Santner and Mitchell fifties seal New Zealand's 11-0 Europe sweep
That's 6-0 over Ireland in ODIs and T20Is, 3-0 over Scotland in ODIs and T20Is and now 2-0 over Netherlands
ESPNcricinfo staff
05-Aug-2022
Mitchell Santner, New Zealand's stand-in captain, hit a half-century off 29 balls • Getty Images
New Zealand 149 for 2 (Santner 77*, Mitchell 51*) beat Netherlands 147 for 4 (de Leede 53, Bracewell 2-20) by eight wickets
New Zealand wrapped up their tour of Europe with an 11th straight victory as Mitchell Santner smashed an unbeaten 77 off 42 balls in a chase of 148.
Netherlands appeared to give themselves hope of staying in the game when they picked up two early wickets, but enjoying the perks of being stand-in captain, Santner promoted himself to No. 3, hit a six off the second ball he faced, and took complete control.
He was responsible for six of the eight boundaries that New Zealand hit in the powerplay on Friday, racing to his half-century in 29 balls.
Alongside him, Daryl Mitchell, purred away on 32 off 21 balls, managing a strike rate of 157 despite hitting only three fours. Eventually he too opened up his shoulders and cruised to a fifty of his own - the boundary that brought up that landmark also bringing up the win.
Netherlands, whose bowlers were able to stifle New Zealand in the first T20I, would have hoped for a similar performance but there really was no recourse after they could put up only 147 on the board. Bas de Leede was the top-scorer with 53 not out but he was part of a top four that barely managed a run a ball. Tom Cooper (26 off 17) and Scott Edwards (26* off 20) gave the innings a bit of impetus at the end but it wasn't enough.
Michael Bracewell, who began this tour of Europe with a jaw-dropping innings of 127 that rescued New Zealand from dire straits, ended it with a two-wicket haul. Overall, during the course of three ODIs and three T20Is against Ireland, two more T20Is and an ODI against Scotland, and one T20I against Netherlands, he has managed 272 runs at an average of 136 and 11 wickets (including a hat-trick) at an average of 19.63.
