Following the comprehensive loss to Ireland, the Netherlands will be looking to gett their T20 World cup campaign back on track when they take on tournament debutants Namibia in a must-win qualifying match in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
The Dutch were blown away by the stunning four-wickets-in-four-balls performance by Ireland pacer Curtis Campher and they look to quickly forget the seven-wicket thmping and post a win against Namibia in the Group A game to keep themselves in the runniong for a Super 12 berth.
The Netherlands innings was left in disarray when Colin Ackermann, Ryan ten Doeschate, Scott Edwards and Roelof van der Merwe fell to Campher off successive balls in the 10th over.
Only Max O’Dowd stood tall among the ruins with a 47-ball 51 after Netherlands were reduced to 51 for six. He hit seven boundaries.
Netherlands will not want to repeat such a poor batting performance when they face lower-ranked Namibia, who lost to Sri Lanka in their opening fixture, as a defeat will almost certainly send them out of contention for next round berth.
The likes of Ten Doeschate, best remembered for his incredible century against England in the 2011 World Cup, will be looking to score big against the Namibian bowlers and help the side win their first match.
Captain Pieter Seelaar, a veteran of 15 years in international cricket and who scored 21 against Ireland, will be another key player for Netherlands.
For the inexperienced Namibians, skipper Gerhard Erasmus and experienced all-rounder David Wiese, who has earlier played 24 T20s for South Africa, hold the key as they would want to make a mark in the tournament after the seven-wicket loss to Sri Lanka.
Playing in their first match in a global event, the Namibians were shot out for a paltry 96 in 19.3 overs with only three batters, including Erasmus, reaching double-digit figures after they were sent in to bat. The inexperienced Namibian batting collapsed after the fall of Erasmus.
They could not score as quickly as they would have liked in the face of some tight bowling from the Sri Lankan pacers and will have to produce an improved performance against a less fancied side than the Lankans.
Wiese, of whom a lot was expected, made just six runs from seven balls and he will hope to score big against the Netherlands.
Defending a small total, the Namibian bowlers gave a good account of themselves, creating a few ripples when they got rid of three top Sri Lankan batters cheaply inside Powerplay overs. But the total was too small to defend. The Sri Lankans chased down the target in 13.3 overs.
