Qualification for Super Eight difficult as Bangladesh beats Netherlands
Published at 13 June, 2024The Netherlands has been unable to win the crucial T20 World Cup game against Bangladesh. In the Arnos Vale stadium, the Dutch (134/8) were unable to chase 159 Bengali runs.
There is a chain of islands in the Caribbean. One of these is Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. At the southern end of the main island is the Arnos Vale Stadium, which is used for both cricket and football.
In this hot setting – it was 28 degrees – the Netherlands opted for fielding after winning the toss. An understandable choice, since it was unknown what the pitch would do. Fielding offspinner Aryan Dutt in the team for Teja Nidamanuru was also a logical intervention, given the large number of lefthanders in the Bangladesh team.
Aryan Dutt was pleased to see captain Najmul Shanto play a reverse sweep that was well caught by Vikram Singh at slip (3/1). Viv Kingma was attacked by Tanzid. An over later Dutt (2-17) took his second wicket (Litton Das) thanks to a fantastic diving catch by Sybrand Engelbrecht at deep square leg.
Bangladesh moved swiftly to 66/2/7. Bas de Leede helped Van Meekeren (2-15) on his first wicket with a catch in the outfield (71/3, Tanzid 35). When Tim Pringle was involved in the attack, it was 89/4 (Hridoy). The fall of this fourth wicket brought the two most experienced Bangladesh players to the pitch: 37-year-old Shakib (64 not out from 46 balls) and 38-year-old Mahmudullah (25). They made a quickfire partnership of 41 runs for the fifth wicket. Bangladesh closed the innings on 159/5.
Netherlands innings
Michael Levitt (18) showed a glimpse of his class, survived a close run out, but was caught in the fifth over (22/1). Max O'Dowd (12) played two beautiful cover drives before he was beautifully caught and bowled (32/2).
Vikram Singh (26 off sixteen, with three sixes) and Sybrand Engelbrecht - who survived a huge run out chance - added 37 runs for the third wicket in only 3.5 overs.
Engelbrecht continued convincingly with Edwards; 56 runs of 36 balls required. Although the groundfielding was good, the Netherlands occasionally managed to find the boundary before Engelbrecht (33 off 22) was caught (111/4).
When Edwards fell for 25, the Netherlands had lost three wickets for six runs. Hopes were pinned on Logan van Beek and Tim Pringle. However, Mustafizur Rahman (1-12 in four!) varied his speed so well that scoring runs proved very difficult. 43 runs in three overs proved to be too much of a task. The Netherlands managed 134/8 (Dutt 15 not out). Legspinner Rishad Hossain took 3-33.
