The Netherlands ended Zimbabwe's semi-final hopes after easing past the African outfit in a one-sided encounter in Adelaide. Max O'Dowd's well-compiled half-century helped the Dutch topple Zimbabwe's total after the bowlers had done half the job by restricting Craig Ervine's side to a paltry 117 in the first innings.
Before listening to comments of the skippers from both sides, we look at the talking points from the game:
The Dutch finally arrive at the Super 12s
The Netherlands qualified for the Super 12 stage of the tournament after gleefully accepting UAE's parting gift of Namibia's knockout. The Men in Orange, who secured two victories out of three during the first round, failed to win any of the Super 12 games before today. Their victory, ending Zimbabwe's semi-final hopes, was one of the unlikely outcomes of this exciting tournament so far.
Zimbabwe runs out of gas
After a narrow escape against a ravaging Proteas to back-to-back last over thrillers against Pakistan and Bangladesh, Zimbabwe finally looked a side out of ideas against the Netherlands. The lack of intensity from the African side was on display throughout the match as they were beaten comprehensively by their opponents.
The gift that keeps on giving
Sikandar Raza had a rare poor outing against Bangladesh, failing to have an impact with either the bat or the ball. But he stamped his authority in this game and saved the blushes of Zimbabwean batters, smashing a belligerent 40 off just 24 balls to drag Zimbabwe to a respectable total.
Spirit of a warrior
Things looked ominous for Netherlands' Bas de Leede when he was hit under the eye by a nasty bouncer from Pakistani speedster Haris Rauf. The star-all-rounder received several stitches on his face after the injury. But it wasn't enough to keep him out of the Zimbabwe clash as he returned with tremendous bowling figures of 2/14 in his four overs donning the battle scars like a true warrior.
Losing skipper, Craig Ervine said:
It was one of those tosses where we were split, whether to bowl or bat. I just thought that credit to Netherlands for their powerplay bowling to put us under the pump. Raza and Williams did really well to get us back into the game but unfortunately we couldn't finish it off. With the ball, we didn't find enough movement with the ball. Credit to Netherlands for the win.
Winning skipper, Scott Edwards said:
Awesome. We came here to win some games at the Super 12. Good to get the ball rolling after a rocking start. Bowlers were sensational, the top four got us pretty close to the total too. Max has been sensational for the past 4-5 years. He rocks up at big occasions.
Player of the match, Max O'Dowd said:
Pretty scrappy to start, I was trying to adapt to the conditions as quickly as possible. Took a while to adapt against those tall Zimbabwe bowlers. There was more movement in the wicket when we were bowling. I could trust the bounce, we were pretty lucky.
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