At the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday, Netherlands put on a clinical display with both bat and ball to ruin Zimbabwe's dreams of reaching the quarterfinals of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022. Max O'Dowd's half-century and Paul van Meekeren's three wickets helped the Netherlands win easily by five wickets, their maiden Super 12 victory.
In the game that needed to be won, Zimbabwe chose to bat, but their innings lacked momentum except for a 48-run partnership between Sikandar Raza and Sean Williams for the fourth wicket. They were bowled out for 117 in 19.2 overs after losing wickets at regular intervals.
In response, despite losing Stephan Myburgh early, Netherlands' chase didn't suffer significantly. A solid foundation was set by Tom Cooper and Max O'Dowd, who put up a 73-run partnership for the second wicket. Despite losing wickets in a row later in the innings, this structure held up well. With two over remaining, they surpassed Zimbabwe's total.
Brief Scores: Zimbabwe 117 in 19.2 overs (Sikandar Raza 40, Sean Williams 28; Paul van Meekeren 3-29, Bas de Leede 2-14) lost to Netherlands 120/5 in 18 overs (Max O'Dowd 52, Tom Cooper 32; Richard Ngarava 2-18, Blessing Muzarabani 2-23) by 5 wickets
Zimbabwe (Playing XI): Wesley Madhevere, Craig Ervine (c), Regis Chakabva (wk), Milton Shumba, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Luke Jongwe, Tendai Chatara, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani
Netherlands (Playing XI): Stephan Myburgh, Max ODowd, Tom Cooper, Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede, Scott Edwards (c/wk), Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Fred Klaassen, Paul van Meekeren, Brandon Glover