Geelong (Victoria), Oct 19 (Ajit Weekly News) In the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, the Netherlands have emerged as the table toppers of Group A in the first round with back-to-back wins over the UAE and Namibia.
At four points from their successive wins, the Netherlands have placed themselves in a real chance of making the Super 12 stage. But a defeat to Sri Lanka at Geelong on Thursday may end their campaign in the tournament, especially with a low net run rate of 0.149, if the Namibia-UAE match isn’t washed out due to bad weather.
With the net run rate being talked about as a deciding factor in the top two finishes of Group A, Netherlands coach Ryan Cook stated he’s fully aware of the role it can play in deciding the destiny of teams in the tournament.
“We were fully aware of obviously the net run rates and the role that they might play in this tournament, and we did try our best obviously to try and get the score as quickly as possible yesterday (against Namibia). Not that that was the first objective, but rather to win the match.
“But I think that we did try and up the run rate when we felt that we were in a good position, and obviously we just were grateful to be able to get over the line in those two games and get the four points on the board,” said Cook in the pre-match press conference.
In both of their victories over the UAE and Namibia at Kardinia Park, the Netherlands had turned straight-forward run chases into last-over thrilling wins after losing their way mid-way with the bat.
If it was captain Scott Edwards who closed out the chase against the UAE, then it was all-rounder Bas de Leede’s turn to do the same under pressure against a disciplined Namibia bowling attack with an unbeaten run-a-ball 30.
“Everyone knows that there’s pressure games in these tournaments, and just to get to this point in the World Cup qualifiers you often have these types of games, as well. We’re fully prepared for being able to have these kind of knockout-type games.
“We know we’ve got to play against good teams in this competition who all have various threats, and we obviously prepare for those eventualities. In terms of meeting those challenges, the guys are in a good space to do that,” added Cook.
In the Netherlands tight wins, young left-arm spinner Tim Pringle has been an unsung hero. Apart from closing heart-stopping chases with scores of 15 and eight not out, he has bowled tight spells of 1/13 and 1/15 respectively after enduring a difficult time in the home summer.
Cook signed off by saying Pringle’s improvement in the T20 World Cup has come by a combination of experience a bowler gains at the international event and coaches enabling him to be better in a short period of time.
“I think a combination of all of those. He’s come in, a young player of 19-20 years old, having to learn his craft on the international stage against some high-quality batsmen in England. He’s gone through the summer, he’s got to bowl against those kinds of players and learnt a lot along the way.”
“As coaches, we try and help him as much as possible, but credit to him; he’s learned really quickly. That’s a great value of our team, is we try and pride ourselves on learning as fast as possible.
“He certainly has come a long way. In the World Cup Qualifiers he was obviously going at about five and a half runs an over there. In the T20 format, he’s certainly a really good bowler there.”
–Ajit Weekly News
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