Zimbabwe fall to Netherlands in crucial Super 12 game

Zimbabwe – 117 all out in 19.2 overs (Sikandar Raza 40, Sean Williams 28, Richard Ngarava 9; Paul van Meekeren 3/29, Bas de Leede 2/14, Logan van Beek 2/17)

Netherlands – 120-5 in 18 overs (Max O’Dowd 52, Tom Cooper 32, Bas de Leede 12*; Richard Ngarava 2/18, Blessing Muzarabani 2/23, Luke Jongwe 1/25)

Netherlands won by five wickets

Zimbabwe’s hopes of progressing to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup semi-finals have been dashed after they suffered a five-wicket defeat at the hands of the Netherlands in a Super 12 match in Adelaide on Wednesday.

After choosing to bat first, Zimbabwe were skittled for 117, with only two of their batters reaching double figures.

Wessly Madhevere was the first man to go in the second over, trying to flick a full straight ball from Paul van Meekeren to the leg side and being bowled out for one, making it nine for one, with six of the runs being extras.

Craig Ervine struggled to get the ball away, and managed only three off 12 balls before, trying to hit Brandon Glover for a leg-side four, he skyed a catch that was held by the wicket-keeper – 14 for two in four overs.

Regis Chakabva scored five runs off 16 balls and was fortunate to survive as long as he did before he missed a flick across the line and was lbw at 20 for three after six overs.

Then came the only significant partnership of the innings as Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza set about rescuing their team – and for a while they did a fine job.

After 10 overs the score was 53 for three, with a Zimbabwe recovery taking place, but the worst was yet to come.

The turning point came in the 12th over, as Williams top-edged a pull off van Meekeren and was caught near the leg boundary after scoring 28 off 23 balls – 68 for four.

Raza hit a six, but Milton Shumba was out, pushing a catch weakly to midwicket off Logan van Beek.

Raza was now beginning to take the bowling apart with some fine strokes, but in the 15th over he tried to hit Bas de Leede for six over long-on and a huge hit was well caught on the boundary by Fred Klaasen.

He had scored 40, including three sixes and as many fours, off 24 deliveries.

The score was now 92 for six and, apart from a six from Richard Ngarava, there was very little else to come from the remaining batters as Zimbabwe crumbled to 117 all out in the final over.

The Dutch had done all the basics right in their bowling and fielding, as

Van Meekeren finished with three wickets for 29 runs off his four overs, while De Leede, Van Beek and Glover each picked two wickets.

The Netherlands opening batters, Stephan Myburgh and Max O’Dowd, also played to a sound plan, although they were beaten at times by some good deliveries from Tendai Chatara.

Blessing Muzarabani came on to bowl the fourth over and gave Zimbabwe hope as Myburgh (8) tried to drive his second ball to the off, but sliced a catch to Ryan Burl at backward point – 17 for one.

Tom Cooper came in next and survived a difficult return chance to Chatara, but then pulled a short ball from Muzarabani over midwicket for six.

For the most part, though, the batters concentrated on keeping the score ticking over, and by the 10-over mark they were 67 for one wicket.

The next wicket finally came in the 13th over, as Cooper miscued a pull off Luke Jongwe, but only sent a catch to Madhevere at deep midwicket, after scoring 32 off 29 balls.

By now, at 90 for two and with O’Dowd on 43, the Netherlands were almost home.

Colin Ackermann did not last long, scoring only a single before he tried to hit a ball from Ngarava over Jongwe at mid-on, but was caught – 92 for three.

The 15th over from Jongwe went for 17 runs, including a four from de Leede and two successive boundaries from O’Dowd.

The Netherlands then lost O’Dowd for 52, scored off 47 balls, as he backed away from a ball from Muzarabani, but his cut was caught by Shumba at deep point – 109 for four.

Their captain, Scott Edwards, also went for five before the job was completed, hitting across the line of a ball to be caught by Chakabva at the wicket off Ngarava – 116 for five.

But that was the last consolation wicket, as in the following over De Leede leapt down the pitch and drove a ball from Williams straight for the winning boundary, finishing with 12 not out.

Ngarava and Muzarabani had bowled well to take two wickets each, for 18 and 22 runs respectively, but Zimbabwe did not have enough runs on the board to defend.

After the match, Zimbabwe Head Coach Dave Houghton bemoaned his charges’ struggles with the bat.

“We’ve been quite fragile with our batting throughout this tournament,” he said.

“It has been our bowling, really, and fielding and catching, that has kept us in.

“Unfortunately, (the batting) let us down in a game like this, which would have been huge for us if we had won, because then we’ll go on to the next game with just that outside possibility.

“I think we just got a little bit in front of ourselves thinking of what the possibilities might be.

“One of the things I’ve tried to encourage to the team, even if our batting is a bit fragile, is to still be positive and play with fearlessness.

“There was a bit of movement in that wicket, and we needed to do something about it.

“We needed to be batting a bit more positively, using our feet going down the wicket at the seamers, but we didn’t.

“The seeds of doubt just kept us stuck to the crease, and unfortunately, it cost us.”

ICC MEN’S T20 WORLD CUP – GROUP 2 POINTS TABLE