Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
The Netherlands climbed off the bottom of the World Cup table with an 87-run victory over Bangladesh after Scott Edwards hit a feisty half-century and Dutch bowler Paul van Meekeren ripped through the Asian side in a fiery spell.
Chasing 230 to win, Bangladesh collapsed to 70-6 inside 18 overs with Van Meekeren (4-23) mowing down the middle order and Bas de Leede dismissing set batsman Mehidy Hasan Miraz for 35, before they folded for 142 in 42.2 overs.
It also marked the first time the Netherlands had won twice at the same World Cup, following their stunning victory over South Africa.
The Dutch seamers varied their pace and extracted bounce from a slow wicket at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens to turn up the heat on Bangladesh, as De Leede (2-25) removed Mohammad Mahmudullah (20) to put them on course for a famous win.
Player of the match Van Meekeren claimed the final wicket to spark huge celebrations for the Dutch who lost by 309 runs to Australia last time out.
Edwards scored 68 to revive the innings after a poor start, and Sybrand Engelbrecht chipped in with 35 as the Netherlands scored 229 thanks to late hitting by Logan van Beek (23 not out).
“I was speaking to a couple of guys and we were saying that if we could get 220 plus, we would be in the game… it was nice that the bottom order guys got us to what we thought was a pretty competitive total,” Edwards said.
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