AUSTRALIA: Skipper Scott Edwards’ calm head and his crucial 27-run stand with Tim Pringle for the 7th wicket ensured a thrilling victory for the Dutch team. The UAE bowling squad made life difficult for the batsmen, but ultimately didn’t have enough runs on board to defend.
After Scott Edwards won the toss and decided to bowl first, UAE was off to a modest start, with openers Muhammad Waseem (41 off 47 balls) and Chirag Suri (12 off 20 balls) putting together 33 runs for the first wicket in 6.3 overs. Suri was caught behind by wicketkeeper Scott Edwards as he attempted an ambitious reverse shot off Roelof van der Merwe (19/1).
Kashif Daud (15 off 14 balls) tried to up the ante as he pulled van der Merwe for a six over deep midwicket. He was cleaned up by a slower full delivery from Tim Pringle (13/1) in the 11th over. Muhammad Waseem, who was scoring at a steady clip, fell victim to Fred Klaasen (13/2) on the last ball of the 16th over as he holed out to Tim Pringle in an attempt for a big one.
Waseem’s departure triggered a batting order collapse as UAE lost five wickets while scoring just 20 more runs. UAE scored 111 runs in their stipulated 20 overs with 8 batsmen back in the hut.
Netherland’s innings started with a bang as opener Vikramjit Singh (10 off 7 balls) despatched Junaid Siddique (24/3) for consecutive boundaries in the opening over. Singh fell victim to Basil Hameed’s (7/1) guile as the spinner tricked Singh into a poor shot and the ball crashed into the stumps. Max ODowd was aggressive from the get-go as he slammed Hameed for a six into the second tier of Geelong Park.
ODowd drove and swept Karthik Meiyappan (22/1) for two boundaries in the 4th over. He finally was out when he got castled by Junaid Siddique in the last over of the powerplay. Bas de Leede (14 off 18 balls) and Colin Ackermann (17 off 19 balls) hit a boundary each as they seemed to have found their groove.
Netherlands was sniffing their first victory in the marquee event. UAE skipper CP Rizwan held on to a stunning catch to dismiss Bas de Leede. Ackermann followed suit as he fell victim to 16-year-old Aayan Khan (15/1).
Junaid Siddique brought UAE back in the game by dismissing Tom Cooper (8 off 16) and Roelof van der Merwe (0 off 2 balls) in quick succession. Zahoor Khan (11/1) dismissed Tim Pringle (15 off 16 balls) in the 19th over as the match led to a thrilling finish.
With six runs needed in the last over, Scott Edwards (16 off 19 balls) and Logan van Beek (4 off 4 balls) held their nerves to win the match for the Dutch squad by 3 wickets.
Scott Edwards played a composed and steady innings in the later stages of the Dutch innings and was creative with the field in the first half of the match. After the match, Scott Edwards said that the finish was nervy but was pleased that the team got over the line.
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