Netherlands blast past Bermuda to set up Scotland showdown

Group A: Netherlands 206/3 (O’Dowd 58, Cooper 58, Ackermann 43*, Trott 1-31) defeated Bermuda (Leverock 31, van Meekeren 3-26, van der Merwe 2-23) by 92 runs

Colin Ackerman’s quickfire 43* propelled the Dutch towards an imposing total of 206 after Netherland’s new opening pair of Max O’Dowd and Ben Cooper both registered half-centuries.

Earlier in the day, the Dutch decided to drop Tobias Visee after a string of low scores bringing in an extra bowler in Fred Klaasen.

And the move paid off handsomely. Despite opting to pierce the infield instead of going over it, O’Dowd and Cooper were able to keep the scoreboard ticking reaching 51/0 at the end of the Power Play.

Just as it looked like Bermuda were putting on the squeeze in the post Power Play period, Kamau Leverock failed to hold onto a regulation catch in his follow through to give O’Dowd a reprieve that would change the momentum of the innings (and the game).

By the time O’Dowd was dismissed by George O’Brien’s sharp catch at cover off the bowling of Delray Rawlins, the Netherlands had muscled 64 runs in 30 balls since the drop catch.

Despite Ben Cooper’s stumps being uprooted by a Rodney Trott arm ball 5 balls later, the platform was set for a Dutch assault. In what was his best performance yet in an orange jersey, Colin Ackerman—supported by veteran Ryan ten Doeschate and the industrious sweepologist Sam Edwards—proceeded to pepper the long-on and mid-wicket regions with hits over the fence and a well-placed succession of twos. He ended the innings with a hoik over square leg to add insult to an injured, beleaguered Bermuda.

Despite a very belligerent and all to brief 16-run cameo from star batsman Delray Rawlins, the Bermudans familiar struggles with the bat continued as they could only register 36 runs in the Power Play for the loss of three wickets.

From then on, a deflated, exhausted Bermuda played more like a team with nothing to play for than a team with nothing to lose. With the exception of Kamau Leverock’s 15-ball 31—which would have scared Dutch supporters keeping an eye on Net Run Rate—a spattering of Bermudan fans in the stadium had little to cheer

After he was dismissed off the final ball of the 16^th over, Bermuda shut up shop and the Netherlands secured a resounding 92-run win to close the gap with PNG at the top of the table. They have the good fortune of playing their final group game against Scotland right after PNG face off against Kenya in the morning game.

The Dutch will be hoping to top the group and advance to next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia without having to play in Qualifiers 1-4.