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The Netherlands Overcome Afghanistan

Put in to bat Afghanistan, could make only 128/9.

In reply, the openers gave the Netherlands a good start and they weathered a late fightback from Mohammad Nabi and Hamid Hassan to register a thrilling four-wicket victory.

Afghanistan introduced spin in the fifth over which put some breaks on the run rate. The Netherlands reached the 50-mark in the seventh over with all wickets in tact.

The Netherlands lost their first wicket in ninth over when Kervezee was bowled by Mohammed Nabi. The fall of Kervezee brought Daan van Bungee to the crease.

Hassan has been a revelation for Afghanistan bowling at the death overs, but he failed to fire this time.

Earlier, Rais Ahmadzai remained the top scorer with 23 and Mirwais Ashraf played brisk innings of 19 off just nine balls to help Afghanistan reach 128/8. Nawroz Mangal and Karim Sadiq gave Afghanistan a flying start. The openers gathered 30 runs in first four overs.

Cheered by a sizable crowd which grew match by match, Afghanistan looked set for a big total but Mark Jonkman struck a double blow in his second over and Ryand ten Doeshate removed the dangerous Mohammed Nabi to leave them tottering on 32/3.

Now Mohammed Shahzad and Rais Ahmadzai were at the crease to consolidate the innings.

The lively crowd celebrated every single run and brought the stadium to life first time in the tournament.

Afghanistan reached 50 in the eighth over but lost four wickets in the process and the hopes of setting a big total faded away.

Shahzad got run out and Noor Ali joind Rais in the middle.

Afghanistan batsmen looked out of sorts and were in a hurry. Every batsman tried to hit the bowler out of the ground and gave their wickets in the process. Noor, who was new to crease lofted a ball from Peter Borren, but the mid-off fielder failed to judge the catch.

It was a time accelerate and Rais was ready to take on the Netherlands bowlers. Rais and Noor exhibited greater understanding between themselves and stole some risky singles.

Afghanistan lost Rais in 14^th over when he tried a six off Mohammed Kasif.

Nothing worked for Afghanistan and anything which went in the air was taken by the Netherlands fielders and a number of run-outs also did not help the Afghan cause.

They reached the score of 100 in 18^th over. Mirwais played a gem of an innings to provide the much need boost to Afghanistan. He hit 19 off nine balls and was run out on the last ball of the innings.

The Afghans who came into droves and some of them might have missed their Friday prayers were not able to see some fireworks from their batsmen.

The Netherlands will be buoyed by this result, which gives them two valuable points ahead of their second encounter against Ireland on Saturday. Afghanistan carried two points into this round courtesy to their win over Ireland in the group stage, but after Friday’s loss they will be hoping for a strong victory in their game against UAE to enhance their chances of making their trip to the West Indies.