Netherlands keep Cricket World Cup hopes alive with Oman win

Harare: the Netherlands kept their bid to qualify for the Cricket World Cup alive as Vikramjit Singh’s hundred set up a comfortable victory over Oman on Monday.

The Dutch, who have not played at the global one-day showpiece since 2011, needed to win to stay in contention for a place at the tournament in India later this year.

Having been put into bat by Oman, Netherlands’ openers Singh and Max O’Dowd made a patient start, including sitting through a rain delay that shortened the match to 48 overs a side.

The duo’s century partnership was brought up off 103 balls before O’Dowd was bowled by Ayaan Khan for 35, ending the stand at 117.

Maiden century

Singh continued to motor as he reached his maiden ODI century from 102 balls before he was eventually undone holing out to mid-on having made 110 with 11 fours and two sixes.

Scott Edwards could not add to his three consecutive scores of 67 as he was caught by Kaleemullah for four to become Mohammad Nadeem’s second wicket.

With the Netherlands needing to improve their net run rate, Bas de Leede supercharged his side’s scoring, making a quickfire 39 from 19.

Having reached his half-century off 43 balls, Wesley Barresi then powered to 97 from 65 balls before he was caught behind agonisingly close to a century.

Mini-fightback

Barresi was the first of three wickets in three overs as Oman mounted a mini-fightback but they could not stop the Netherlands reaching 362 for seven.

In pursuit of what would have been their record chase, Oman lost regular wickets with Jatinder Singh run out on 17 before fellow opener Kashyap Prajapati departed for 25 to leave Oman 78 for three.

After Mohammad Nadeem was bowled by Aryan Dutt for 16, Ayaan Khan and Shoaib Khan rebuilt, putting on 112 for the fifth wicket, but they could not stop their side from falling well behind the required run rate.

Ayaan Khan reached his hundred off 84 balls having benefited from several slices of luck to get there as he was dropped three times early in his innings.

Bad light

And the all-rounder was there at the end as bad light ended the game prematurely with Oman 74 runs from their DLS target.

The top two teams in the Super Six table reach the World Cup, with one place still on offer after Sri Lanka qualified by beating Zimbabwe on Sunday.

Hosts Zimbabwe could clinch the second spot with victory over Scotland on Tuesday, but if the Scots win that match, it would all but set up a winner-takes all clash between Scotland and the Netherlands on Thursday.

In Harare, Ireland will take on Nepal to decide who finishes seventh, with the latter hoping to better their highest previous finish at the Qualifier of eighth.