Valiant effort by Milind Kumar in vain as USA commit epic harakiri
Netherlands came back from behind to stun a cruising USA by 19 runs in what seemed like a done deal about 20 minutes before the fall of the final wicket. In pursuit of 238 on a flat deck, USA needed 28 off 37 with 5 wickets in hand at one point, before the lower order capitulated dramatically after the departure of Milind Kumar for a doughty 69 off 79 deliveries. Netherlands may have ignited the collapse with a stroke of luck as Milind ballooned a flick off an innocuous delivery outside leg but USA dug their own grave thereafter. The meek surrender after Milind's fall saw eight painstaking runs being scored off the next 35 deliveries without much fervour, improvisation or aggression at the crease.
Vivian Kingma rocked USA's ship quite early on in the modest chase. He pinned Steven Taylor in front, off the second ball of the innings and sent back USA's batting lynchpin Monank Patel three deliveries later, inducing a thick edge to point as he squared him up with one that straightened a bit. Smit Patel and Aaron Jones stepped into a counter-attack with a flurry of boundaries that set the Dutch back for the next hour and a half. In search of swing, Kingma and Klein paid for overcompensating on their lengths as the pair punished them with some delectable off drives.
Smit continued on the offensive against leg spinner Shiraz Ahmed with a fearsome pull off his first delivery. But Ahmed outwitted Smit with a googly off the next delivery, that struck him in front. After Smit departed for a well compiled 38, Ahmed sent Jones packing three runs short of his half century with another googly that the batter tamely chipped to mid wicket. Shayan Jahangir showed promise by racing to 20 off 24 deliveries but dollied one back to Aryan Dutt in the softest of dismissals. Reeling at 142 for 4 in the 31st over, Milind combined with Shadley to set sail towards a target they almost had in their kitty.
Earlier in the day, USA debutant Juanoy Drysdale produced his first international wicket off his eighth delivery after Michael Levitt shuffled across his off stump, to have the leg stump shattered around his legs. Drysdale soon tasted the vagaries of international cricket as Vikramjit Singh penalised him for straying too far outside off with a trio of square drives that raced to the fence. Max O' Dowd played in Vikramjit's shadow for the first PowerPlay but broke the shackles in the 11th over with a heave over mid wicket off Taylor and subsequently carved Shadley through the point boundary.
After being contained for the next 10 overs, O'Dowd sprung to action again, peppering the leg side boundary thrice after Taylor sprayed a few on his legs. Taylor had the last laugh to this duel after he cleaned him up one run shy of his half century. The introduction of Milind had Netherlands lose wickets in a cluster. Vikramjit shot himself in the foot shortly after reaching his half century, calling for a suicidal run that saw him inches short of his ground. Milind ended veteran batsman Wesley Baressi's workmanlike stay at the crease by thudding one to his pads. Noah Croes departed minutes later after a mix up with captain Scott Edwards as Netherlands lost three wickets in the space of six balls.
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