Netherlands-Scotland WCLC Match Abandoned Due To Heavy Rain

Van der Merwe and Seelar lead recovery after early strikes by Davey, but weather has final say

Rain played spoilsport for the second consecutive day, forcing the ICC World Cricket League Championship clash between Scotland and the Netherlands in Amstelveen to be abandoned, with the teams sharing points.

The Netherlands started on Tuesday (September 15), the reserve day, at 74 for 5 in 23.3 overs and moved to 161 for 6 in 43 overs before rain arrived once again to have the final say.

Choosing to field after a delayed start on Monday, Scotland started on a perfect note courtesy a triple-strike by Josh Davey, the right-arm medium pacer. He first sent Stephan Myburgh (4) back off just the fourth ball of the match and followed it up with the wickets of Ben Cooper (4) and Michael Rippon (9) to leave the Netherlands 21 for 3 by the ninth over. 

Things became worse for the Netherlands in the next three overs when Peter Borren and Wesley Barresi nicked behind the stumps as the home side was reduced to 35 for 5 in 12.1 overs.

Just when Scotland seemed in complete control of the match, Roelof van der Merwe and Peter Seelaar combined to lead the Netherlands recovery. The duo consolidated and saw off the rest of what play possible on Monday before continuing the good work on the reserve day with a partnership of 126 for the sixth wicket. 

Both batsmen went past their half-centuries, and just when they were looking to up the ante, Alasdair Evans castled Seelar for a 104-ball 68 on what turned out to be the last ball of the match. Van der Merwe, who recently moved from South Africa to play for the Netherlands side, remained unbeaten on 62 off 92 balls. 
 
Both sides remained joint leaders in the points table with two wins from three matches.

Source: ICC

Netherlands, Scotland Crawl Their Top Spot Ahead of WCLC Second Round

Namibia will face Kenya, while Nepal takes on PNG and UAE faces off against Hong Kong

The first round of the ICC World Cricket League Championship got under way in Windhoek in May, and both Scotland and the Netherlands jointly lead the point table with two wins from as many matches. 

The next round of games – eight matches spanning over two months – starts from Monday (September 14), with the Netherlands taking on Scotland at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen. With both sides having four points each, the top spot will be up for grabs when they square off.

The format of the tournament includes seven rounds of two home or away matches in each round, and the Netherlands will face Scotland for the sides’ second match on Wednesday.

While the tournament is still young, there is plenty at stake and an early lead will no doubt help. The top sides from this tournament will progress to the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, which will be held in Bangladesh in 2018, and subsequently have a chance to qualify for a place at ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

The Netherlands is well placed to take advantage of the momentum it has gained, following a 44-run win over Scotland in the ICC Intercontinental Cup win earlier this week.

In the first round, Netherlands beat Papua New Guinea in both their head-to-head matches in June, while Scotland claimed victory in two rain-affected matches over Nepal in Ayr in July-August.

The Netherlands’ strength has been its largely cohesive unit that includes the likes of Peter Borren at the helm, Pieter Seelaar, the left-arm spinner, Michael Swart, Ben Cooper, Wesley Barresi and Stephan Myburgh, among others. The form of Roelof van der Merwe, one of themore recent additions, is also a huge boost for the side. Van der Merwe starred in the Intercontinental Cup victory, scoring a half-century and claiming a match haul of 5 for 101.

Thijs van Schelven, Vivian Kingma and Rahil Ahmed are the new faces in the Netherlands squad, and it will be interesting to see how the side copes with the absence of the experienced Timm van der Gugten.

Scotland has won nine of its 16 matches in the competition’s history so far, and will be expected to put up a tough fight against the Netherlands.  

Scotland's batting wears a solid look with Kyle Coetzer, Matthew Cross, the wicketkeeper, and Preston Mommsen, the captain, in its ranks. It will also take confidence from the fact that all its bowlers stood up in the match against Nepal, where it hunted in a pack.

