ISLAMABAD: Muhammad Nabi. Noor Ahmad and Najib spin trio destroyed the Netherlands batting order to restrict them to 179 all out in 46.3 overs in the ICC World Cup contest played at Lucknow, India, on Friday.
Earlier winning the toss, Netherlands decided to bat first and lost their first wicket in the very first over when Mujeeb dismissed Wesley Barresi on 1. After losing the first wicket, Max O’Dowd and Colin Ackermann stayed on the crease and consolidated their innings towards a decent total. They even managed to move the scoreboard at a rate of 6 runs per over and contributed 70 runs partnership for the team.
However, from the 12th over, the debacle of Netherlands began, interestingly not because of Afghan bowlers but due to the best fielding and reckless running by Dutch batters. In the same over, Max O’Dowd got run out on 42.
In the 19th over first, Colin Ackermann was run out on 29, and then the skipper got run out on the next ball on a duck. After three consecutive runouts, the Dutch batters came under pressure. In the 21st over, the Afghanistan spin attack also started dominating and removed Bas de Leede on three runs. At the stage, they were 97 for 5.
Later, no other batter managed to absorb the pressure except the number four batter, Sybrand Engelbrecht, who added some crucial runs to the total and completed his half-century. In the 26th over, Netherlands lost their six wickets when Allah Noor dismissed Saqib Zulfiqar on 3. The next was Logan van Beek, who was dismissed on two on the bowling of Nabi.
In the 35th over, when the score reached 152, the Netherlands suffered another run-out dismissal when the set batter, Sybrand Engelbrecht, got out on 58. The other batters from the tail added a few runs to the total. Later, the Netherlands were all out on 179 in 46.3 overs with 21 balls to spare.
From Afghanistan, Muhammad Nabi was the leading wicket-taker with three dismissals in his 9.3 over spill. Noor Ahmad got two, while Najeeb grabbed one wicket.
Afghanistan Team
Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad and Fazalhaq Farooqi
Netherlands Team
Wesley Barresi, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (c), Bas de Leede, Saqib Zulfiqar, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt and Paul van Meekeren
