Hyderabad, (UNI) New Zealand followed up their brilliant showing against England, with yet another thumping win against Netherlands at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup here on Monday.
Netherlands fell 99 runs short of New Zealand’s lofty total of 322/7 in Hyderabad.
Like their first Cricket World Cup encounter, the Dutch batted well on occasions but couldn’t click as a unit.
Colin Ackermann was their highest-scorer with 69. Scott Edwards (30) and Sybrand Engelbrecht (29) were the other notable contributors.
Mitchell Santner showed all-round brilliance for New Zealand, and followed up his quickfire 36* with the first five-for (5/59) of the ongoing tournament.
Santner became the first New Zealand spinner to register a five-wicket haul in Men’s Cricket World Cup history
New Zealand adopted an aggressive approach throughout their innings to belt out a big total in Hyderabad.
Will Young was the team’s top-scorer with 70. Other key contributors were Rachin Ravindra (51), Tom Latham (53) and Daryl Mitchell (48).
Netherlands bowling effort was led by Aryan Dutt (2/60), and Paul van Meekeren (2/59).
Dutch lost out on Teja Nidamanuru to a mix up in the middle in the 26th over. The end of this promising 50-run stand for the fourth wicket severely hit the Netherlands chances, as Nidamanuru (21) was looking in a fine touch.
Colin Ackermann (69) and Scott Edwards (30) went for their shots in an effort to get closer to the target. But both fell to the spin of Mitchell Santner. Ackermann messed up a switch hit and gave a catch to the Short Third, while Edwards fell trying to slog.
Santner had his fourth, when Roelof van der Merwe reverse swept a ball straight to Matt Henry. Not much later, Santner picked his fifth wicket in the 42nd over when he trapped Ryan Klein lbw. He became the first New Zealand spinner to take a five-for in ODI World Cup history.
Netherlands eventually folded in the 47th over.
The Dutch chase got off to a rocky start when Vikramjit Singh (12) was bowled in the sixth over. A length delivery from Matt Henry straightened in and crashed into his middle stump.
His partner, Max O’Dowd, too couldn’t stay for long and fell lbw in the 11th over. Bas de Leede tried to lift the scoring rate with a few aggressive shots, but fell in the 17th over to a brilliant catch by the boundary rider, Trent Boult.
De Leede hit the ball towards the long-off, where Boult took the catch, but the momentum forced his body outside the ropes. However, the Kiwi bowler threw the ball in the air before he went outside the playing area and then hopped in to complete the catch.
Colin Ackermann and Teja Nidamanuru then came together to stitch a useful stand for the Dutch, ICC reported.
After the 25-over mark, New Zealand tried to up the scoring rate and lost a few batters in the process. Young (70) was the first to go, as he tried to pull a van Meekeren delivery above mid-on and ended up getting caught in the 27th over. Ravindra (51) added some crucial runs along with Mitchell but was unlucky to be dismissed while trying to nudge the ball down the leg-side.
A crucial 53-run stand between Mitchell and Latham helped New Zealand cross 200. It was Mitchell’s dismissal in the final Powerplay which brought about a mini-collapse for the Kiwis, as the side lost three wickets for merely 16 runs.
A half-century from Latham (53) and a cameo from Mitchell Santner (36* from 17) helped lift New Zealand. They reached 322/7 at the end of their innings.
Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards won the toss for the second time in a row and elected yet again to take the field. His opposite number, Latham, stated that he too would have liked to take the field on winning the toss.
The Dutch bowled three maidens in a row after taking the field. Conway and Young, however, refused to get bogged down and opened their arms with a flurry of strokes. Young was the first one to tee off, scoring two boundaries in Ryan Klein’s second over and then hitting a four and a six in the fifth over.
Conway took charge from the sixth over and soon the Kiwis were dealing in boundaries. However, a relative slowing of scoring rate towards the beginning of the second Power Play helped Netherlands get the wicket of Conway (32). The southpaw went for one shot too many and was caught in the deep off the bowling of Roelof van der Merwe.
He was replaced by Ravindra, who joined forces with Young to keep the New Zealand run flow alive. Young brought up his half-century in the 20th over.
Netherlands made two changes to their XI. Klein and Sybrand Engelbrecht made it into the playing XI. The latter, a former South Africa U19 player, was making his first appearance in competitive cricket since 2016. He last featured for Western Province in the South Africa domestic cricket. He scored 166 in his last first-class appearance.
Logan van Beek was out due to a hamstring strain.
New Zealand were boosted by the return of Lockie Ferguson in place of James Neesham. Kane Williamson and Tim Southee weren’t available for selection today.
