ADELAIDE: Dutch pacers wreaked havoc on the batting line before Max O’Dowd blasted a scintillating half-century, aiding the Netherlands to gain their first points in the Super 12s as they seal a comprehensive five-wicket win over Zimbabwe, here on Wednesday.
The Dutch side dominated the opponents throughout the game as the bowlers ran through the Zimbabwean batters to bundle them out for a meagre 117-run total despite a valiant resistance by Sikandar Raza in the middle.
The Netherlands chased down the target with two overs to spare on the back of a solid 73-run partnership for the second wicket between opener Dowd and Tom Cooper.
Dowd top-scored for the side with a cautious knock of 47-ball 52 laced with eight fours and a six while Cooper contributed 32 off 29.
The duo was sailing the Netherlands comfortably to the finishing line as they took the scoreboard to 90/1 before Luke Jongwe and Richard Ngarava struck two back-to-back wickets in the 13th and 14th overs, dismissing Cooper and no 4 batter Collin Ackermann, respectively.
The Netherlands, eventually, lost two more wickets, set batsman Dowd and skipper Scott Edwards, before Bas de Leede finished the proceedings on the final of the 18th over with a boundary.
Earlier, Zimbabwe had a dismal turn with the bat as Raza top-scored for the side with a defiant knock of 24-ball 40 amid complete batting chaos as nine of the Zimbabwean batters failed to make it into double figures.
Paul van Meekeren and Brandon Glover stormed through the top order as they stuck the batting side to 20/3 in the powerplay.
Following the early chaos, Raza joined no 3 batters, Sean Williams, for the only noteworthy partnership of the innings as they gathered 48 runs for the fourth wicket before the left-handed batter was dismissed by Meekeren in the 12th over.
Williams managed 28 off 23 laced with three fours before he departed which triggered another collapse within the Zimbabwe batting order as they lost the rest of the six wickets for the addition of mere 39 runs.
For the Netherlands, Meekeren was the pick of the bowlers as he returned excellent figures of 3/29 in his four overs quota, while Glover, Logan van Beek and Bas de Leede took two wickets apiece. Medium pacer Fred Klaassen also had a scalp to his credit.
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