Mediocre fielding leads to Dutch downfall against Nepal
Published at 19 June, 2025The Dutch men's team lost the last T20I to Nepal. A below par score and two dropped catches led to a Nepalese victory.
Having won the toss, Nepal asked the Dutch to bat. Max O'Dowd was given a rest; his replacement Vikram Singh could have hit the ball over the infield, but found the hands of Airee at short mid wicket (1/1). Edwards was caught behind (33/3); just like in the match against Scotland, it was Michael Levitt who held his own. The strong VCC opener made 86 off 53 balls and has now made some 700 runs in this format.
At one point, Levitt had made more than 80% of the Dutch runs and it took until the tenth over for a second player - Saqib Zulfiqar - to reach double figures. Halfway through the innings, it was 99/4. A partnership of 63 runs led to 108/5. 200 was still on the cards, provided the Dutch had wickets in hand. However, that turned out to be a difficult task: after fifteen overs, seven wickets were down (129/7) and the run rate had also dropped considerably to 8.6.
Roelof van der Merwe's experience (36 not out) came in handy when reaching the twenty overs. 174/7 was the end result thanks to a partnership of 45 runs with Aryan Dutt, who was unbeaten on 17.
Nepal's innings
8.7 runs per over was required for the Nepalese. Nepal lost Sheikh, but were otherwise well on course for a win as it was 60/1 after the Powerplay. One fast medium bowler, two medium pacers and five spinners had to do the job for the Dutch. Van der Merwe tossed one against the wide line and an inside edge from debutant Sharki (27) did the rest (76/2).
Bhurtel was dropped in the outfield on a personal score of 44, a potentially crucial miss. When Bhurtel was on 65, Noah Croes was given a second chance which he gladly took (141/4).
However, Bhurtel had already more or less put Nepal in a winning position. The Netherlands still had another chance in the outfield for a breakthrough - Aarif Sheikh on 35 - but this too went down. Sheikh retired hurt shortly afterwards after a dodgy second run - a missed run-out chance - and a muscle injury.
Seven runs were asked from the last over. The first and fourth balls went over the boundary for six runs. Nepal thus profited optimally from the mistakes of the Dutch.
All in all, it was an intensive tour with mixed results and useful experience for many players who often just miss the squad. Hopefully the injured players will be fit in time for the European Qualifier in early July.
Photo credit: Cricket Scotland / Ian Jacobs
