Dutch Delirious display of Dutch courage whets appetite for World Twenty20 The denouement to the group stages, as the Netherlands raced home against Ireland, suggests a treat in store in Bangladesh Share 1 inShare 0 Email Vic Marks Vic Marks in Chittagong The Guardian, Friday 21 March 2014 20.02 GMT Netherlands supporters at the World Twenty20 Netherlands supporters cheer as they watch their teams thrilling victory over Ireland at the World Twenty20 in Sylhet. Photograph: AM Ahad/AP If the next round of the World T20 can match the excitement of the qualifying games then a treat is in store in Bangladesh. There was more high drama among the qualifiers of Group B on Friday as the Netherlands smashed Ireland out of the tournament in Sylhet. Inspired by Stephan Myburgh, who hit 63 from 23 balls, and Tom Cooper (45 from 15), a controversial late inclusion to their squad, the Netherlands cracked a record 19 sixes in their innings and even then they only qualified for the second round with three balls to spare. Their prize after such an astounding victory is an unexpected journey to Chittagong to join the rest of the Super 10s Group 1. On this form they may fancy their chances of emulating their famous win over England at Lords in the opening World T20 match of 2009. Fridays mathematics were a little complicated except for the Irish, who knew that all they had to do was to win in order to qualify. The equation for the Netherlands was not quite so straightforward: they knew that they had to score the 190 required for victory over Ireland in 14.2 overs in order to get ahead of the net run rate of Zimbabwe, who had beaten the UAE earlier in the day. As their captain, Peter Borren, who helped to launch the innings with a quickfire 31, observed afterwards there was nothing to lose, and when todays T20s cricketers play in that vein they are dangerous. Myburgh hit the unfortunate off spinner Andy McBrine for four consecutive sixes, an emphatic declaration of contempt, and soon the Netherlands had raced to 91 in the six powerplay overs. Cooper, whose availability for the tournament was only confirmed when it was established that he was no longer required by South Australia, was equally devastating against the left-arm spin of George Dockrell. Ed Joyces dropping of Cooper on the cover boundary will haunt the stalwart Irishman for some time. Youve got to give a lot of credit [to Netherlands]. They came out and struck the ball pretty cleanly from the off, said William Porterfield, the Ireland captain. We were on the full side a bit too much, but no matter where we seemed to be landing it the ball was still disappearing. They needed 14 overs to get their total and so they had to come out and go from the off. Its a completely different mindset. By contrast, the potentially combustible fixture between India and Pakistan which opened the Super 10 round of the tournament was a relatively low-key affair. In Dhaka the spinners had an altogether happier time than those in Sylhet. The pitch was more helpful, the boundaries a little longer and the bowlers were of higher quality – and both sides may have felt there was plenty to lose. The India triumvirate of slow bowlers, Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra – the man of the match – were far more troublesome to batsmen than their Irish counterparts. Consequently, Pakistans innings never caught fire and they were restricted to 130 from their 20 overs, a modest target that offered few problems for India. Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, two young but vastly experienced batsman in good form, took their side over the line with barely any need to pepper the spectators with sixes. They calmly enabled India to win by seven wickets with nine balls remaining. Compared to events in Sylhet, all rather sedate really.Gold. Must have been some match!
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 20:21:09 +0000
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