Zimbabwe beats Netherlands in T20 World Cup Qualifier final

The Dutch men have not managed to win an otherwise fantastic tournament. In a well-attended final at the Queens Sports Club at Bulawayo , the Dutch limited Zimbabwe to 132 runs. Batting, however, the Dutch had an off-day; they were all out for 95.

Zimbabwe won the toss and batted first. The openers Chakabva and Ervine started in top gear. With a reverse sweep for six off Pringle and a ramp shot off Van Beek, Chakabva made Zimbabwe's intentions clear.

Logan van Beek was praised throughout the tournament for his change of pace. He illustrated that those praises were justified, by fooling captain Ervine in the third with a nice offcutter: 30/1 after three overs.

Van Meekeren was greeted by Chakabva with a six over long on. Zimbabwe's tactics were clear: Chakabva would throw the proverbial kitchen sink at the ball. However, that tactic could be thrown in the bin when Bas de Leede got Chakabva LBW in the fifth over (42/2).

Madhevere pulled his first ball for four, but moments later he hit a full toss from Pringle into the hands of Van Beek at deep square leg. It was 54/3 after seven overs. The Netherlands was on top at this stage, although a dangerous partnership between Williams and Raza was lurking.

Legspinner Shariz Ahmad bowled four short balls and went for thirteen runs. Left arm spinner Pringle looked a lot steadier. With a very economical over (two runs) he ensured that halfway through the innings the score was 78/3.

Shariz (1-26) retaliated for his mediocre first over by getting Williams caught at deep mid wicket. It was 93/4 in the twelfth over. One of the things that the Netherlands did very well this tournament was breaking partnerships.

Logan van Beek was rewarded for another excellent spell when he tricked Milton Shumba with (again) an offcutter which went straight into the air and was caught by keeper Edwards, a ball later followed by Sikander Raza who was given LBW. Zimbabwe were six wickets down.

Ryan Burl and Tony Munyonga seemed like the last dangerous partnership that had to be broken. However, they did not manage to rotate the strike and at the first real attempt to be more aggressive Munyonga was clean bowled by his fellow all-rounder Bas de Leede. 111/7 in the sixteenth over will not have been a score that had been in the minds of the hosts.

The Netherlands was helped by Luke Jongwe when he settled for a single on a seemingly obvious two. Alert work by Fred Klaassen and Logan van Beek resulted in Burl's run out.

Van Beek finished his four overs with excellent figures: 3-18. It was up to Van Meekeren and Klaassen to bowl the two final overs.

Van Meekeren was successful, bowling right arm over to lefthander Masakadza, with a number of swings and misses, and later in the over he trapped righthander Jongwe in front: 113/9. Klaassen (1-29) was eventually successful when he had Masakadza caught behind in the final over. That meant all six Dutch bowlers took at least one wicket. Zimbabwe was all out for 132.

Netherlands innings
Zimbabwe started with two spinners: Madhevere and Masakadza. Masakadza was immediately attacked by O'Dowd, but Madhevere was successful in the third over when he first got O'Dowd (12) LBW and then Bas de Leede.

It was 17/2 in the third over: a great opportunity for Stephan Myburgh and Tom Cooper to show their skills. After the first powerplay, the score was 43/2 and it was anybody's game. Shortly afterwards, however, a misunderstanding and a brilliant throw by Milton Shumba led to Tom Cooper's crucial run out.

Soon the reverse sweep came out of captain Edwards' knapsack. At the other side, Myburgh (22) did his best to maintain the strike rate, but he too was given LBW: 54/4 in the tenth over.

We had hardly seen Teja Nidamanuru as a batsman, but now he had to work hard to pull the Netherlands out of the pit. Edwards, however, saw a top edge fall into the hands of the short fine leg. Moments later, Logan van Beek tried a reverse sweep off Raza, but saw his legstump being uprooted.

Pringle (bowled for 4) made a failed attempt to bring the Netherlands back into the match. One ball later, Fred Klaassen became the fourth LBW victim on the Dutch side. It was 62/8 after fourteen overs.

Partly in view of the required runrate, which had meanwhile risen to more than fifteen runs per over, it was clear that the Netherlands would no longer overcome the collapse, even when Nidamanuru and Van Meekeren both hit a six in the seventeenth over. On a second attempt to clear the boundary, Van Meekeren (10) was caught.

Despite an attempt by Nidamanuru (21 of 27 balls, the fifth LBW), the Netherlands was all out for 95. Offspinner Sikandar Raza took 4-8.

All in all, the Netherlands played a solid tournament in which the goal – qualification for the T20 World Cup – was achieved. As a losing finalist, the Netherlands will be added to a group with Namibia, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates in October.