Third defeat of Netherlands U18 in South Africa versus Somerset School
Published at 03 March, 2023The third match was played on the campus of Somerset School, which again was a fabulous place to play cricket. After posting a total of 178 runs (40 over game), the boys put up a great fight defending this total taking 7 wickets before Somerset managed to score the winning runs in the 34th over.
Losing the toss meant that the Dutch Lions U18 were asked to bat first. The young men in orange had a slow start and were 60/3 after 20 overs. Teun Leijer showed his promotion to batter number 5 was the right thing to do and whilst the team lost another three wickets, he managed to score an inspiring 68 runs off 73 balls, which brought the total on 178.
After a short break, Somerset started to bat aggressively. The rumour was they did a ‘Spankenburgje’ over the weekend (i.e. they won against a supposedly much stronger opponent) and especially the top order played a big role in that win. But, Jens Blankenstein already got two earlier wickets, including the wicket of Somersets best batter. From the other bowlers, Roman Harhangi would end with 4-38 in 8 overs, and was deprived from a five-for, because the field could not hold on to some seemingly easy catches. That costed the Dutch team also the match in the end. With a boundary Somerset passed the total of 178 runs in the 34th over.
On Friday the last match of this tour will be played versus Rondebosch School. A strong opponent on paper, but the boys may be encouraged by Wednesday’s performance.
