New Zealand recorded their second win in as many matches as the Netherlands ran out of steam against a quality bowling line-up in the World Cup on Monday.
Chasing 323, the Dutch started well but lost the match in the middle overs when they found it tough to dismiss New Zealand’s disciplined bowling. The Netherlands dragged the match to the 47th over but fell 99 runs short of their target.
Mitchell Santner proved to be the chief tormenter, picking up a sensational five-wicket haul while Matt Henry chipped in with three wickets.
Only Colin Ackermann put up a fight and emerged as the Netherlands’ top-scorer with 69 off 73 balls but didn’t get much support from his teammates.
“We did a great job with the bat, built partnerships and put up a great score. Any time in the middle is valuable, partnership after partnership allowed us to put good runs on the board,” stand-in captain Tom Latham said after the match.
Put into bat, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra and Latham defied the sluggishness of the pitch to construct well-paced fifties and lead New Zealand to a healthy 322 for 7.
Young (70 off 80 balls) and Ravindra (51 off 51 balls) gave the Kiwis some momentum against the Dutch bowlers, who exploited the slowness of the track with an assortment of slow balls and cutters.
Latham also gave some impetus to the innings while making a 46-ball 53 towards the business end of the innings.
The Netherlands managed to tie down the New Zealand openers with three maidens in a row at the start. Young then launched an offensive, driving pacer Ryan Klein through mid-off for a four and notched up another boundary in the fourth over.
Devon Conway tried to give some muscle to the innings when he clobbered spinner Aryan Dutt, who had opened the bowling along with Klein, for a massive six over long-on.
However, Conway (32) did not last long as his attempt to speed up the proceedings did not fetch a good result. The left-hander jumped down the track against left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe and tried to deposit him over long-on, a repeat of the shot he played against Dutt, but this time the Kiwi found Bas de Leede in perfect position under the ball.
It ended the 67-run opening alliance but Ravindra, who made a hundred against England in the tournament opener, and Young compiled a 77-run stand for the second wicket.
New Zealand’s performance was in stark contrast to the rollicking effort they dished out against England a few days ago in Ahmedabad. But the team management will certainly be pleased with the way their batters adapted and made substantial runs through a difficult method.
