AUSTRALIA: Despite a fighting fifty from Colin Ackermann and a whirlwind cameo from Paul van Meekeren towards the end, Bangladesh defeated the Netherlands by 9 runs. In this match, after winning the toss, the Netherlands opted to bowl first.
Bangladesh Innings:
Bangladesh was off to a flying start thanks to openers Soumya Sarkar (14 off 14 balls) and Najmul Hossain Shanto (25 off 20 balls), after being put into bat by the Netherlands skipper.
The duo stitched together 43 runs for the first wicket in just five overs. Paul van Meekeren (21/2) provided the Netherlands with the first breakthrough in the first ball of his second over when he got Sarkar to mistime his attempted pull straight to Bas de Leede at mid-wicket.
The dismissal of Sarkar triggered a collapse as Bangladesh lost three wickets in the space of four overs. Shanto was dismissed after his streaky slog sweep off Tim Pringle (10/1) was caught by Logan van Beek at deep mid-wicket.
The number three batsman, Litton Das (9 off 11 balls), didn’t last much longer when he tried to slap a van Beek (12/1) delivery over mid-off, only to lob an easy catch for Tom Cooper.
Bas de Leede took a stunning aerial catch to dismiss Shakib Al Hasan (7 off 9 balls), who connected a Shariz Ahmad (27/1) delivery well, but the athleticism of de Leede at deep mid-wicket outdid him.
Afif Hossein lofted Shariz for a six before a brief rain interruption. Bangladesh fluffed a good start to reach 72/4 after 10 overs.
Bangladesh’s troubles were far from over as van Meekeren castled Yasir Ali (3 off 5 balls) in the eleventh over.
The Netherlands bowlers kept a tidy line and length as they choked the scoring rate. The boundaries, which seemed to come by easily off the blades of the openers, seemed to have dried up.
Afif Hossein switched gears in the fifteen overs bowled by debutant Sharif Ahmad. The batsman hit a four and a six off successive deliveries to bring up Bangladesh’s 100 as 12 runs came from the over.
Just as the batting side began to regain some momentum, Bas de Leede (27/2) dismissed Nurul Hasan (13 off 18 balls) and well-set Afif Hossain (38 off 27 balls) in the eighteenth over.
Afif Hossain tried to pull a short delivery from de Leede but gloved it to the wicketkeeper, who dived to his right to finish the catch.
Taskin Ahmed tried to go for a big one off the bowling of Fred Klaasen (33/1), only to miscue the hit and the ball went over mid-off, but Logan van Beek timed his jump to perfection and caught it over his head.
Mosaddek Hossain (20* off 12 balls) played an aggressive cameo at the end to take Bangladesh to 144/8 in their quota of 20 overs.
Netherlands Innings:
In response to the 145-run target, the Netherlands was off to a disastrous start as opener Vikram Singh was out for a golden duck, caught by Yasir Ali at first slip off Taskin Ahmed (25/4).
Ahmed struck again in the very next delivery to remove Bas de Leede, who edged one to the wicketkeeper. Max O’Dowd (8 off 8 balls) hit Shakib Al Hasan (32/1) for six in the fourth over.
O’Dowd was run out on the next ball. He called and took off for a risky second run, but Colin Ackermann (62 off 48 balls) wasn’t interested and sent him back midway. Afif Hossain swiftly picked up the ball and threw it to Shakib, who affected the runout.
Tom Cooper was run out for a diamond duck two deliveries later. Ackermann slapped a short delivery to the covers and took off for two runs and came back for a third, but the sharp throw from Najmul Hossain found the wicketkeeper who whipped the bails off.
The decision was taken upstairs, and the replays found Cooper short of his crease. Ackermann hit a flurry of boundaries off Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud (15/2) to take the Netherlands to 32/4 after six overs.
Scott Edwards, who was struggling to score runs, was dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan in the twelfth over.
With the Netherlands tottering at 59/5 and the asking rate hovering above 9, Colin Ackermann stepped out of the crease and nailed the last delivery of Shakib’s over for a maximum over long off.
Hasan Mahmud trapped Tim Pringle (1 off 6 balls) in the next over before rain descended upon the Blundstone Arena and play was stopped for the second time in the match.
Upon the resumption of play, Ackermann pulled Mosaddek Hossain for a six over square leg and soon brought up his half-century.
At the other end, wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals. Logan van Beek edged a pull shot off Mahmud into the hands of Taskin Ahmed at fine leg.
Shariz Ahmad (9 off 8 balls) cut Taskin Ahmed for a boundary before becoming Taskin’s third wicket of the day. Ackermann brought up the team’s 100 with a boundary.
The last hopes for a Dutch comeback were extinguished when Ackermann top-edged a pull shot into the hands of Mosaddek Hossain at deep mid-wicket, giving Taskin his fourth wicket.
Soumya Sarkar (29/1) bowled a valiant counterattack during the dying stages of the game to take the Netherlands to 135, eventually falling short by 10 runs as he was cleaned up by Soumya Sarkar (29/1) in the last delivery of the match.
Paul van Meekeren’s cameo had three beautifully timed boundaries and a massive six in it.
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