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Dutch bowlers spoil Zimbabwe’s World Cup party
Below par batting proves their undoing again for match favourites Zimbabwe, whose T20 World Cup semi-final hopes were dashed after Netherlands seamers set up a five-wicket win.
Zimbabwe haven’t carried much confidence from the high of beating Pakistan. Despite the dispiriting last-ball loss to Bangladesh, they had a mathematical chance of reaching the T20 World Cup semi-finals. But they capitulated against Netherlands in Adelaide on Wednesday, losing by five wickets in what was their best chance to accumulate Super 12 points.
After dismissing Zimbabwe for 118, the Dutch chased it down in 18 overs, to earn their first win in Group 2. The Adelaide Oval began to fill only towards the end of the tie for the India-Bangladesh match that followed. But Netherlands have earned their stripes, coming off many performances when no one was watching. Awareness that the match was being beamed to a global TV audience was enough motivation to put up a spirited show.
They saw an opportunity to play an extra seamer and brought back Logan van Beek to replace Tim Pringle’s spin. The plan worked to perfection as the seamers did all the damage--van Beek taking two wickets and Paul van Meekeren three with only one over of spin bowled.
Netherlands pacers delivered disciplined swing bowling in the powerplay, setting Zimbabwe back with three wickets. The last one was that of Regis Chakabva, who could have got out thrice in the sixth over. Brandon Glover, whose action is modelled on Dale Steyn, produced two opportunities with away swingers but didn’t get help from the fielders. After two catches were grassed, Glover took the task into his own hands, trapping Chakabva with an inswinger.
The only highlight for Zimbabwe was their star batter Sikandar Raza’s stroke-filled 40 (24b). Raza hit three eye-catching pull shots for six. But rarely are T20 matches won on individual brilliance. Only two Zimbabwe batters got into double figures. Even in the win over Pakistan, Zimbabwe only scored 129.
With no scoreboard pressure, Netherlands for most part of their run-chase appeared to be cruising. They did make heavy weather of things towards the end but Max O’Dowd and Tim Cooper had done enough with their second wicket partnership (73 off 57b) for Netherlands to win with 12 balls to spare.
Brief scores: Zimbabwe 117 in 19.2 overs (S Raza 40, P van Meekeren 3/29, B Glover 2/29, L van Beek 2/17, B de Leede 2/14); Netherlands 120/5 in 18 overs (M O'Dowd 52, T Cooper 32, R Ngarava 2/18, B Muzarabani 2/28). Netherlands won by 5 wickets.
