Netherlands start T20 World Cup Qualifier with win over Kenya
Published at 18 October, 2019A strong all-round performance by the Netherlands resulted in a 30-run win over Kenya. Defending 166 runs the Dutch bowlers came out with aggression and intent. After one over of spin by Roelof van der Merwe, pacers Fred Klaassen, Paul van Meekeren, Timm van der Gugten and Brandon Glover took over and made sure Kenya faced an uphill battle when just 48 runs came off the first 10 overs. Kenyan batsmen Obuya and Patel were not giving up without a fight however. It took a brilliant catch by Klaassen off his own bowling in the 17th to get rid of the former and when he took another wicket two balls later, the Dutch knew they were in the driving seat. The last two overs only went for 8 runs as the Netherlands booked their first win of the tournament, Kenya 136/8.
van Meekeren 4-27/4
Klaassen 2-23/3
Glover 1-19/4
van der Merwe 1-15/3
van der Gugten 1-23/3
Openers Tobias Visée and Max O’Dowd had given the Netherlands a familiar flying start after Pieter Seelaar opted to bat first. When Visée fell for 20, Ben Cooper and O’Dowd kept the scoreboard ticking with O’Dowd reaching his 50 off 40 balls. Cooper 36(28) and Ryan ten Doeschate then departed in quick succession which could have started a mini-collapse, but when Seelaar replaced O’Dowd 53(46) and joined Roelof van der Merwe, together the pair added another 40 runs in the last 4 overs, putting up a defendable total of 166/4.
O’Dowd 53
Cooper 36
Seelaar 24*
van der Merwe 21*
Visée 20
The Man of the Match award went to Max O’Dowd for his 53 not out of 40 balls.
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Head coach Ryan Campbell: "I'm very pleased with this win. We saw in the result earlier in the day [when Singapore beat Scotland] that the so-called smaller teams can knock-over the big guys. I’m pleased that we put everything behind us from the lead up [Netherlands lost three out of four games in Oman and both warm-up games in the UAE]. We felt we were ready. There’s a great vibe within in the group and I thought we batted really well. We lost a few wickets in the middle and we could have had a few more runs, but I think from the bowling side of things it was absolutely unbelievable. If you can keep a team to 48 in the first 10 overs I think you should win the game. Some of the catching was outstanding, especially the catch Freddie Klaassen took off his own bowling. One down, but it’s just a start. We need to win six games straight up if we want to go to Australia and that’s our goal.”
Captain Pieter Seelaar: “It wasn’t easy, this tournament is going to be tough. But the boys pulled through. A special mention to Freddie Klaassen who bowled that 17th over and took a brilliant caught & bowled that set us up for a great win”.
