The Netherlands climbed from the bottom of the Cricket World Cup table and overtook England with an 87-run win over Bangladesh on Saturday after Scott Edwards hit a lively half-century and Dutch bowler Paul van Meekeren broke through the Asian side with a fiery spell.
Chasing 230 to win, Bangladesh collapsed to 70 for six inside 18 overs, with Van Meekeren (four for 23) clearing the middle order and Bas de Leede scoring the crucial dismissal of Mehidy Hasan Miraz for 35 before the Baal Tiger finally scored gave up 142 in 42.2 overs.
The Dutch seamers varied their tempo and took advantage of a slow score at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens to turn up the heat in Bangladesh. De Leede (two for 25) edged Mohammad Mahmudullah (20) to put them firmly on course for a famous goal win.
Earlier, Edwards took advantage of his luck, scoring a hard-hitting 68 that revitalized the Dutch innings after a shaky start, and Sybrand Engelbrecht contributed 35 as they finished on 229 thanks to a late strike from Logan van Beek (23 not out). Shoriful Islam (two for 51) and Mahedi Hasan (two for 40) cleaned up the tail end but Bangladesh were left to contend with allowing the Dutch lower order to amass 74 runs in the final 10 overs, leading to a respectable total .
The Netherlands lost both their opening balls in the first 14 balls after captain Edwards won the toss and elected to bat, but Wesley Barresi repaired the damage with a brisk 41, which also included eight fours, before Mustafizur Rahman (two for 36 ) in a bad position lured shot. Colin Ackermann (15) didn’t last much longer and the Dutch would have been in more trouble had Bangladesh not had a few sloppy catches when Edwards was dropped twice in the 16th over while on zero.
Taskin Ahmed (two for 43) then left De Leede for 17, leaving the Netherlands reeling at 107 for five, but Edwards continued to fight with Engelbrecht, scoring his second fifty of the tournament and 15th overall, before Mustafizur took him with him caught on a wide yorker.
“I spoke to a few people and we said if we could get to 220 plus we would be in the game… it was nice that the guys in the bottom row got us to what we thought was a pretty competitive total,” he said Edwards. “I thought we were great with the ball and probably even more so on the field where we had let ourselves down in the last few games.”
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This result puts England in 10th and last place in the standings.