There are six more second-round matches in the ICC WCL Championship, with Namibia and Kenya playing in Windhoek onOctober 30 and November 1, United Arab Emirates hosting Hong Kong on November 16 and 18 in Dubai, and Nepal hosting PNG in Kathmandu on November 28 and 30. However, the venue of the Nepal-PNG match is subject to security and infrastructure assessment and clearance.

Namibia will be led by Nicholaas Scholtzand and has in its ranks a host of players, including veteran all-rounders Gerrie Snyman and Stephan Baard. Earlier in the tournament, Namibia played a near-perfect game against Hong Kong in its opening match but a batting collapse in its second match hurt the side badly. 

Like Namibia, Kenya too will need to iron out chinks which have hindered an otherwise good side from overcoming its opponents. It possesses a good batting unit with Irfan Karim and Narendra Kalyan at the top of the order, and Rakep Patel, Nehemiah Odhiambo and Collins Obuya in the middle, but the entire unit needs to fire in together to stack up big scores.  And given the somewhat lean bowling resources it has, defending a below-par score will be tougher for Kenya.

Nepal faces off against PNG, who marked its One-Day International debut with a series win over Hong Kong in November last year, in the last set of matches in this round. Both the sides are yet to register a win in this edition of the tournament so far, and are placed at the bottom of the points table. 

UAE, currently placed fifth in the points table, will have the advantage of familiarity of conditions when it takes on Hong Kong. UAE’s batting wears a settled look and it will take confidence from the fact that all its bowlers contributed in the two matches against Kenya in June.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong, who beat Namibia by eight wickets in the opening round, will hope its batsmen come to the fore against UAE. The bowling, comprising Tanwir Afzal, Haseeb Amjad, the pacers, and Nadeem Ahmed, the offspinner, is Hong Kong’s stronger suit.

It is still quite early in the tournament with as many as five rounds remaining, but with the ultimate opportunity of featuring in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on the horizon, there is a lot at stake and consistency will be the key.

Source:icc

Scotland Struggle In Chase Of 201 For Glorious Victory Against Netherland

Visitor fights back on day three but still has its task cut out against Netherlands

After conceding a 77-run lead, Scotland bounced back to not just bowl the Netherlands out for 123 in the second innings, but end the day requiring 149 runs more for victory with seven wickets standing at the end of the third day of the ICC Intercontinental Cup match at the Sportpark Westvliet in The Hague on Thursday (September 10).
 
Having been restricted to 133 in the first innings in reply to the host’s 210, Scotland bowled the Netherlands out cheaply in its second innings setting itself a target of 201. Its chase got off to a shaky start with the top three falling with just 18 on the board, but the visitor recovered to end the day on 52 for 3. Preston Mommsen and Ritchie Berrington shared an unseparated 34-run stand to ensure no further damage.
 
If day two saw 16 wickets fall, the third day was just as eventful, with a total of 17 wickets going down. After the Netherlands’ pacemen reduced Scotland to 36 for 6 at the end of day two, an early finish to the innings loomed. But the last four wickets put up some resistance as Matthew Cross (17), Rob Taylor (46) and Safyaan Sharif (32) added useful runs towards the end.  
 
Cross fought his way along with Taylor on resumption of play on the third day and tired to cut loose but he fell for 17 an over after the pair had taken Paul van Meekeren for 12 runs. Con de Lange then was trapped leg before by Quirijn Gunning in the next over for 0.

Taylor and Sharif shared a 35-run stand for the ninth wicket before Taylor was bowled by Vivian Kingma. Sharif fought on with Alasdair Evans for the final wicket to add 30 runs, doing bulk of the scoring before he fell to Michael Rippon.   
 
Kingma, who picked up three of the six wickets that fell on Wednesday, finished with figures of 4 for 36.
 
Scotland rode on the high of spirited late resistance as Evans and Josh Davey came out all guns blazing with the new ball. The pair reduced the host to 44 for 5, Rippon alone scoring 37 of those. Roelof van der Merwe, who scored a vital 73 in the Netherlands’ first innings and topped it with two wickets, was unable to replicate his heroics in the second innings.

Pieter Seelar (19), Stephan Myburgh (31) and Peter Borren (23) then gradually stabilised the innings. After Myburgh fell with 109 on the board, the Netherlands couldn’t add too many and was bowled out in 43 overs, with a lead of 200.  
 
