Bangladesh's fortunes continued to swing wildly on their tour of Europe, as they followed Tuesday's big loss to Scotland
with a comprehensive victory over Netherlands at The Hague. The
eight-wicket win, in the first of two Twenty20s against Netherlands, was
set up by unbeaten half-century from opener Tamim Iqbal.
Pursuing 145, Bangladesh might have been in a bit more trouble had Tom
Cooper held on to a regulation chance offered by Tamim early on: he came
down the track to Tim Gruijters off the fifth ball of the chase and
drove in the air straight to Cooper at extra cover, and the catch was
grassed. From there on, Tamim grew rather cautious. He took only two
fours off his first 31 deliveries.
At 66 for 2 halfway through the chase, with 79 more required,
Netherlands might have fancied their chances. But Tamim squashed those
hopes by opening up with three hits down the ground, for two sixes and a
four, off Pieter Seelaar in the 14th over. From the other end,
Mushfiqur Rahim extended solid support with 37 off 24 - he ensured
Bangladesh finished with a flourish, depositing sixes over long-on and
midwicket off Mudassar Bukhari to end the game in the 18th over.
Earlier Netherlands, after choosing to bat, could not quite get a
partnership going. They were tottering at 14 for 3, with the two most
effective bowlers in the game, Mashrafe Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan,
both striking early blows. Michael Swart could not find adequate
company, and despite his 57 off 41 balls and a few boundaries from the
lower-middle order at the end, Netherlands could only manage 144 for 7.
While this win might not have much of an impact on Bangladesh's ranking -
previous wins and losses on this tour have seen them go from nowhere on
the Twenty20 table up to No. 4 and back down to No. 9 - it could help
salvage some pride.
