Netherlands beat Zimbabwe XI in closely fought match

In a closely-fought match, Holland defeated Zimbabwe A by four wickets, the home side putting up another mediocre performance. The hosts are now the only team not to have won a match yet, in a tournament they probably expected to win.

Zimbabwe A 203; Holland 206 for six. Holland won by four wickets.

Holland won the toss and put Zimbabwe in to bat on a pitch giving a little help to the bowlers. They were to receive much more assistance from the Zimbabwean top-order batsmen, who played some very poor cricket. The top five all surrendered their wickets for scores of between 5 and 12. They made little attempt to work the ball around the field for ones and twos, but favoured the big shots with a sad lack of discrimination.

The Dutch bowlers, led by former Somerset all-rounder Roland Lefebvre, were disciplined and did not allow too many liberties. First to go was Mark Vermeulen (8), who pushed outside the off stump to Asim Khan and was caught at the wicket by Danny Thampinayagam, who put up a very impressive display behind the stumps. His partner Doug Marillier (12) drove powerfully at Lefebvre and was very well caught by Dick Kramer at mid-on. Captain Gavin Rennie and Neil Ferreira steadied the innings for a while, although neither looked as secure as usual. Ferreira (7) was drawn forward by Khan, did not get far enough across and was caught by Tim de Leede at first slip, while Rennie (10) cut a ball straight to Roger Bradley in the gully. Then Craig Evans, after a wild leg hit that flew over the slips for four, pushed outside the off stump to Ben Goedegebuun and was caught at the wicket. Zimbabwe A were now 56 for five in the 16th over.

Don Campbell played an innings that bordered on lunacy at the start. He pulled a long hop from Kramer for six, but then sliced a ball just over cover for two, and another massive heave saw a skyer behind the square-leg umpire dropped. He then snicked a four in the air past slip, and seemed to be leading a charmed life. The drinks interval seemed to calm him down, though, and he batted quite sensibly after that until he finally hit Kramer down the throat of de Leede at deep midwicket for 38, including a six and six fours, making his team 136 for six.

All this time Academy student Greg Lamb had been playing much the most sensible innings, hitting the bad ball to the boundary but keeping the ones and twos coming with skilful placement and running. David Mutendera scored 5 before lobbing a ball over the head of bowler de Leede to be caught by mid-on running round. With the likes of 'Pommie' Mbangwa coming in at number nine, on 143 for seven, it looked as if Zimbabwe A were indeed in trouble, but Mbangwa actually played very well in partnership with Lamb, who reached a fine fifty with a drive to the extra-cover boundary. Lamb did enjoy an escape when he tried to pull Luuk van Troost and skyed a catch that fell to earth just behind the slips before a fielder could reach it.

After a while, though, Mbangwa (28) decided to rely exclusively on one stroke, the skyer over the bowler's head. While he got away with it twice in an over from van Troost, the third time he was well held by mid-on ambling round and swirling underneath it. Ian Engelbrecht came and went, yorked first ball by Khan, who also yorked Brighton Watambwa without scoring, bringing the innings to an abrupt end at 203 in the 44th over. Lamb was left stranded with a superb 72, in complete contrast to the poor displays put up by his fellow specialist batsmen.

With the early end to the innings, Holland went in to bat before lunch. The openers struggled against Mbangwa and Watambwa, bringing some quite unacceptable laughter bordering on ridicule from certain Zimbabwean close fielders. Slowly the tall Bradley and the diminutive Ahmed Zulfiqar got the score moving, the latter edging the first boundary just past the slips, while Bradley indulged in some rather unorthodox pulls, especially against Watambwa who pitched too short. They were still together at lunch, taken after 5 overs, when the score was 17 (Bradley 7, Zulfiqar 10).

After lunch the batsmen went for their strokes enterprisingly. Watambwa had Zulfiqar dropped at second slip by Evans, but Bradley (12) was less fortunate; he was caught at first slip for 12 by Campbell, fielding there while Ferreira kept wicket, and Holland were 29 for one. Klaasjan van Noortwijk (8) never settled before being caught at the wicket off Mutendera, before Tim de Leede came in and, in partnership with Zulfiqar, began to swing the balance of the match towards Holland. The side was maintaining a rate of four runs an over until de Leede drove Rennie for two sixes in the same over, one to the off side and one to the on. Rennie, who took seven cheap wickets against Manicaland the previous day, was finding Holland a tougher proposition.

A major blow came when Mutendera won an lbw decision against de Leede (28), making the score now 105 for three. Zulfiqar, however, was still there, with powerful cuts his most impressive stroke, and he ran to his fifty. He was finally dismissed for 63 when slow left-armer Engelbrecht came on to bowl, bowled attempting to sweep. The sound of mocking laughter from one Zimbabwean player was beyond contempt. Holland were 130 for four.

Van Troost looked uncomfortable and ungainly early in his innings, but the bowlers were unable to take advantage of his apparent technical deficiencies. He got under way with a six over long-on off Rennie, and later repeated the shot at the other end against Engelbrecht. Powerful leg-side blows seemed to be his main weapon, amid some stoic defence, although he occasionally unleashed a blistering off-drive.

After 40 overs Holland were well on course for victory at 170 for four. Then came another swing in the balance. Nick Statham (5) became bogged down against tight field-placing and was adjudged lbw to the wildly over-enthusiastic Evans and, still on 170, von Troost (36) unwisely tried to come down the pitch to Watambwa and snicked a catch to the keeper.

Lefebvre and Goedegebuun fought back steadily with some selective strokeplay, until 10 were needed off the last three overs. Perhaps untrusting of statistics, Lefebvre decided three balls would be better, hammering Watambwa straight once then twice to leg to bring his team a well-deserved victory by four wickets. He finished unbeaten on 23, with Goedegebuun on 11.