Dutch women’s team gets away with a scare against reborn Hong Kong
Published at 18 June, 2024A reborn Hong Kong almost won the second HCLTech T20I against the Netherlands on Tuesday. After the heavy defeat on Monday, the Asians made 106 runs in fourteen overs on Tuesday. The Dutch had their backs against the wall at 24/3, but – not for the first time – found their matchwinner in Sterre Kalis (62*).
Due to rain, the match on Tuesday was shortened to fourteen overs. Hong Kong was sent in. Iris Zwilling took Mariko Hill's wicket on the second ball with a fantastic outswinger. After that, however, Hong Kong took control with daring batting and a large number of boundaries. Although there were occasional Dutch successes to celebrate – two wickets for Silver Siegers, a catch and a run out by Sanya Khurana, two catches and a stumping by keeper Babette de Leede – Hong Kong set a hefty target of 107 runs, with Natasha Miles (51) as the top scorer. Hong Kong hit twelve fours, Silver Siegers took 2-18.
Netherlands innings
Partly due to good bowling and fielding by the visitors, the Netherlands' response started slowly. On fifteen two top wickets were down and a third fell on 24. At the same time, this poor start offered the younger players a great opportunity to showcase their skills. Phebe Molkenboer (12) started well and appeared to hit a six, but Ka Y Chan took a great catch on the deep mid wicket boundary (50/4). Hong Kong was on top.
Cracking boundaries by Frédérique Overdijk and Sterre Kalis in the tenth over brought the Netherlands back into the game, but one over later Overdijk was out LBW (76/5). However, Kalis was now playing freely and showed her class with even more boundaries, followed by singles off the last ball of the over so that she kept the strike. Myrthe van den Raad supported Kalis perfectly in this. Kalis, who cleverly played the slow balls late, kept the innings together with a match winning 62 not out off 43 balls. The acceleration was remarkable: overs 9, 10, 11 and 13 yielded a total of 48 runs.
On Wednesday, June 19, the last two T20Is against Hong Kong are scheduled, the first at 11:00 a.m. and the second at 3:00 p.m.
