Netherlands' Bas de Leede, left, and teammate Roelof van der Merwe celebrate their five wicket win in their T20 World Cup cricket match against Zimbabwe in Adelaide, Australia, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/James Elsby)The Netherlands finally gathered their first Super 12 win on Wednesday, all but knocking out Zimbabwe from the semifinal race with a five-wicket win at the Adelaide Oval. Zimbabwe have three points after four matches and India (4), Bangladesh (4) and South Africa (5) all have two matches in hand.
Winning the toss, Craig Ervine called for batting first in the first match of the tournament in Adelaide. The Dutch pacers however, quickly took control of the match as Zimbabwe went three down in the powerplay with both the openers and Regis Chakabva back in the hut at 20.
Sean Williams (28) and Sikandar Raza (40) did manage to add 48 runs for the fourth wicket but once Paul van Meekeren broke that partnership, Zimbabwe lost wickets at regular intervals. Batting had been the Achilles heel for Zimbabwe, who had crossed the 150 mark only once in their last six games at the World Cup.
All five pacers used by captain Scott Edwards shared the 10 wickets between them with van Meekeren taking three, Brandon Glover, Logan Van Beek and Bas de Leede grabbing two each and Fred Klaassen picking one as Zimbabwe flushed out at 117.
Late scare
Even though Muzarabani got the wicket of veteran Stephan Myburgh in the powerplay, 118 was never going to be enough to defend. Especially after the other Dutch opener and their highest scorer at the tournament, Max ODowd added 76 runs for the second wicket with Tom Cooper.
ODowd claimed his second half century of the tournament, scoring 52 off 47 deliveries with eight fours and a maximum, taking the attack against the wide, short deliveries..
The 28-year-old’s dismissal with just nine runs needed to win off 29 deliveries was followed by a moment of scare for the Netherlands with just seven runs coming off the next 17 deliveries along with captain Scott Edwards’ dismissal.
The 18th over from Sean Williams would see Bas de Leede swing, drive, and almost being stumped, without scoring a run off the first five balls. Much to the relief of the team in orange, he connected the last one down the ground and closed the game.
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