Dutch women impress against Sri Lanka

At the Harare Sports Ground, the Netherlands won the toss and opted to field. According to experts of the local situation, the ball tends to move a lot in the morning hours. Seamers Iris Zwilling and Heather Siegers started with two excellent overs; both right arm over on the lefthanders and swinging a bit towards the batters.

However, they were confronted with the class of the number 16 in the world, Chamari Athapaththu. As soon as the line or length was not perfect, the opening bowlers were punished harshly. The damage was still limited because Silver Siegers and Frederique van Overdijk did an excellent job in the outfield.

On a total of 25, Iris Zwilling was unlucky when a close LBW shout was rejected. Later, at 93, legspinner Caroline de Lange was successful when she bowled opener Perera. At 103, De Lange also signed for the second wicket (stumping Babette de Leede).

That was Athapaththu's cue to shift into the next gear, but she was brilliantly caught on 111 by Robine Rijke on cow corner. It was 167/3 in the 24th over, so a total of 350-plus was still in the offing.

However, the Netherlands fought back very strongly. Imesha Dulani hit a half-tracker in the hands of Sterre Kalis at short extra cover: 173/4. At a score of 196 off 29, the run rate had already been reduced to 6.76 per over and a little later to 6.4.

At 227, Heather Siegers had a great stop in the covers and one stump to aim at. The captain didn't miss; five wickets down in the 36th over and even 247/6 in the fortieth as a result of Silver Siegers’ bowling. The Orange comeback was admirable. Silver Siegers finished with great numbers, getting 2-41 off 10 and Caroline de Lange even with 4-64 off her 10.

Both legspinners were now ready and the seamers came back. Iris Zwilling (1-53) bowled much better than her figures suggest. She earned a wicket and eventually got it when Juliët Post had a handsome stop in the covers followed by a fine catch. The other seamer, Heather Siegers, also finally got paid to work (1-42) when Eva Lynch picked up a good catch at long on on the very last ball of the innings: 278/9/50.

The Netherlands had halted Sri Lanka's flying start and reduced the run rate to just 5.56 per over, although chasing 278 would of course never be an easy task.

Innings Netherlands

Sri Lanka started with two left arm seamers, Prabodhani and Sewwani. After Juliët Post was cleaned by Prabodhani between bat and pad, Sterre Kalis came to the crease. What followed was a masterclass debating of the professional together with Babette de Leede. Almost every ball was at least a single and the required run rate rarely exceeded seven per over. Both players also punished the bad balls well with beautiful cover drives, straight drives and square cuts.

After a rain delay, Kalis and De Leede continued. They both reached their 50 and also their 100 partnership in quick succession. In the 32nd over, eight runs had already been scored when Babette de Leede (a great 77) hit one shot too many high to the fielder at cow corner who made a good catch: 154/2 in the 32nd over and a partnership of 141 runs.

When Sterre was also caught out after a solid 66 (170/4 after 36), it became a difficult story. After 43.4 overs it started to rain again. The Netherlands had shown character, put a very creditable 196 on the board and could leave the field with their heads held high. Sri Lanka won by 34 runs, according to the DLS method.

Coach Shane Deitz was impressed: “This was always going to be a tough match for us. What is pleasing is that we got into a position to win the game from being very much behind early on. Athapaththu is obviously a world class player and she dominated us early. There were some very close calls which didn’t go our way early in her innings which might have changed things, but her innings was a pleasure to watch. We did extremely well to restrict them to 278 after they were 230 from 35 overs.”

“During our chase we witnessed a brilliant 141 run partnership between Babette de Leede and Sterre Kalis which got us in a great position. Both players deserved a 100 and showed everyone the class that they have. After Babette’s dismissal we collapsed and unfortunately when bad light and rain came we were behind on the Duckworth Lewis score.”

“There were so many pleasing aspects of our game. We have shown we have the skills to match it with the top teams. We just need to be more consistent for longer periods which will come as the players gather more experience.”

“We are excited about the Ireland match on Thursday with so much to play for! It will be an amazing opportunity for us.”