Netherlands levels the score: 2-2
Published at 30 June, 2022The Netherlands womens team has leveled the T20I Series against Namibia. Namibia posted a challenging target of 131 runs. Thanks to aggressive batting and excellent running between the wickets, the Dutch stayed ahead of their DLS target before the rain untimely ended the match.
Winning the toss meant that the Netherlands bowled first. They started strongly when Heather Siegers caught opening batter Van der Merwe already in the second over off Eva Lynch’s bowling.
In the fifth over, Hannah Landheer struck twice. Her ‘scalps’ were not the least: the potentially dangerous Wittmann and Green, who were both back in the VCC pavilion with low scores.
Although the fourth wicket was taken - Diergaardt caught by Annemijn Thomson - the Dutch bowlers could not get a grip on Yasmeen Khan who recorded a flawless half century (69 off 44 balls) in an attractive tempo from a Namibian perspective.
Edelle Van Zyl was run out due to a wonderful throw from Frédérique Overdijk. Although towards the end Iris Zwilling (3-22) took three wickets thanks to catches by Hannah Landheer (2x) and Sterre Kalis, Namibia reached the week’s top score, setting the Dutch a solid target of 131 runs.
Dutch innings
A cunning plan to let Caroline de Lange open the batting unfortunately did not have the desired effect.
However, looking at history, the Kalis/ De Leede tandem would have to be successful sooner or later. They made a quick 57 for the second wicket. The partnership came to an end through an alert fielding action by Mwatile who ran out Kalis (27 off 20 balls).
However, Babette de Leede (33 not out off 38 balls) stood firmly and added enough runs for the victory: 71/2 off eleven overs.
A setback was the ankle injury of Heather Siegers who will now miss Friday morning’s decider.
