da bet7： In a closely-fought match, Holland defeated Zimbabwe A by four wickets, the homeside putting up another mediocre performance
da bet7： John Ward25-Dec-2009In a closely-fought match, Holland defeated Zimbabwe A by four wickets, the homeside putting up another mediocre performance. The hosts are now the only teamnot to have won a match yet, in a tournament they probably expected to win.Zimbabwe A 203; Holland 206 for six. Holland won by four wickets.Holland won the toss and put Zimbabwe in to bat on a pitch giving a little helpto the bowlers. They were to receive much more assistance from the Zimbabweantop-order batsmen, who played some very poor cricket. The top five allsurrendered their wickets for scores of between 5 and 12. They made littleattempt to work the ball around the field for ones and twos, but favoured the bigshots with a sad lack of discrimination.The Dutch bowlers, led by former Somerset all-rounder Roland Lefebvre, weredisciplined and did not allow too many liberties. First to go was Mark Vermeulen(8), who pushed outside the off stump to Asim Khan and was caught at the wicketby Danny Thampinayagam, who put up a very impressive display behind the stumps.His partner Doug Marillier (12) drove powerfully at Lefebvre and was very wellcaught by Dick Kramer at mid-on. Captain Gavin Rennie and Neil Ferreira steadiedthe innings for a while, although neither looked as secure as usual. Ferreira(7) was drawn forward by Khan, did not get far enough across and was caught byTim de Leede at first slip, while Rennie (10) cut a ball straight to RogerBradley in the gully. Then Craig Evans, after a wild leg hit that flew over theslips for four, pushed outside the off stump to Ben Goedegebuun and was caught atthe wicket. Zimbabwe A were now 56 for five in the 16th over.Don Campbell played an innings that bordered on lunacy at the start. He pulled along hop from Kramer for six, but then sliced a ball just over cover for two, andanother massive heave saw a skyer behind the square-leg umpire dropped. He thensnicked a four in the air past slip, and seemed to be leading a charmed life.The drinks interval seemed to calm him down, though, and he batted quite sensiblyafter that until he finally hit Kramer down the throat of de Leede at deepmidwicket for 38, including a six and six fours, making his team 136 for six.All this time Academy student Greg Lamb had been playing much the most sensibleinnings, hitting the bad ball to the boundary but keeping the ones and twoscoming with skilful placement and running. David Mutendera scored 5 beforelobbing a ball over the head of bowler de Leede to be caught by mid-on runninground. With the likes of ‘Pommie’ Mbangwa coming in at number nine, on 143 forseven, it looked as if Zimbabwe A were indeed in trouble, but Mbangwa actuallyplayed very well in partnership with Lamb, who reached a fine fifty with a driveto the extra-cover boundary. Lamb did enjoy an escape when he tried to pull Luukvan Troost and skyed a catch that fell to earth just behind the slips before afielder could reach it.After a while, though, Mbangwa (28) decided to rely exclusively on one stroke,the skyer over the bowler’s head. While he got away with it twice in an overfrom van Troost, the third time he was well held by mid-on ambling round andswirling underneath it. Ian Engelbrecht came and went, yorked first ball byKhan, who also yorked Brighton Watambwa without scoring, bringing the innings toan abrupt end at 203 in the 44th over. Lamb was left stranded with a superb 72,in complete contrast to the poor displays put up by his fellow specialistbatsmen.With the early end to the innings, Holland went in to bat before lunch. Theopeners struggled against Mbangwa and Watambwa, bringing some quite unacceptablelaughter bordering on ridicule from certain Zimbabwean close fielders. Slowlythe tall Bradley and the diminutive Ahmed Zulfiqar got the score moving, thelatter edging the first boundary just past the slips, while Bradley indulged insome rather unorthodox pulls, especially against Watambwa who pitched too short.They were still together at lunch, taken after 5 overs, when the score was 17(Bradley 7, Zulfiqar 10).After lunch the batsmen went for their strokes enterprisingly. Watambwa hadZulfiqar dropped at second slip by Evans, but Bradley (12) was less fortunate; hewas caught at first slip for 12 by Campbell, fielding there while Ferreira keptwicket, and Holland were 29 for one. Klaasjan van Noortwijk (8) never settledbefore being caught at the wicket off Mutendera, before Tim de Leede came in and,in partnership with Zulfiqar, began to swing the balance of the match towardsHolland. The side was maintaining a rate of four runs an over until de Leededrove Rennie for two sixes in the same over, one to the off side and one to theon. Rennie, who took seven cheap wickets against Manicaland the previous day,was finding Holland a tougher proposition.A major blow came when Mutendera won an lbw decision against de Leede (28),making the score now 105 for three. Zulfiqar, however, was still there, withpowerful cuts his most impressive stroke, and he ran to his fifty. He wasfinally dismissed for 63 when slow left-armer Engelbrecht came on to bowl, bowledattempting to sweep. The sound of mocking laughter from one Zimbabwean playerwas beyond contempt. Holland were 130 for four.Van Troost looked uncomfortable and ungainly early in his innings, but thebowlers were unable to take advantage of his apparent technical deficiencies. Hegot under way with a six over long-on off Rennie, and later repeated the shot atthe other end against Engelbrecht. Powerful leg-side blows seemed to be his mainweapon, amid some stoic defence, although he occasionally unleashed a blisteringoff-drive.After 40 overs Holland were well on course for victory at 170 for four. Thencame another swing in the balance. Nick Statham (5) became bogged down againsttight field-placing and was adjudged lbw to the wildly over-enthusiastic Evansand, still on 170, von Troost (36) unwisely tried to come down the pitch toWatambwa and snicked a catch to the keeper.Lefebvre and Goedegebuun fought back steadily with some selective strokeplay,until 10 were needed off the last three overs. Perhaps untrusting of statistics,Lefebvre decided three balls would be better, hammering Watambwa straight oncethen twice to leg to bring his team a well-deserved victory by four wickets. Hefinished unbeaten on 23, with Goedegebuun on 11.
