ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Netherlands captain Edwards pleased with 5-wicket win over Namibia
Netherlands made heavy weather of a small target before eking out a five-wicket win over Namibia to register their second consecutive victory in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Geelong on Tuesday.
FollowNetherlands defeated Namibia by five wickets on Tuesday in Geelong to win their second straight match at the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.Â
Scott Edward's team dished out a fine bowling effort to restrict Namibia to 121 for six before taking the game deep. They completed the task in 19.3 overs in their first-round Group A match.
At 92 to 1, Netherlands made a harakiri in the last minutes to give Namibia a chance to score.
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Vikramjit Singh (39 off 31) and Max O'Dowd (35 off 35) shared 59 runs for the first wicket to get Netherlands' chase off to a flying start.
The left-arm pacer Johannes Jonathan Smit (2/24) delivered two knocks in the 16th over, reducing Netherlands from 92 for one to 101 for four.
Skipper Scott Edwards did no good and perished in the next over.
However, Bas de Leede (30 not out off 30) maintained his composure and, along with Tim Pringle (8 not out), guided Netherlands to victory with a 20-run stand.
Earlier, de Leede (2/18) shone with the ball to help Netherlands restrict Namibia to a modest total.
Besides, Roelof van der Merwe (1/6), Pringle (1/15), Colin Ackermann (1/17) and Paul van Meekeren (1/18) also registered their names in the wicket column for Netherlands.
Namibia, who decided to bat, got off to a bad start, losing their first three wickets for 32 runs.
Jan Frylinck (43) and captain Gerhard Erasmus (16) tried to save Namibia's innings, but de Leede dismissed both batsmen in the space of three balls in the 19th over.
Before being removed from the top, Michael van Lingen (20) and Stephan Baard (19) made their debuts.
David Wiese (11 not out) and Smit (5 not out) remained unbeaten for Namibia.
Netherlands topped Group A with two wins from as many games, ahead of Namibia (2 points from two games), and are better positioned to advance to the Super 12 stage.
In their opening match, Netherlands defeated the UAE by three wickets, while Namibia shocked Sri Lanka by 55 runs.
On Thursday, Namibia will play UAE, while the Netherlands will play Sri Lanka in their last group game.
With two good outings, Netherlands skipper Edwards is eager to finish off their campaign on a positive note.
"We did well in terms of front-loading the runs. We knew Namibia had some great bowlers in those conditions. It's well and truly in our hands, but for us, it's just about winning the third game," he said after the match.
Namibia captain Erasmus said batting was a bit difficult on this wicket.
"Never nice to be on the losing side...With the bat it seemed difficult for both sides. They ran better. We tried our best," he said.
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(With inputs from PTI)
