No 'Muscat Miracle', UAE beats the Netherlands

On the picturesque field of the Oman Cricket Academy southwest of the capital Muscat, it was 33 degrees. The Netherlands started with three seamers (Van Meekeren, Van der Gugten, De Leede) and three spinners (Van der Merwe, Dutt, Shariz). No Kyle Klein - although he would come in as a substitute fielder for the injured Michael Levitt - or Viv Kingma. The batting line-up was lacking Colin Ackermann, who will be able to travel later and join the team.

Captain Scott Edwards fielded first after winning the toss. On 36, it was the returning Timm van der Gugten who made the first breakthrough. After the fall of the second wicket (50/2, Suri 25), it took a while for the Dutch to strike again. Roelof van der Merwe took a beautiful catch at fine leg off the bowling of Bas de Leede (82/3/23.3). A lightning-fast stumping by Edwards meant 86/4. 

Thanks to strong bowling in the middle overs, the run rate had dropped to around three runs per over.  A loosener by Shariz led to 102/5 thanks to a poor shot that was picked up by Bas de Leede at mid wicket. 

Shortly thereafter, the same fielder missed a difficult catching opportunity. Unfortunately for the Dutch this event heralded the biggest partnership of the UAE-innings: 97 off just over eleven overs. Captain Rahul Chopra (78 off 67 balls) riposted with three sixes in the same over and was not dismissed until the 45th over. 

Thanks to wickets from Van Meekeren, Dutt and Van der Merwe, the acceleration was eventually stopped. Of the seven bowlers who were deployed, six were successful. Of them, Van der Merwe 2-29, De Leede 1-25 and Van der Gugten 1-26 were the most economical. Van Meekeren (2-59) was a bit more expensive, but took the possible crucial wicket of Chopra.

Innings Netherlands 

Muhammad Waseem seemed to have success with his constant chirping against the Dutch opening pair (22/2). The ball often stayed a bit lower than in the first innings, as Noah Croes found out (29/3).

A major partnership was needed, at a good pace. Scott Edwards (51) and Bas de Leede (66) made exactly 100 runs for the fourth wicket, but when both batsmen went LBW, things got tricky. Timm van der Gugten (22 not out) provided the proverbial glimmer of hope, but on 214 the curtain fell for the Dutch against last-placed UAE. Ali Naseer took 4-26 for the Emirates. 

On Tuesday, November 5, the Netherlands will play its second 50-over game against Oman, starting at 07:00 CET.