Scotland lost Kyle Coetzer, Hamish Gardiner and Matt Machan as it set out in its quest for 201, but Mommsen, the captain, and Berrington held firm to take the fight to the final day.
 
A result is almost inevitable now given the events of the last two days, so long as the weather holds good. It is almost incidental now that the first day of the four-day match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.




Source: ICC

Scotland In trouble After 16-Wicket Day At The Hague Against Netherland

Vivian Kingma leads the way with the ball as visitor ends Day 2 on 35/6 in reply to host’s 210

A majestic display with the ball from Vivian Kingma helped the Netherlands put behind its poor show with the bat and pin Scotland down on the mat on the second day of their ICC Intercontinental Cup match at the Sportpark Westvliet in The Hague on Wednesday (September 9).
 
After the first day of the encounter was washed out without a ball being bowled, the pitch had some demons in it and that resulted in the fall of 16 wickets.
 
As a result of the damp strip, the overcast conditions and tidy bowling from Scotland, the Netherlands, who was asked to bat first, was constantly under pressure. Had it not been for Roelof van de Merwe and his 136-ball 73, things could have been rather iffy for the host. The former South Africa international’s innings turned out to be the saving grace as it helped the side cross the 200-run mark and finish on 210 from 71.1 overs.  
 
Scotland’s bowlers, led by Josh Davey, who picked up three wickets, had done the job. Now, it was the turn of the batsmen to deliver. Unfortunately, it all went wrong as Kingma and Paul van Meekeren cracked the whip from the first over of Scotland’s innings, sharing five wickets to reduce Scotland to 35 for 6 in 23 overs at stumps.

Kingma was the one to get things going as he got rid of Hamish Gardiner and Matt Machan with just three runs on board. Van der Merwe then got into the act by dismissing Kyle Coetzer, but Kingma was right back in the mix when he sent Preston Mommsen, Scotland’s skipper, back to the hut.   
 
Following his three-wicket burst, Kingma was taken off the attack and van Meekeren was brought on. He, too, hit paydirt as he packed off Richie Berrington and Davey in quick succession to leave Scotland in tatters.    
 
At the start of the day, the Netherlands got off to a decent start but in no time it was tottering at 88 for 5 and in need of a steady hand. Much to its relief, van de Merwe and Stephan Myburgh stepped it up with a 65-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
 
But, following Myburgh’s wicket, Con de Lange’s second, the Netherlands was back to square one as it lost wickets in a rush. Van der Merwe, who was the wall that separated Scotland from running through the Netherlands’s batting line-up, fell after Peter Borren, Netherlands’s skipper, to bring an end to the fight.  
 
Davey, who had removed Pieter Seelaar earlier, accounted for van der Merwe with the score on 197 and followed it up by dismissing Quirijn Gunning the very next ball. Unfortunately, he missed out on the hat-trick and a four-wicket haul, but it didn’t take Scotland too long to wrap things up as Safyaan Sharif got his second wicket in van Meekeren to bring an end to the innings.
 
At that stage, Scotland will have felt happy. But, in little over an hour, everything had changed.


Source: ICC

Scotland Challenge Awaits Netherlands In I-Cup

After a surprise opening loss to PNG in Round 1, pressure is on the Netherlands to get campaign back on track

The second round of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2015-17 will get underway on Tuesday (September 8) when Netherlands squares off against Scotland at Sportpark Westvilet, The Hague. Scotland earned crucial additional points in a rain-curtailed draw against Afghanistan in the first round of the seventh edition of the tournament through the first-innings lead. Netherlands, on the other hand, suffered an unexpected defeat to Papua New Guinea at home and will have its task cut out from the outset against a tough opponent. 

Despite being an experienced side, Netherlands hasn't had as much success as it would have liked in the competition. It will therefore seek to make amends and recover from the early loss.  

