In the Netherlands Tri-Nation T20I Series, Ireland’s previous encounter against the Netherlands was an intense thriller that came down to the very last delivery, with Ireland winning by a mere run.
In keeping with the last match, the Netherlands won the toss and the team captained by Scott Edwards chose to field first.
Ireland was at 23/1 after Andy Balbirnie was removed from the game on the last delivery of the fourth over. Nine and ten runs were scored in each of the next two overs, which helped Ireland finish the powerplay with a respectable total. In a dramatic change of events, Bas de Leede took two wickets in his seventh over and held Ireland to just three runs. Ireland was 57/4 halfway through their innings when captain Paul Stirling was removed in the tenth over, leaving them in a vulnerable position.
Curtis Campher and George Dockrell came forward in this phase, with Dockrell being the most aggressive of the two. Prior to two consecutive maximums off the last two deliveries tarnishing his stats, Vivian Kingma appeared to be having a nice last over. With a massive 23 runs lost in the last over of the innings, it turned out to be the most expensive. With the help of Mark Adair’s explosive 19* runs off only eight balls, Dockrell reached his maiden half-century in style, helping Ireland to 161/6. At first, it looked like they might end up with a significantly smaller sum.
When it came to the chase, Netherlands performed somewhat better than Ireland in the powerplay, scoring 49 runs without, crucially, losing any wickets. After facing difficulties whilst batting, Gareth Delany made amends by capturing Ireland’s first wicket, eliminating Michael Levitt, and ultimately ending his difficult innings. With both batsmen solidly established, Max O’Dowd and Vikramjit Singh cruised through the middle overs, suggesting an easy victory for the Netherlands.
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But the chasing team’s momentum was shattered when three wickets fell in two overs, leaving them needing 20 off the last two overs. Even though the chase was still possible, Ireland won by just three runs because to superb precise bowling from Barry McCarthy and Adair, who held the opponents to just one boundary in the 12 deliveries delivered.
India
