VOORBURG: The New Zealand bowlers showed brilliance in defending a sub-par goal to give their team a narrow victory over the Netherlands in the first T20I.
Set to chase 149, the hosts fell just 16 runs short as the Blair Tickner-led New Zealand bowling attack beat the Netherlands by 132 in the final.
Leader Bas de Leede fought valiantly for the hosts with a hard hitting 66 runs from 53 deliveries, laced with three limits and two sixes.
Goalkeeper batsman Scott Edwards remained another major contributor as he went 20 for 16 while the rest of the batsmen were clueless against the Black Caps bowling attack.
Right-arm pacemaker Tickner led the way for New Zealand on 4/27, while Ben Sears followed with three. Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi, on the other hand, struck out one batter each.
Batting first, New Zealand could only finish at 148/7 in the allotted 20 overs, as failure in the middle order prevented the Black Caps from racking up a massive total.
The opening right-handed batsman made sure to provide the tour side with a firm base as he went 45-for-36 with the help of bounding four and a six, while lefty all-rounder James Neesham’s quick shot brought down the order buttressed the team. to a commendable total after the failure of the middle order.
The left-handed batsman went 32-for-17, intertwined with two bounds and as many sixes.
For Holland, Shariz Ahmed and Logan van Beek each picked two wickets, while Clayton Floyd, Tim Pringle and Ryan Klein each took one scalp.
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