A clinical bowling effort complemented skipper Scott Edwards’ gritty half-century as Netherlands once again punched above their weight to secure a handsome 87-run win over Bangladesh in the World Cup in Kolkata on Saturday. Edwards overcame an edgy start to score a second World Cup fifty and take them to a modest 229 all out after they opted to bat on a fresh Eden wicket hosting its first match of the global showpiece. Bangladesh found themselves ‘at home’ with the 15,000-odd crowd strongly rooting for them to revive their campaign after losing four games on the trot.
But their batters once again came up with an insipid show as they were unable to cope with the extra bounce as the Netherlands bowlers, led by Paul van Meekeren (7.2-0-23-4), aced the conditions beautifully to bundle them out for 142 in 42.2 overs.
Four single-digit scores from their top six batters summed up the plight of Bangladesh batters as they failed to live up to the expectations yet again.
Bas de Leede bagged 2/25 in seven overs, while Aryan Dutt, Logan van Beek and Colin Ackermann took one each while bowling tidy spells.
This was a fifth defeat on the trot for Bangladesh and their campaign is as good as over with three matches remaining for them.
They will take on Pakistan here on Tuesday in a seventh round clash.
If beating South Africa was not enough, the Dutch, who are the only Associate Nation in the tournament, proved that they are far superior than the Test-playing nation as they executed their plans with clinical precision to emerge winners.
From Litton Das’ (3) uncalled for reverse sweep to off-spinner Aryan Dutt early in the innings to his opening partner Tanzid Hasan’s (15) inability to cope with the odd bounce from short of length deliveries, Bangladesh were exposed early by a spirited Dutch attack.
The two dismissals in consecutive wicket-maiden overs shook the struggling Bangladesh to the core.
With two new batters at the crease, Bangladesh played 20 dot balls on the trot before Shanto broke the shackles with a boundary off Van Beek in the eighth over.
After that Shanto and Mehidy Hasan Miraz batted with a lot of intent in a 26-run partnership off 39 balls to revive Bangladesh’s hopes. But Paul van Meekeren cut it short by dismissing Shanto with a wide yorker.
With captain Shakib Al Hasan for company, Miraz continued playing the role of the aggressor but not for long.
The skipper, back from a brief session with his personal coach in Dhaka, made five off 14 balls, done in by the extra bounce off Van Meekeren.
Just when the situation demanded Miraz to show some restrain, the Bangla batter got out to leave his team reeling at 69/5 in 16.5 overs.
Earlier, desperate to revive their fortunes after four successive losses, Bangladesh made smart bowling changes and their attack looked incisive.
But complacency in fielding ensured that the Dutchmen lasted the distance after losing half of the side for 107 runs inside 27 overs.
Edwards got three lifelines as he was dropped twice on duck and once on 12 when his edge flew past the three-man slip cordon.
With Sybrand Engelbrecht (35), Edwards added 78 runs for the sixth wicket before Mustafizur Rahman ended the Dutch skipper’s chancy innings.
Towards the end, Logan van Beek played a cameo of 23 not out from 16 balls (2×4, 1×6) as the Netherlands scored 36 runs in last three overs before being bowled out in the last ball of the innings.
Mustafizur (2/36) was the pick of Bangladesh attack and his wickets of the dangerous-looking Wesley Barresi (41) in the middle overs and Dutch skipper at the death ensured Bangladesh restricted them to within 230.
The new-ball attack of Shoriful Islam (10-0-51-2) and a fit-again Taskin Ahmed (9-1-43-2) gave Bangladesh a perfect start after Edwards opted to bat.
Taskin, who missed their matches against India and South Africa because of a sore shoulder, dismissed Vikramjit Singh in his opening over.
Shoriful then had Max O’Dowd for a duck to have Netherlands struggling at 4/2 in the third over before Baressi played the most entertaining knock of the Dutch innings.
The oldest player of the tournament, Barresi showed the way in his run-a-ball knock, milking the the attack of Taskin and Shoriful.
The 39-year-old, who is the only surviving member of the Netherlands side from the 2011 World Cup, started with a leg-side flick to boundary against Shoriful and followed it up with another boundary in the same over.
Taskin looked at his tidy best in his first spell, but Barresi was nonchalant and pulled him in front of square leg and then elegantly lofted him over the mid-off region for two boundaries in one over.
The duo raced to a fifty-run partnership in no time before a clever bowling change broke the stand.
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