Last ball thriller against Ireland
Published at 17 February, 2019In a thrilling last over wicketkeeper Stuart Poynter won the match for Ireland in their T20 encounter with The Netherlands in Oman. Ireland needed 183 runs to win (Netherlands 182/9, Visée 78, picture) and did exactly that. Despite The Netherlands picking up necessary wickets towards the end, Poynter hit a six off the last ball bowled by Paul van Meekeren to secure Ireland’s win.
This time The Netherlands had to bat first after Paul Stirling won the toss. Again a strong opening (119-1 after 9.2 overs, Visée 78 off 36 balls, 12×4, 3×6, O’Dowd 38) Ireland hauled itself back into the match by claiming 4 wickets in the space of 7 balls, old hands Ten Doeschate en Van der Merwe back to the pavilion without scoring. Handy runs by Seelaar (8), Van der Gugten (11) and Klaassen (9) towards the end meant a final total of 182/9.
Ireland also got their eye in quickly with Kevin O’Brien (46) and esp. no. 3 Andy Balbirnie with 83. Ireland looked on its way to victory, but The Netherlands bowled itself back into contention in the latter part of the match, Van Meekeren and Klaassen both with 2 wickets in 1 over. Van Meekeren bowled the last over, in which Ireland lost 2 wickets, but off the last ball Poynter produced exactly what was needed for the win.
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