Dutch fall ten runs short
Published at 21 August, 2022The men's team has not succeeded in achieving what would have been an historic victory over Pakistan. Exceptional bowling and fielding restricted the visitors to 206, but the Dutch were unable to chase that score on a difficult track.
22 year-old Abdullah Shafique (2) was a bit unlucky when a Kingma delivery kept low.
Much to the delight of the Pakistani crowd, the upside of this event was that their national hero Babar Azam came to the crease.
However, Pakistan had difficulty scoring due to tight spells from both opening bowlers, Dutt and Kingma, assisted by several wonderful stops by Dutch fielders. The groundfielding was exceptional.
A huge stumping chance occurred in the fourteenth over. The generally ultra-reliable Scott Edwards spilled the chance to get rid of Fakhar Zaman.
The seasoned batsman (26) however did not make the most of his second life as a wild slog off Van Beek led to his demise: 57/2.
In this phase of the game the seamers took the wickets but the spinners were very economical.
Agha Salman and Babar Azam came to an end when Salman (24) became impatient and Van Beek caught him off the excellent Shariz Ahmad.
The young legspinner was also responsible for the fall of Khushdil Shah, this time as outfielder with a fantastic throw: 122/4.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Haris, in the team for Mohammad Rizwan, may have visualised a six over the sightscreen; the reality was that his mistimed lofted drive disappeared into Cooper’s safe hands: 135/5.
Even after 40 overs (152/5!) Pakistan was unable to accelerate. Crucially Aryan Dutt (1-34 off 10!) brilliantly caught and bowled Babar Azam (91) denying him his century.
The Netherlands had clearly thought the ‘death’ through. Van Beek (1-33), Kingma (2-15) and De Leede (3-50) very successfully used their full arsenal of offcutters, yorkers and slow bouncers. Pakistan’s disappointing end result was 206.
Netherlands innings
Naseem Shah, the revelation of the Series, and Shahnawaz Dahani opened the bowling for their country. Both were fast and Naseem seduced O’Dowd to edge one to second slip in the fifth over.
When Musa Ahmad (11) and Bas de Leede (5) lost their wickets quickly, Pakistan was on top. Singh and Cooper realised that a substantial partnership would be crucial for a successful runchase.
Singh took the initiative hammering Mohammad Wasim jr for three consecutive fours.
140 from thirty overs with seven wickets in hand should have been a walk in the park. But Pakistan sold their lives dearly.
The batsmen slowly gathered the needed runs, Singh reaching a patient 50 in the thirtieth over. With twenty overs to go, the Netherlands needed less than a hundred runs.
However, several balls later Singh (50) was dismissed when he was caught behind.
Edwards, too, was not to be a national hero. He played inside the line and was bowled by Naseem Shah: 116/5.
Shortly after, Cooper reached his fifty. With ten overs to go, the Netherlands needed 56.
Cooper’s partnership with Nidamanuru (24) was ended in the 45th over when Nidamanuru was bowled by player of the match Naseem Shah (5-33).
When Cooper (62) and Van Beek (8) both hit the ball into the hands of deep mid wicket, the Dutch knew that the chances of winning the match had reduced dramatically.
No miracles could be expected from the tailenders and they did not happen.
After the match captain Edwards was primarily full of praise for his players: “We’ve worked very hard over the summer and shown competitive cricket. It’s disappointing, but we’ll come out stronger.”
