After a tough fight, the Netherlands lifted the ICC T20 Qualifiers trophy in their third appearance in the finals of the six editions of the tournament.
Following a clinical performance against Papua New Guinea at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, the Netherlands had shared the title twice, first with Ireland in 2008 and then with Scotland in 2015.
Roelof van der Merwe, Timm van der Gugten and Brandon Glover led a disciplined performance with the ball as the Dutch restricted PNG to 128 for 8. The Netherlands then came out with solid contributions from Ben Cooper, Ryan ten Doeschate and Colin Ackermann to get over the line with seven wickets in hand and an over to spare.
Meanwhile, Cooper smartly handled his innings, with a couple of sixes, not to let the required rate out of control. Ackermann provided him with good support from the other end. However, Cooper was knocked out by Damien Ravu in the 13th over.
While Ryan ten Doeschate struck a four and a six off successive deliveries from Ravu and managed another maximum off Pokana to bring it down to a run at the end of the 17th over. He then followed up with a four before hitting the last ball off the winning six off Pokana.
In the opening of PNG, Tony Ura was trapped by Roelof van der Merwe with an arm ball in the front. Lega Siaka, who managed three fours off Colin Ackermann, was caught in the sixth over. Yet wickets were falling at the other end as Assad Vala was run out while Charles Amini’s attempted loft off Timm van der Gugten ended up with the batsman being dismissed for naught.
Siaka and Sese Bau attempted to stabilize the score, adding 43 for the fourth wicket. Jason Kila hit two fours and two sixes in the final over of Paul van Meekeren, although in the end, it didn’t make much of a difference.
Scores:
Netherlands 134/3 in 19 overs(Ben Cooper 41, Ryan ten Doeschate 34*; Assad Vala 1-15)
Papua New Guinea 128/8 in 20 overs (Lega Siaka 39, Sese Bau 29; Brandon Glover 3-24)
