Debutant Max O’Dowd’s half-century and a collective effort from the bowlers steered the Netherlands to a seven-wicket win against Zimbabwe in the first One-Day International of their two-match series in Deventer, Netherlands on Wednesday.
The contest which was reduced to 47 overs for each side due to rain, saw the Dutch overhaul the target set by Zimbabwe with seven wickets and 26 balls to spare.
After Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat, Netherlands’ pace duo of Fred Klaassen and Vivian Kingma ran through the opposition top order before Brendan Taylor’s gritty 71 revived them. But he got little support from the other end and the African side needed cameos from Donald Tiripano and Kyle Jarvis to get past the 200-run mark.
In the chase, Netherland’s top three batsmen provided the team with a strong start with the scoreboard reading 110/1 at the end of 23 overs. But left-arm spinner Sean Williams then removed Ben Cooper and Bas de Leese in quick succession as Zimbabwe made a comeback.
However, O’Dowd and Wesley Barresi stitched together a 91-run partnership to ensure a comfortable chase for the hosts.
Brief scores: Zimbabwe 205/8 in 47 overs (Brendan Taylor 71, Kyle Jarvis 32; Fred Klaassen 2-29) lost to Netherlands 209/3 in 42.4 overs (Max O’Dowd 82*, Wesley Barresi 39*; Sean Williams 2-38) by 7 wickets.