Dutch lose despite individual highlights Nidamanuru, Engelbrecht, Kyle Klein
Published at 07 January, 2024The Dutch men have lost their second T20 friendly match in South Africa. This time, the Netherlands batted first. Nidamanuru (40) and Engelbrecht (38) were the main contributors to the total of 148/8. In reply, Sunrisers Eastern Cape took advantage of inconsistent Dutch bowling and fielding.
Nidamanuru (40 off 21) played, apart for a mistimed pull shot that cost him his wicket, a nice attacking innings. Nidamanuru and Edwards (23) added 48 runs for the fourth wicket; Engelbrecht (38) and Vikram Singh (15) another 43 for the sixth.
Sarel Erwee started with two boundaries off Daniel Doram. In the over that followed, Rossington got away with a close LBW shout from Paul van Meekeren. The batters created a major opening partnership until Erwee was replaced by Hermann.
Just like in the first warm-up game, Kyle Klein (2-25 in four) bowled excellently. He was rewarded when Rossington (19) edged a ball to Edwards (75/1/10.1). Shariz Ahmad bowled Hermann before Sunrisers Eastern Cape took control of the game. Abell was dropped twice in a below-par fielding performance by the Dutch, but mainly due to former Excelsior-player Tristan Stubbs (46 off 21) - who was also dropped on 23 - Sunrisers won in the seventeenth over.
In the spirit of the friendly match, Sunrisers Eastern Cape batted on after surpassing the Dutch score. It eventually reached a total of 186 runs. Interestingly enough, the catching of the Dutch got significantly better in this phase, with fine outfield catches by Paul van Meekeren, Shariz Ahmad and Noah Croes.
