Superman van Beek does the double Dutch

Two teams came to Takashinga on Monday dreaming of better days in the men's World Cup qualifiers. One left holding a handful of hope, the other plunged into pointless purgatory. No such tension prevailed across town at Harare Sports Club, where one side already knew they were bound for bigger things when they took on their hapless, homeward-bound opposition.

The Netherlands are that hopeful side, having earned two precious Super Six points. But, as with all things worthwhile, they didn't come easily. Instead it needed a super over to separate them from West Indies in a match that was left tied after 748 runs had been scored. The Windies will also progress from the group stage, although with no Super Six points. For a team who have won two World Cups and reached the final of another, that is a catastrophe.

In the Super Over, Logan van Beek clubbed Jason Holder for three sixes and three fours; all 30 of the Netherlands' runs. Then van Beek took the ball, claimed two wickets, and kept the damage in the West Indies' reply to eight runs.

"We've got two points, that's the main thing," van Beek said. "That's what we came here to do. We've given ourselves a chance to qualify [for the World Cup]." Did he expect those points to be so difficult to secure? "It was always going to be hard. West Indies come out and bully you in how they hit the ball. As a bowler it's intimidating. But we held our nerve. They got away [to 374/6], but [between innings] some of our boys said that's not enough. You just go out there, keep your head still and hope for the best."

Christchurch-born van Beek's grandfather, Sammy Guillen, played 21 Tests for West Indies from December 1951 to March 1956. He wore his multiculturalism with pride: "I'm still West Indian, still Dutch and still Kiwi. My grandfather will be upstairs chuckling to himself that I actually hit the ball over the boundary and not to a fielder.

"I've trained a lot to bowl yorkers and to hit sixes. Sometimes the opportunity presents itself and you try to take it with both hands. If you stick at it long enough you're going to have a moment like this. Just keep turning up and you never know what could happen."

For the second time in three days in the wake of West Indies' loss to Zimbabwe at HSC on Saturday, Darren Sammy found himself lumped with having to make sense of it all. "We've got ourselves to blame, two crucial matches with points on offer where we've got ourselves into good positions and we've let it slip," Sammy said. "It's a true reflection of where we are as a team. A lot of things have to change. Some of the decisions we made makes you question what's going on.

"I watched the way the Netherlands batted and the way they ran between the wickets, those are the things I need to try and instil in my team. It was a lesson for our guys. I can safely say we're the worst fielding team in this competition. We cannot display this kind of attitude and call ourselves an international team."

That the Dutch could keep abreast of a target 77 runs bigger than any they had successfully chased seemed unlikely. But as the runs rained up, down and all around in a brilliantly run 90-ball stand of 143 shared by Scott Edwards and Teja Nidamanuru, who hammered 111 off 76, Holder was heard loudly exhorting his teammates in the field to "be your brother's keeper!" It's a lesson the Windies will want to learn ahead of the challenges they will face in the coming days.

Zimbabwe, who beat the Windies and the Netherlands, will take four points forward. Either Sri Lanka or Scotland will join the home side on that perch after their match at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Tuesday. The other game in the City of Kings, between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates at Bulawayo Athletic Club, is a dead rubber.

Unbeaten Zimbabwe lurched into a higher gear at HSC on Monday, putting up their record total of 408/6 and thrashing the United States by 304 runs - the second-biggest win in all 4,602 men's ODIs yet played. Mercifully the yankees, who lost all four of their matches, are going home. As are Nepal, the UAE and, surprisingly, Ireland.

The Irish have been among the louder voices protesting the World Cup's reduction to 10 teams, which was the case in 2019 and will be again in India in October and November. Not since 1992, when nine teams lined up, has the field been so small.

Ireland made their World Cup debut in 2007, when there were 16 teams, and they were among 14 in 2011 and 2015. They have won only seven of their 21 World Cup games and tied another, but their successes have tended to be if not seismic then significant - over Pakistan and Bangladesh in 2007, England in 2011, and West Indies and Zimbabwe in 2015.

The Irish have in the past made a decent case for a bigger World Cup, but they didn't put their runs and wickets where their mouths are to get there this time. Muddled, unclear, uncertain selection let them down, and will cost them a USD1-million World Cup participation fee.

Happier stories in the qualifiers have been told not only by the Dutch but also by Oman and Scotland, who both beat Ireland. The Scots earned two Super Six points for overcoming Oman despite being depleted by players opting to stay with their English counties rather than turn out for the national side.

The Netherlands, too, have been significantly undermined by county commitments. That didn't matter on Monday, when the most motivating place the Dutch could be was with their backs against the wall. They will never forget Takashinga.