Netherlands win by three wickets with one ball to spare to cap a gripping opening day to the tournament. That became much tighter that it looked like it would for a large part of the game. Tricky batting conditions had a big say. Netherlands' captain, Scott Edwards, there at end. A case of what could have been for UAE. A vital dropped catch after Junaid Siddique had taken two wickets. We couldn't have asked for a batter start to the T20 World Cup.
Player of the Match is Bas de Leede: "I like bowling in those situations as I know batters will come after me. So I try to be one step ahead. Was nice to pull back the innings. In the end it got a lot closer than we were expecting."
CP Rizwan "It's definitely heartbreaking, we put our heat and soul in into. We could have grabbed those chances...I could have grabbed that [catch]. We discussed that it's not that easy to chase here, so told the boys it's never over until the last ball. We nearly pulled that off. We had to ensure we get wickets, but also have [Junaid's] over for the end. We should be happy with the effort."
Scott Edwards "It was always a bit nervy, just relief in the end. It was making the most of the powerplay and we knew it would be tough in the middle. We lost a few too many wickets as we were getting going. It was just about being busy, playing as low risk as we could...we ended up getting across the line. All the [bowlers] did their job, they were all great. I'm still struggling to process it, just relief at the moment."
On that note I'll wrap things up there for tonight. It's been a fantastic way to get things started and hopefully we'll have more tomorrow when Scotland face West Indies and Ireland play Zimbabwe in Hobart. We'll be back for full coverage of both but until then, it's goodbye from Gnasher and Alan.
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Rais: "What a day of cricket! Hope it is going to the most exciting T20 WC!"
So it comes down to 6 off 6. Dare I say, Super Over? Zawar Farid with the last
END OF OVER:19 | 4 Runs 1 Wkt | NED: 106/7 (6 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 5.57, RRR: 6.00)
- Logan van Beek2 (2b)
- Scott Edwards12 (16b)
- Zahoor Khan4-0-11-1
- Junaid Siddique4-0-24-3
Logan van Beek. Plenty of experience, but this is huge pressure
TJG Pringle b Zahoor Khan 15 (26m 16b 0x4 0x6) SR: 93.75
It's in Netherlands' favour now. 10 needed off 12 balls. Sowmya: "Sensible, smart batting from edwards" And Pringle. Zahoor Khan for his last
END OF OVER:18 | 9 Runs | NED: 102/6 (10 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 5.66, RRR: 5.00)
- Scott Edwards11 (14b)
- Tim Pringle15 (14b)
- Junaid Siddique4-0-24-3
- Zawar Farid2-0-18-0
The key figure is back...six balls to win the game?
END OF OVER:17 | 7 Runs | NED: 93/6 (19 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 5.47, RRR: 6.33)
- Tim Pringle11 (11b)
- Scott Edwards6 (11b)
- Zawar Farid2-0-18-0
- Karthik Meiyappan4-0-22-1
