Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepal bounced back from a disappointing show against Namibia in its first match of the ICC World Cricket League 2, with a comprehensive nine-wicket victory over the Netherlands at the TU International Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Batting first after losing the toss, the Netherlands made a disastrous start with the bat and were folded for just 137 runs losing all wickets in 39 overs. Half-centuries by Asif Sheikh and Anil Shah helped Nepal chase the target with 208 balls remaining.
Nepal removed both the Netherlands openers with just 18 runs on the board. Sybrand Engelbrecht and Bas de Leede resurrected the Netherlands innings, scoring 23 runs and 27 runs, respectively. Captain Scott Edwards scored 33 from 49 balls, while Max O’Dowd, Noah Croes, and Aryan Dutta scored 10, 10, and 11 runs, respectively.
Part-time spinner Kushal Bhurtel took four wickets for Nepal giving just 20 runs in his seven-over spell. Lalit Rajbanshi claimed two wickets, while Sompal Kami and Rohit Paudel contributed a wicket each.
Chasing 138 to win, Nepal added 36 runs for the first wicket in just 2.5 overs. Kushal Bhurtel scored a quickfire 28 from 11 balls before Vivian Kingma had him caught by Bas de Leede. Anil Shah and Asif both scored unbeaten half-centuries to take Nepal home in the 16th over. Asif scored 54 from 45 balls while Anil hit a 36-ball 57. They clubbed 14 fours and five sixes between them.
Vivian Kingma took the only wicket for the Netherlands.
This was the Netherlands’ second heaviest defeat by balls remaining (208 balls).
The Netherlands Captain Scott Edwards said it was an embarrassing performance by his team. “We didn’t play to the conditions well. And Nepal bowled really well,” he added.
Nepal Captain Rohit Poudel said Nepal didn’t bat as per the expectations in the match against Namibia. “But we believed in ourselves. We corrected all the mistakes and we bowled exceptionally well in the power play. We outplayed them with the bat,” he added.
This was the lowest match aggregate (278 runs) involving Nepal and the Netherlands. This was the Netherlands’ second heaviest defeat by balls remaining (208 balls).
The Netherlands will play Namibia in its second match of the WCL 2 on Monday.
