Denmark and Finland: prey for Netherlands A
Published at 22 September, 2022In the morning hours on Wednesday, Denmark took on the Netherlands A for the second time. On Tuesday it was quite a close game (131-117), but on Wednesday the Netherlands A skittled out the Danes for only 78 – a score that the Orange passed in less than five (!) overs. After that Finland could not live up to its reputation: 154-62.
After the first over from Viv Kingma (0-21), who left the field injured, Denmark seemed to be heading for a solid total. However, Ryan Klein (2-7) took two wickets in his first over, a performance that was matched moments later by Clayton Floyd (3-11) and Philippe Boissevain (3-13). The latter also picked up a fantastic catch off his own bowling, diving full stretch to his left. Gorlee and Elenbaas took two catches each; Denmark was all out for 78.
After a few unsuccessful experiments with openers, Clayton Floyd was now chosen, who was almost halfway the target when he scored 31 off eight balls. Musa Ahmad was back in form with 36 off fourteen balls. The Netherlands A already passed the Danish total in the fifth over: 84/1.
Heavy defeat for Finland
Finland was of a different caliber - on paper at least, because the Finns were second behind the unbeaten Netherlands. The Orange, however, showed the Finns all corners of the field; Asad Zulfiqar 42 off 19, Boissevain 30 off 11, Braat 39 off 13 and Elenbaas 23 off six balls had strike rates of between 200 and 400, with sixteen sixes; Braat accounted for six of them. It was therefore not surprising that after ten overs there were 154 runs on the board.
Within five overs, three Finnish wickets fell, increasing the required runrate to more than twenty runs per over in no time. There was nothing to be gained for the Finns, who had made such a strong impression so far. The spinners were particularly effective: Boissevain 2-2, Floyd 2-6, Saqib 1-7, Dutt 1-10. Making 62/8, Finland did not reach half the Netherlands A score. Braat took four catches.
