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Netherlands stay afloat with comfortable victory

Netherlands 216 for 8 (Zulfiqar 53*, Dai 2-29, Amini 2-36) beat PNG 159 (Vala 44, van der Merwe 4-46) by 57 runs

Netherlands needed to win this game, while also improving their net run rate as much as possible, to have any chance of staying in contention for a place in World Cup 2019. They did most of that. After making 216 for 8, they bowled Papua New Guinea out for 159 to win by 57 runs. Now, they will have to beat West Indies - once again, by as big a margin as possible - then hope other results go their way.

For a while, it seemed that Netherlands would get exactly the result they wanted - that is, victory by a huge margin - as PNG slid from 45 for 1 to 93 for 7. Netherlands' plans took a hit, though, as PNG's lower order, in the company of Kiplin Doriga, kept chipping away at the runs required to give their total some respectability. Eventually, they finished on 159, with Roelof van der Merwe doing most damage with his left-arm spin. That might not have been the margin of victory Netherlands were after, but it was still two points in the bag.

The result was hardly a given when Netherlands suffered a top-order collapse of their own, going from 57 for no loss to 98 for 5. It took a lower-order counterattack to drag them past 200. The leaders of this late charge were van der Merwe (38 off 41), Pieter Seelaar (23 off 18) and Sikander Zulfiqar, who with an unbeaten 53 off 65, registered his second List A half-century.

While the PNG bowlers shared the wickets around, the legspin of Charles Amini and Mahuru Dai proved most restrictive; they went at under four an over in picking up two wickets apiece. It turned out that was not enough. PNG head home from the World Cup Qualifiers without a win in four games.

P.N.G. 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st8A ValaTP Ura
2nd37A ValaL Siaka
3rd23A ValaS Bau
4th3MD DaiA Vala
5th7A ValaK Doriga
6th15CJA AminiK Doriga
7th0J KilaK Doriga
8th29N VanuaK Doriga
9th24JB RevaK Doriga
10th13A NaoK Doriga

ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier

Super Sixes
TeamMWLPTNRR
WI54180.472
AFG53260.302
ZIM52250.42
SCOT52250.243
IRE52340.346
UAE5142-1.95
Group A
TeamMWLPTNRR
WI44081.171
IRE43161.479
UAE4224-1.177
NED4132-0.709
PNG4040-0.865
Group B
TeamMWLPTNRR
ZIM43071.035
SCOT43070.855
AFG41320.038
NEP4132-0.893
HKG4132-1.121