Paul van Meekeren returned the best figures for a Dutch bowler at the World Cup (4/24) as Netherlands stunned Bangladesh on Super Saturday to pick up another famous win in the ongoing World Cup. Having already beaten table toppers South Africa, Netherlands put up a clinical show, especially with the ball to condemn Bangladesh to their fifth straight defeat in the tournament and the biggest loss (87 runs) for a full-member against an associate nation.
With the game scheduled at the Eden Gardens, Bangladesh had plenty of support. And they did begin the contest in style by striking early as Vikramjit Singh got a leading edge to fall for just 3 in the second over. Four balls later, Max O’Dowd edged one to first slip as the Dutch got off to a horror start. Wesley Barresi and Colin Ackermann did stem the rot, especially with the former going on a boundary spree in the powerplay.
Just when he was looking well set, Barresi fell prey to a slower delivery from Mustafizur Rahman and then Ackermann also fell in the following over to leave Netherlands reeling at 63/4. Once again, the onus was on that lower order to bail their side out and they did exactly that. Even though Bas de Leede made only 17, Scott Edwards led the Dutch recovery in the second half of the innings alongside Sybrand Engelbrecht as the duo stitched an useful 78-run partnership.
Edwards brought up a fifty again and Engelbrecht was on 35 as Netherlands looked to cash in at the death. But once again, they lost two well-set batters in quick succession that disrupted their plans. Logan van Beek then chipped in with a handy unbeaten 23 off just 16 balls to guide his side to a competitive 229. It appeared to be more than just competitive when the Bangladesh openers Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan fell in successive overs like their Dutch counterparts.
Najmul Shanto broke the shackles finally with a boundary after Netherlands had sent down 22 successive dot balls. At the other end, Mehidy Hasan opened up against Aryan Dutt, hammering him for a six and a couple of boundaries to inject some life into the chase. That is when Paul van Meekeren made merry as he struck some vital blows to hurt the Bangladesh middle order. Shanto edged one to first slip and Shakib Al Hasan gloved one behind to the keeper as Bangladesh slipped to 63/4 – the same score as Netherlands at the fall of their fourth wicket.
De Leede then got his side the massive wicket of Mehidy as Netherlands took full charge of the contest. Bangladesh’s last hope was the experienced pair of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah. But the wicketkeeper inside edged van Meekeren to lose his stumps as Bangladesh slipped to 70/6. The disappointed Bangladesh contingent started leaving by this time and only some handy contributions from the tail could even reduce the margin of defeat.
Brief scores: Netherlands 229 in 50 overs (Scott Edwards 68, Wesley Barresi 41; Mustafizur Rahman 2/36) beat Bangladesh 142 in 42.2 overs (Mehidy Hasan 35; Paul van Meekeren 4/23, Bas de Leede 2/25) by 87 runs
