The Netherlands defeated Scotland by chasing the requisite target inside 43 overs to better their net run rate over the Scots on July 6, 2023, and as a result, also qualified for the World Cup 2023 to be held in India.
Netherlands captain Scott Edwards won the toss and chose to field first.
Thanks to Brandon McMullen’s 106 and skipper Richie Berrington’s 64 and a late surge by Tomas Mackintosh (38*), the Scotland team posted 277/9 in 50 overs. For the Dutch, Bas de Leede picked 5/52 and Ryan Klein picked two wickets.
In response, the Netherlands were chasing 278 in 44 overs to qualify.
Vikramjit Singh made 40 and Max O’Dowd made 20 runs, but the innings was held together by Bas de Leede as wickets fell around him. Scott Edwards made 25, while De Leede made 123 in 92 balls with 7 fours and 5 sixes.
He was in sublime form as when the Netherlands needed 45 off the last four overs, he smashed four of the five sixes that Netherlands hit off the next two overs.
Though he got run out before victory was achieved, Saqib Zulfiqar made 33* and took the Netherlands past the victory mark in 42.5 overs and with 4 wickets in hand.
This means the Netherlands and Sri Lanka will go through to the final of the Qualifier, which will be played on Sunday, as well as to the World Cup 2023 which will be played in India. But no matter who wins the final, the Netherlands goes through as Q1, and Sri Lanka as Q2.
This also made the Dutch the only Associate team to qualify for the World Cup proper since the tournament shrunk to include just 10 teams.
The cricket fraternity was jubilant at the Netherlands qualifying for the World Cup in India and lauded them on Twitter.
Here are the tweets:
