Van der Merwe's 75* off 39 blows Zimbabwe away

He walked in after Netherlands lost two wickets for three runs. He walked back with his highest T20I score and the biggest hand in a thumping victory. Roelof van der Merwe whacked an unbeaten 75 off only 39 balls to keep his team's perfect record against Zimbabwe in the ongoing limited-overs series.

Netherlands had beaten Zimbabwe 2-0 in the ODIs and showed no signs of letting up after they were put in to bat. Ben Cooper struck a rip-roaring 54 off 28 balls, with five fours and two sixes, but his efforts were thoroughly put to shade when van der Merwe came in and clattered Zimbabwe all round the park. The left-hander made 50 of his 75 runs in boundaries as Netherlands soared to 199 for 6.

Zimbabwe made a decent start to their chase with Craig Ervine making a half-century of his own, but having set themselves up at 105 for 4 at the end of 13 overs, their innings completely unraveled. They lost five wickets for only 21 runs as Pieter Seelaar and Fred Klaassen swung the game In quite decisive fashion. The tail hung around for a while but in the end they were bowled out 50 runs short of their target and one ball short of the full 20 overs.