cooper finished his innings with a six off the last ball of the innings and scored 83 not out off just 42 balls. The Netherlands 187/3.

Uganda innings
Fred Klaassen gave the Netherlands a dream start. With the first two balls he cleaned up the numbers one (Mukasa) and three (Patel). In his second over, he struck twice again.

In only the fifth over, stand-in captain Waiswa became Klaassen's fifth victim. His top edge ended up in the hands of Aryan Dutt.

Parallel to this wicket loss, the required runrate quickly rose. It was clear that the late middle order and tailenders did not have the quality to get close to the Dutch score.

Nakrani and Ali Shah made a partnership of 36 runs, but by T20 standards it was excruciatingly slow. Aryan Dutt (1-20) ended that partnership in the fourteenth over when Edwards stumped Nakrani; a performance he repeated in the fifteenth over off the bowling of Shariz Ahmad, followed by a handsome catch off the bowling of De Leede in the eighteenth. De Leede (2-11) took his second wicket in the final over, but Klaassen (5-19) was the star of the morning. Uganda 90/9.

On Friday, July 15, group winner the Netherlands will play the semifinal against the loser of Zimbabwe - United States.

Photo: ICC