Netherlands A defeated in thrilling final of Dream11 European Cricket Championship
Published at 19 October, 2024Netherlands A has reached the final of the Dream11 European Cricket Championship on Saturday evening, October 19, 2024. However, England proved to be too strong – just like in 2023: 159 - 145.
As usual, England, which won the toss, started full throttle. At 93/2/6, the innings could still go either way. Johnny Connell (89 of 32) made more than half of the English runs, 159/3. Ben Fletcher (1-19) and Sikander Zulfiqar (1-24) were effective and relatively economical.
A target of 160 under lights and on the strong English attack would never be a walk in the park. In any case, 14/2 of the first over was not in the script of coaches Fletcher and Kuhn. The Ahmad brothers (Shariz 26, Musa 39) brought Netherlands A to a more promising 53/3/3.2.
After their wickets had fallen, however, things got worse, partly due to creative fielding positions by the English. A good eighth over from batsman Sebastiaan Braat led to the task of making 41 runs from the last two overs – difficult, but not impossible. However, the captain's heroic attempt (31 off eleven balls) stranded at 145/8 as England deservedly retained its European title.
Earlier in the day: England defeats the Netherlands to reach the final
The teams had already met earlier on Saturday. Unlike on Friday and Saturday evening, Sebastiaan Braat won the toss and chose to bat first. Clayton Floyd (31 off nineteen) and Musa Ahmad (45 off sixteen balls, 6x6) contributed significantly to the final score of Netherlands A: 147/5.
Given the course of the tournament, however, that score probably wouldn't be enough. Two dropped skiers didn't seem too expensive (Connell 56 off 18 balls), but the score 46/0/2 didn't bode well. The three Dutch spinners went for 20.6 runs per over. The Dutch conceded seventeen sixes. England reached the target in 8.1 overs. Only both Hermes DVS seamers Braat (1-14) and Elenbaas (1-13) held their own in the attack and Elenbaas could have rewarded himself with a caught and bowled.
Rematch against Scotland
The rematch against Scotland went more according to plan and in this match the spinners bowled excellently. The start of the Dutch batting was weak - with Musa Ahmad being bizarrely caught by the keeper - but Shariz Ahmad 48 (13), Noah Croes 37 (12) and the Zulfiqar brothers - Sikander 51* (16), Saqib 35* (12) - put things in order. The target for the Scots was set at 194 runs.
Ben Fletcher (bowling) and Sebastiaan Braat (catching) gave Netherlands A a dream start with the first ball. Unfortunately for the Dutch, the second ball resulted in a dropped catch; the third disappeared into the Andalusian hilly landscape.
However, Scotland couldn't get over the sluggish start, despite an impressive 52 (14 balls, 7x6) from Chris McBride. At 123/9, Scotland had to leave the win to the Netherlands A thanks to Shariz Ahmad 2-9, Arnav Jain 2-15 and Braat 2-20 plus three catches.
