Netherlands edge Ireland

IN their last match in Bulawayo before heading back to Harare, Netherlands edged Ireland by two wickets at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday.

In a low scoring encounter, Ireland won the toss and elected to bat first and were bowled out for a below par score of 193 runs in 39,2 overs before the Dutch clawed their way to 196/8 in 37,3 over to round up their warm up campaign on a high note.

However, after yesterday’s poor show with the bat, both sides will have to bring their A game when the tournament commences to give themselves a chance of booking their places in the World Cup in India.

In the match’s first innings, it took a special Lorcan Tucker innings to save Ireland from humiliation.

Tucker, alongside Gareth Delany saved Ireland from batting blushes with splendid knocks.

Tucker top scored for the Irish with a well batted 74 runs from 90 deliveries while Delany fell four runs short of his half century on 46 runs after facing 25 balls.

Another Irish batter who managed to put a notable score on the board was Graham Hume who chipped in with 30 runs while skipper Andy Balbirnie fell for 12 runs from 39 deliveries.

The four were the only batters who managed to cross double figures for Ireland. Logan van Beek, Clayton Floyd, Shariz Ahmad and Aryan Dutt all took two scalps for the Dutch while Vikramjit Singh and Vivian Kingma had one wicket each.

It seemed like it was going to be an easy chase for Netherlands especially after an 88-run second wicket partnership between Max O’Dowd and Wesley Barresi. However, the Dutch middle order collapsed, giving Ireland a glimpse of hope.

Barresi top scored with an unbeaten 90 runs from 86 deliveries which helped see Netherlands through. O’Dowd fell for 36 runs from 45 balls while at the back end of the innings, Shariz Ahmad provided support to Barresi with 30 runs off 63 deliveries.

Leading Ireland’s defence was Ben White who fought a lone battle with the ball, taking a fiver to finish with the figures of 5/61 in his 10-over spell.

Andy McBrine, George Dockrell and Harry Tector took one scalp each as they could not restrict Netherlands.

On the other side of town at Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC), Sri Lanka showed their intent with a thumping 198 runs win over the United States of America (USA).

Batting first, the Asian Champions scored a mammoth 392/5 in their 50-overs, courtesy of two brilliant tons from Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis. Karunaratne top scored with 111 runs from 100 deliveries before retiring hurt while Mendi made 105 runs from 91 balls.

The Lankas went on to bowl out their opponents for just 194 runs.

Yesterday’s matches rounded up the warm-up games and focus now shifts to the main event which gets underway on Sunday. Netherlands and USA will head to Harare where they will be based throughout the duration of the group games while Ireland and Sri Lanka remain in the City of Kings and Queens and will be joined by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Scotland.

Oman is set to arrive today. They are in Group B of the tournament while Netherlands and USA are in Group A, alongside Nepal, West Indies and the hosts, Zimbabwe.

All Group A matches will take place in the capital. – @brandon_malvin