Dutch women escape against Italy: 108-106
Published at 19 December, 2023On the third day of the T10 European Cricket Championship Women in Malaga, the Netherlands recorded two more victories. In the chilly morning hours, host country Spain was easily defeated 161-43. In the afternoon however, Italy offered considerably more resistance: 108-106.
Openers Iris Zwilling and Robine Rijke did not hold back against Spain. Zwilling reached her 50 in eighteen balls, moments later the 100 came on the board for the Dutch in only 4.4 (!) overs. A little later, Rijke was beautifully caught on the long on-boundary for 41 off just 21 balls (121/1). The final score was 161/2, with Zwilling (79 off 34 balls!) falling on the very last ball of the innings.
The inexperienced Spanish could not be expected to be chase this monster score. Hillman-Bermejo made 24 and Davidson-Soler accounted for the best cover drive of the morning, but Spain could only manage 43/4, thanks in part to a direct hit by Donna Polet and good wicketkeeping by Rosalie Lawrence. All Dutch bowlers were economical; Merel Dekeling and Robine Rijke took the two Spanish wickets.
Italy
In the afternoon, Italy lived up to its reputation of 'best of the rest'. The Netherlands won the toss and decided to bat. With Robine Rijke (11 off 6) out it was 37/1/2.1. It even became 55/2 when Iris Zwilling (25 off 12) was caught on the long off-boundary. On paper, the Netherlands was still looking at a total of around 130 runs, but due to strong Italian bowling, the scoreboard stalled at 108/4, with Annemijn Thomson (30 out of 22) as the top scorer.
The dangerous Rathnayake mowed over a full toss by Caroline de Lange and Hannah Landheer got Nanayakkara (31 off sixteen) caught behind, but due to a number of misfields and dropped catching opportunities, Italy did not have much trouble making about ten runs per over. Thanks to an effective spell by Landheer (1-12 in two overs), the Netherlands came back into the game. Italy had to make 25 runs in the last two overs and thirteen from the final over. Thanks to the nerves of steel of Robine Rijke (0-14 in two), the Azzurri didn't succeed: 106/2. Emilia Bartram remained not out with 32.
Follow the tournament here: https://www.ecn.cricket/series/european-cricket-championship-w-2023-4512/scores-fixtures
Photo credit: European Cricket/Diana Oros
