The Dutch A came roaring back with a vengeance in Wednesday’s second match of the three-match one-day series, dismissing the Irish Wolves for 94 in an outstanding, sustained display of pace bowling, and then going on to complete the win by a five-wicket margin in just 16.3 overs.
In conditions which gave every assistance to swing and seam the bowlers were in charge all day, but there was no denying the determination with which the Dutch attack ran through the home side’s batting.
The Wolves made two changes, Campher and Tim Tector giving way for James McCollum and Ben White, and the Dutch three: Ben Cooper, Aryan Dutt and Paul van Meekeren coming in for Musa Ahmad, Tonny Staal and Ryan Klein. Both sides also switched keepers, Stephen Doheny and Scott Edwards taking over from Neil Rock and Tobias Visée respectively.
A delayed start for rain meant that the game was reduced to 40 overs a side, but it soon became clear that it was unlikely to last that long.
Impeccable bowling from Viv Kingma and Van Meekeren reduced the Wolves to 10 for five in the space of 35 deliveries, McCollum, Doheny and William Porterfield all departing without scoring, soon to be followed by Harry Tector and George Dockrell, and a collapse of historic proportions appeared to be on the cards.
But this brought Tuesday’s hero Shane Getkate to the crease, and together with Rock he set about wresting some initiative back from the bowlers.
Kingma was succeeded by Logan van Beek, his figures of 5 – 3 – 5 – 3 a worthy return for his consistently hostile spell, and when Vikram Singh replaced Van Meekeren he was immediately rewarded with the wicket of Rock, brilliantly caught by Visée, leaping high at second slip.
If missed catches had cost the Dutch dear on Tuesday this time they were clinging on to everything, and soon afterwards Singh took a snorter of his own, diving low to his right to dismiss Graeme McCarter off Dutt’s first delivery.
Two balls later Peter Chase edged to Edwards, and the Wolves were 55 for eight.
Getkate was still there, however, and he and Craig Young proceeded to evoke memories of the previous day’s dramatic turnaround with a ninth-wicket stand of 37 in which it was Young who made the running, hitting two fours and two sixes in his 21-ball 30.
Van Beek returned to remove him, and then Philiipe Boissevain bowled Getkate sweeping to bring the innings to a close. His 32 was relatively sedate by Tuesday’s standards, but he had at least given the Irish bowlers something to defend.
And McCarter and Young relished the conditions as much as the Dutch had, repeatedly beating the bat until Steph Myburgh evidently decided that attack was preferable to mere survival and started to play his shots.
Singh, however, when he tried the same approach got under a McCarter delivery which got big on him and was caught at mid-off, and when Ben Cooper was trapped in front by Young with the score on 21 the Wolves’ hopes began to revive.
Myburgh departed next, caught off a leading edge for 23, and Bas de Leede followed, LBW to Chase without scoring.
But the Dutch were now beyond the halfway point in their chase, and Visée effectively settled the issue with characteristic élan, making 33 from 16 deliveries out of a stand of 38 with Edwards, who went on to finish things off with a four and a six off White.
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