Cooper, spinners drive Netherlands to win
A disciplined bowling performance led by the spinners set up a moderate chase, which was guided by Ben Cooper's unbeaten fifty as Netherlands made it two wins in two days and consigned UAE to their third successive loss
ESPNcricinfo staff
12-Jul-2015
Netherlands 125 for 3 (Cooper 50*) beat UAE 119 for 7 (Patil 34, van der Merwe 2-10, Rippon 2-14, Malik 2-17) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
A disciplined bowling performance led by the spinners set up a moderate chase, which was guided by Ben Cooper's unbeaten fifty as Netherlands made it two wins in two days and consigned UAE to their third successive loss.
UAE wanted to bat first, which they were asked to by Netherlands, but their batting failed to build on a reasonable start and a total of 119 for 7 did not push Netherlands much on a flat pitch, although spinners Mohammad Tauqir and Nasir Aziz made scoring difficult in the chase.
Faizan Asif and Mohammad Shahzad added 31 in 3.2 overs before UAE started to stall. After the openers departed trying to force matters against the seamers, Roelof van der Merwe and Michael Rippon applied the brakes. The left-arm spinners, orthodox and chinaman, claimed a joint 4 for 24 in seven overs.
Swapnil Patil, who top-scored for UAE with 34, and Shaiman Anwar put on 44 for the third wicket but at less than a run a ball. The wickets started to fall with the overs running out. Shaiman and Patil fell to Rippon while van der Merwe struck twice in the 17th over. Ahsan Malik, who took 2 for 17, was hard to get away at the death from a position of 99 for 6 in the 17th over.
UAE began their defence with Aziz's offspin, which went for 21 in four overs. With the spinner tying one end up, Wesley Barresi and Stephan Myburgh fell while trying to target the seamers.
It was an extended struggle in the middle for Michael Swart, who consumed 29 balls for his 19 and played out a maiden to Tauqir. He did add 54 at exactly run-a-ball for the third wicket with Cooper, who kept coming up with the big hit when Netherlands needed one and reached his fifty off 38 balls.
After Swart's departure in the 15th over, captain Peter Borren arrived and launched all kinds of sweeps to race to an unbeaten 23 off 10, which ensured Netherlands got home with nearly three overs to spare.