De Leede heroics seal World Cup berth for Netherlands

Netherlands vs Scotland, Super Sixes, Match 8

A stunning 123 off 92 and a five-wicket haul from Bas de Leede confirmed a World Cup berth for the Netherlands, who defeated Scotland by four wickets in a key Qualifiers clash at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Thursday (July 6).

Brandon McMullen (106 off 100) and Richie Berrington (64 off 84) put on a 137-run stand to help Scotland post a competitive 277/9. The Netherlands, who needed to achieve the target in 44 overs to go past Scotland's net run rate, were struggling at 163/5 in the 31st over. But the 23-year old de Leede played a superb innings, racing from 50 off 55 to get 73 more runs off only 37 balls as the Netherlands sealed the chase in 42.5 overs.

De Leede, who had played an important role with the ball earlier, picking up 5 for 52, became only the fourth player to complete the double of a five-wicket haul and a century in an ODI.

The Netherlands got off to a good start in the chase with Vikramjit Singh and Max O'Dowd adding 65 for the opening wicket. The partnership, however, came to an end when O'Dowd was trapped leg-before by Michael Leask, with a review failing to come to his aid. Leask then got the better of Vikramjit in his next over, and again the DRS couldn't save the batter who departed after a well-made 40. Wesley Barresi and de Leede tried to build a partnership but their association was cut short when the former fell to McMullen for 11 and Chris Greaves struck in his first over to dismiss Teja Nidamanuru, leaving the Netherlands at 108/4.

De Leede and Scott Edwards tried to get the chase back on track as they extended their partnership past 50. But once again Scotland did not let a stand go on for too long as Mark Watt got Edwards out lbw for 25. De Leede went past 50 but the pressure was on the Netherlands who needed to score 102 off 10 overs to make the trip to India. De Leede and Saqib Zulfiqar seemed determined to do that, striking regular boundaries as they brought it down to 60 off six overs to make the qualification mark.

De Leede, with two successive sixes off Watt in the 41st over, got to his maiden ODI hundred and Zulfiqar ended the over with another six to get 22 off it. The equation then came down to 23 in three overs. De Leede's two sixes off McMullen brought it down to three with two more overs to go.

De Leede was run out but Zulfiqar, who played a crucial role by being involved in a 113-run stand with the centurion, remained till the end as the Netherlands prevailed in the chase to seal their first World Cup berth since 2011, which incidentally was also held in India.

Earlier, after being asked to bat, Scotland lost Matthew Cross for a duck in the opening over bowled by Logan van Beek. A promising partnership between Christopher McBride and McMullen was cut short by Bas de Leede who dismissed the former for 32. With George Munsey also falling to the same bowler a short while later, Scotland slipped to 64/3 in the 15th over.

But a fine partnership for the fourth wicket ensued as McMullen and skipper Berrington joined forces and added 137 to set the platform for Scotland's challenging total. Berrington took a while to get going but McMullen ensured regular boundaries and even got to fifty with a six over extra cover off Ryan Klein. Berrington's contribution was only 8 runs when the half-century partnership was raised but he picked up pace, and soon brought up the century stand with a straight six off Vikramjit Singh.

McMullen brought up his second ODI ton with a boundary off van Beek and extended his tally of fours to 11, along with three sixes, before being caught behind off Klein. Scotland lost two more wickets with Michael Leask becoming Klein's second wicket and Berrington being bowled by de Leede. Although de Leede finished with a five-wicket haul, bagging two in the 49th over, Tomas Mackintosh's 28-ball 38 not out, which included two fours in the last over, bowled by Klein, powered Scotland close to the 280 mark.

Brief scores: Scotland 277/9 in 50 overs (Brandon McMullen 106, Richie Berrington 64; Bas de Leede 5-52) lost to the Netherlands 278/6 in 42.5 overs (Bas de Leede 123, Vikramjit Singh 40; Michael Leask 2-42) by 4 wickets.

UAE vs USA, 9th Place Play-off

Asif Khan's unbeaten 151 off 145 was followed by Sanchit Sharma's three-wicket haul, which included two in the final over, as the UAE clinched a thrilling one-run victory in the ninth place playoff match against the USA. After posting 308/4, the UAE saw off half-centuries from Gajanand Singh, Monank Patel and Aaron Jones and also a fighting knock from Shayan Jahangir to seal the narrow win, which was their first in the competition, to leave the USA winless.

Asif's unbeaten knock led the UAE's charge after they opted to bat, with 107 coming in his opening partnership with Aryansh Sharma. Once the stand came to an end, the USA picked up two more wickets but Asif kept one end going with his well-paced innings, setting the UAE up for a big total. He received good support in his fourth wicket association with Basil Hameed as they added 143 runs in less than 15 overs. As many as 108 came in the last 10 overs of the innings as the UAE posted a sizable total, crossing 300 for the first time in this competition.

After a 32-run first-wicket stand, the USA lost the openers in quick succession, with Muhammad Jawadullah and Junaid Siddique striking in successive overs. Monank crossed 50 and put on a century partnership with Jones but their scoring rate didn't match up to the required rate, which went past eight, and to add to their woes their captain was also dismissed. But Gajanand raced to a 33-ball fifty and Jones also picked up pace with his scoring as they brought it down to 74 in 52. The UAE hit back with the wickets of the half-centurions, leaving the opposition needing 62 off 46. Jahangir then scored a flurry of boundaries before being dismissed for a 19-ball 32. It came down to 10 off the last over and Nisarg Patel scored a four and then took a 2. But Sanchit picked up two wickets off the last three balls as UAE clinched a close game.

Brief scores: UAE 308/4 in 50 overs (Asif Khan 151*, Aryansh Sharma 57; Ali Khan 2-61) beat USA 307/9 in 50 overs (Aaron Jones 75, Gajanand Singh 69; Sanchit Sharma 3-37) by 1 run.