AMSTELVEEN: England beat off a plucky attack by the Netherlands to defeat the hosts by six wickets in a shortened second One-day International here at the VRA Ground on Sunday.

The win by the world champions give them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, with the final match to be played at the same venue on Wednesday.

The Netherlands won the toss and opted to bat, setting Eoin Morgan’s men a target of 236-7 in 41 overs.

Heavy rain overnight delayed the start of the match with officials waiting for wet patches to dry next to the bat-friendly pitch and on the outfield.

Taking bat to ball for England opener Phil Salt slapped 77 off 54 balls before falling to Dutch youngster Arjan Dutt who also claimed the scalp of fellow opener Jason Roy.

Roy, who scored one in England’s record total of 498 on Friday, redeemed himself by hitting 73 off 60 balls.

Earlier, the Netherlands posted a solid 235-7 runs against a blistering England attack lead by David Willey and Brydon Carse on a rain-delayed day.

Newly-minted Dutch skipper Scott Edwards’ decision to bat first paid far better dividends than Friday’s first ODI, when England were sent in to bat and proceeded to set a new one-day world record of 498.

Top-scoring Dutch batsman Edwards, with 78, played a skipper’s innings which included three sixes and four fours after surviving an appeal for caught behind off the bowling of Adil Rashid shortly after taking the crease.

Television umpire Rizwan Akram also ruled out a subsequent call for lbw — and Edwards who scored 72 in the first ODI — continued his good form, including a solid drive for six off a lightning-fast Carse to reach 50, and a magnificent reverse scoop for another six later in his innings.

Together with Teja Nidamanuru, who slugged 28 off 30 balls, the captain put on a day-best partnership of 73 runs.

Edwards was eventually run out after Willey removed the bails at the bowlers’ end with a bull’s-eye throw.

Young Bas de Leede carved out a patient 34 including slogging a big six off the bowling of Adil Rashid in the 15th over, the ball flying over cow corner to break a window pane in the press box.

A promising spell however came to an end when De Leede mistimed another attempt at a slog off the bowling of Liam Livingstone, popping the ball up into the air for an easy catch by Willey. A late flurry by Logan van Beek with 30 not out saw the hosts post a defendable total.

Morgan’s men drew first blood early in the Dutch innings, when opener Vikram Singh was dismissed for 10 in a soft catch off Willey’s bowling.

Scoreboard

NETHERLANDS:

V. Singh c Carse b Willey 10

M. O’Dowd c Malan b Adil Rashid 7

T. Cooper lbw b Carse 17

B. de Leede c Willey b Livingstone 34

S. Edwards run out (Willey) 78

T. Nidamanuru b Willey 28

L. van Beek not out 30

T. Pringle b Adil Rashid 0

S. Snater not out 17

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-5, W-4) 14

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 41 overs) 235

DID NOT BAT: Aryan Dutt, Vivian Kingma

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-17 (Singh), 2-34 (O’Dowd), 3-36 (Cooper), 4-97 (De Leede), 5-170 (Nidamanuru), 6- 189 (Edwards), 7-191 (Pringle)

BOWLING: Willey 8-0-46-2, Topley 8-1-35-0, Adil Rashid 9-0-50-2, Carse 7-0-36-1, Moeen Ali 4-0-30-0, Livingstone 5-0-28-1

ENGLAND:

J. Roy c Snater b Aryan Dutt 73

P. Salt b Aryan Dutt 77

D. Malan not out 36

E. Morgan c Snater b Cooper 0

L. Livingstone b Pringle 4

Moeen Ali not out 42

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-2) 7

TOTAL (for four wickets, 36.1 overs) 239

DID NOT BAT: Jos Buttler, David Willey, Brydon Carse, Adil Rasheed, Reece Topley

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-139 (Roy), 2-168 (Salt), 3-169 (Morgan), 4-177 (Livingstone) Bowling: Dutt 9-1-55-2, Pringle 8-0-51-1, Snater 3.1-0-26-0, De Leede 3-0-27-0, Cooper 4-0-25-1, Nidamanuru 1-0-8-0

RESULT: England win by six wickets.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2022