Netherlands ease to Super 12 win over lacklustre Zimbabwe

Max O'Dowd's half century helped to see the Dutch side past a below-par total at the Adelaide Oval

Adelaide Oval: Zimbabwe 117, Netherlands 120-5 - Netherlands win by five wickets

Scorecard

The Netherlands secured their first win of the Super 12 stage, comfortably beating a lacklustre Zimbabwe side who were bowled out for just 117 at the Adelaide Oval.

Spearheaded by Paul van Meekeren, who picked up three wickets, the Dutch seamers shared all 10 wickets as only Sikandar Raza (40) and Sean Williams (28) reached double figures.

The Netherlands, led by Max O'Dowd (52) and Tom Cooper, then chased down the total with few alarms as Zimbabwe's famous win over Pakistan began to feel a long time ago.

They have since lost twice – against Bangladesh in dramatic circumstances, and against the Netherlands in meek fashion – to end their chances of reaching the semi-finals, which only a matter of days ago had been a realistic hope.

Zimbabwe never got going in conditions that swung early and on a surface that appeared to become truer as the afternoon wore on.

Van Meekeren provided an early breakthrough, sneaking a full ball through the defence of Wessly Madhevere, who would later leave the field with an ankle problem to crown a disappointing day.

^{Sikandar Raza was the only man to bat with any fluency for Zimbabwe (Sarah Reed/Getty Images)}

Craig Ervine was early on an attempted pick-up shot to give Brandon Glover his first of two wickets, the second of which came when Regis Chakabva played around a straight delivery and was trapped in front.

Williams fell to van Meekeren to end Zimbabwe's counterattack, with wickets tumbling thereafter. The engine room of Milton Shumba, Ryan Burl and Luke Jongwe contributed 10 runs between them, with Raza's 24-ball 40 – which featured three sixes over the legside – coming to an end during that collapse.

He fell to Bas de Leede, the Dutch allrounder whose participation had been in doubt after being struck just below the eye by Haris Rauf in the Netherlands' defeat by Pakistan on Sunday.

In response, Stephan Myburgh skewed Blessing Muzarabani to backward point but otherwise the Dutch top order controlled the crux of the run-chase, with Zimbabwe's seamers below par and failing to hit the same lengths that had proven so successful when they batted.

Madhevere suffered his injury while catching Cooper (32) in the deep, and Colin Ackermann mishit to mid-off for just a single to give Richard Ngarava a wicket. But O'Dowd passed fifty as Jongwe lost his radar before cutting Muzarabani to Shumba at deep point, with captain Scott Edwards then edging behind as he looked to end proceedings with a violent swipe to the legside.

By then, though, the Netherlands were all but over the line, winning eventually despite some excruciating finishing-line jitters, which included a period of one run in 13 balls when just two were needed for victory.

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