The batting, comprising Stephan Myburgh, Wesley Barresi, the wicketkeeper-batsman, and Peter Borren, the captain, is Netherlands's stronger suit. Max O'Dowd, the Auckland-born right-hand batsman, is the only relatively new face. With the ball, Netherlands will bank on the experience of Pieter Seelaar, the left-arm spinner, and Timm van der Gugten, who carries out the new-ball duties and is fresh off a six-for against PNG. 

Scotland will have the advantage of familiarity of conditions and probably has the edge heading in to the contest. Scotland's batting wears a solid look and it will take confidence from the fact that all its bowlers stood up in the match against Afghanistan where it hunted in a pack. 

After one round Netherlands with seven points sits in sixth place, while 2004 winner Scotland is fourth on 13 points. This means the side that collects 20 maximum points will jump to the top of the table. This outcome will surely inject fresh impetus to their ambitions of winning the ICC Intercontinental Cup and qualify for the ICC Test Challenge, which will be played against the 10th-ranked Test side on a home and away basis in 2018. If the ICC Intercontinental Cup winner wins the ICC Test Challenge, then it will secure Test status until the next ICC Test Challenge, which will take place in 2022. 

In the second match of Round 2, Namibia will face Ireland in Windhoek on October 24. Going by form and overall success, this could be the most exciting of the four matches. 

Namibia played a near-perfect game against Hong Kong, doing most things right with bat and ball. Most of the middle order made significant contributions in its first innings, while Xander Pitchers, the opener, impressed with an unbeaten 105 in the second. Sarel Burger and JJ Smit, the two medium pacers, did the bulk of the damage with the ball in Hong Kong's first innings, while the Scholtz brothers - Bernard, the left-arm spinner and Nicolaas, the leg-spinner -- were the most impressive in the second. 

Ireland has been the most successful side in the tournament by some distance, and once again demonstrated its strength with an innings win over United Arab Emirates. 

Ireland has what is arguably the strongest batting unit in the tournament. Its prowess with the bat came to the fore against UAE where Ed Joyce's double century and Paul Stirling's ton took it to a massive first-innings total. It has the right blend of youth and experience, as well as variety in the form of Tim Murtagh and Craig Young, its new-ball duo, and George Dockrell, the young left-arm spinner. John Mooney, Kevin O'Brien and George Dockrell can all come in handy with bat and ball. 

Two matches take place in November, with UAE v Hong Kong scheduled first for November 11-14. Both teams will look to put behind their losses in the opening round. 
UAE has made a quite a few changes to the squads that played in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 and the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015, including bringing in Asif Iqbal to open the innings and Saqib Ali at No. 3. But it is still faced with the same issue of an ageing team.

UAE did have a few positives to take from the tough match against Ireland, including Amjad Javed's four-wicket haul. UAE will also take heart from the fact that Shaiman Anwar, inarguably its best batsman of the year, scored a half-century in the first innings and will once again carry the burden of expectations. 
UAE has done well at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai, the venue for the match, where it has won four of its last five matches and that should give the side some confidence. 

Hong Kong had to rely on contributions from the lower middle order and the lower order in both innings against Namibia. It will, however, hope for more from the batsmen up the order. Haseeb Amjad's recent good form extended to the match against Namibia, where he bagged a career-best 5 for 49, while Tanwir Afzal impressed with an all-round show. 
 
The second round of matches concludes with the Afghanistan-PNG game, scheduled to begin on November 21 in Sharjah.  
 
PNG is playing the Intercontinental Cup for the first time and is coming off a confidence-boosting win against Netherlands in its first-ever first-class match. While it was Assad Vala's century in the second innings that proved to be the telling contribution as it helped the team scale down a 305-run target, it was a team effort throughout. Willie Gavera, Loa Nou, and John Reva, the three strike bowlers came good and though PNG failed to impress with the bat in the first innings, it made amends in the second where Mahuru Dai and Lega Siaka supported Vala well. 
 
Afghanistan will be happy with its effort with the ball against Scotland but batting is an area of concern. The middle order could only chip in with brief contributions, while there was little of note from the top order. 
 
These are still early days in the tournament with as many as five rounds to go after this. But with the opportunity of playing a Test series with a full member present, there is much to be played for and form and consistency will be key going forward.    


Source: ICC