ROUND-UP
Follow UsIt’s still early stages of the ICC Cricket League 2 2023-27 cycle, but the Netherlands have done themselves a huge favour by winning all four of their home games, beating both Canada and the USA.
This was the first time the USA played in this cycle, while Canada, who had gone into this series with four wins from four, lost all their four games this time around.
How does the points table look?
Why is League 2 important?
The tournament, which will last over three years, gives the eight participating teams a chance to progress to the 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.
A total of 24 ODI tri-series will be played, covering as many as 144 ODIs. At the end of it, the top four sides will make it to the World Cup Qualifiers, out of which two teams will qualify for the 14-team World Cup.
As things stand, the Netherlands have given themselves a superb chance of being one of those four sides, but there’s still a long way to go.
What happened in the Netherlands leg?
Match 1: Netherlands beat Canada by 5 wickets
Match 2: USA beat Canada by 14 runs
Match 3: Netherlands beat USA by 19 runs
Match 4: Netherlands beat Canada by 63 runs
Match 5: USA beat Canada by 50 runs
Match 6: Netherlands beat USA by 27 runs
Who were the top performers?
Max O’Dowd may not have scored at a brisk pace, but the conditions in the Netherlands this time around were not easy to bat on, especially in the early stages. He scored 79* (chasing 195), 49, 18 and 77 (team total 206) in the four innings this tri-series and has risen to second place among the leading run-getters in League 2 with 330 runs at 47.14.
Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards played a couple of crucial knocks from a precarious position to dig his team out of trouble. In the match against the USA at The Hague, Edwards played an attacking 65 off 55 to drag his side 237/7. That knock proved to be crucial in the end as the US went from 210/5 in 44 overs to get bowled out for 218 in 49.5 overs.
In the next game against Canada, in Rotterdam, he stepped up once again and ground his way to 72 off 94, which included just three boundaries as they won by 63 runs.
USA skipper Monank Patel started off the Netherlands tour with an unbeaten 121 against Canada at The Hague. But potentially a recurrence of a shoulder injury made him hand over the wicketkeeping gloves to Smit Patel after that. In the final game, he was USA’s only hope as he scored 66 off 79 in pursuit of 207 against the Dutch. However, he found no support at the other end, as the USA succumbed to a 27-run loss.
13 wickets at 10.15, Econ 3.52 and a strike rate of 17.3 – Safe to say, Paul van Meekeren had a memorable series. He rattled the opposition with his pace and bounce. Figures of 3/41, 2/32, 5/28 and 3/31 did justice to the way he bowled.
If there was any Canada player who outshone his teammates, it had to be Shreyas Movva. The wicketkeeper-batter scored a couple of fifties in his four innings and did a fine job behind the wickets as well. He finished as Canada’s highest run-getter in the series with 181 runs at 60.33.
Who flopped?
Harsh Thaker slammed back-to-back hundreds in the UAE leg of the tournament, but in the Netherlands, he did not live up to the billing. In the Netherlands leg, though, the all-rounder managed just 112 runs at 28, and with the ball, he managed just three wickets at 53.66. However, he still continues to lead the run-scoring charts in League 2 with 346 runs at 69.20. Canada will hope that their star player bounces back in the next leg.
Nicholas Kirton’s first assignment as captain did not go according to plan, as his side not only lost all the matches, but he too did very little to boost their chances. The southpaw scored just 24 runs in four innings, which was disappointing, especially after his dazzling displays at the T20 World Cup.
Known for his explosive batting at the top, Michael Levitt got off to starts in two of the four games but failed to convert that into anything substantial. He did not have the best of times at the T20 World Cup as well, but with the immense talent that the 21-year-old possesses, he is sure to get a long rope in this side.
Steven Taylor’s four innings this series read: 27, 0, 46 and 0. Being among the most experienced batter in the side a lot would have been expected off him the southpaw, but he had a stop-start sort of series, and when he got a start, he could not make much of it. Taylor, who is just one of three Americans to have scored over 1,000 runs in ODIs, will be key for them in their bid to make it to yet another World Cup.
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