World T20 Preview: Kiwis look to up the ante against Dutch

New Zealand find themselves with a great opportunity to get their campaign back on track and better their net run rate in a tough Group 1 when they on minnows Netherlands in their next league match of the ICC World Twenty20, on Saturday. After having defeated England by nine runs via Duckworth-Lewis method in their rain-marred tournament opener, New Zealand suffered a narrow two-run loss at the hands of South Africa in their next match to be placed third in Group 1, which is being headed by Sri Lanka followed by South Africa on four points apiece. But come tomorrow, the Kiwis will be eyeing a big win over the Dutchmen to improve their position ahead of their final group league encounter against Sri Lanka. The Kiwis only had themselves to blame for the loss against South Africa as chasing a challenging 171-run target, they were well on course towards a victory before South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn single-handedly changed the complexion of the game with a brilliant final over. Needing just seven runs for a win off six balls with five wickets in hand, New Zealand made a heavy weather of the task as Steyn produced a breathtaking final over to restrict the Kiwis to 168 for eight. Still smarting from that loss, the Kiwis would be desperate to give a fillip to their campaign with a resounding win over the Netherlands tomorrow. [caption id=“attachment_1455397” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of New Zealand cricket team. Reuters[/caption] But New Zealand can’t afford to take Netherlands lightly as the Dutchmen gave South Africa a mighty scare yesterday. Coming into the match against South Africa after suffering one of the heaviest T20 defeats in the history of the game, Netherlands dished out a commendable performance against fancied South Africa yesterday. Netherlands first rode on pacer Ahsan Jamil’s career-best figures of five for 19 to restrict South Africa to 145 for nine before falling short of a memorable win by just six runs. Stephan Myburgh continued to dazzle for the Netherlands at the top of the order and smashed South African bowlers for eight fours and two sixes en route his 28-ball 51. He would be eying a similar outing tomorrow if not better, albeit for a winning cause. Myburgh has been doing his bit for the team but now it’s time for skipper Peter Borren along with Wesley Barresi and Tom Cooper are the backbone of Netherlands’ batting. And the performance against South Africa definitely would have done a word of good to their morale-sapping confidence, especially after the humiliating show against Sri Lanka. New Zealand, on the other hand, will approach the match with a few worries as all departments of their game didn’t click in unison in the two matches they played so far. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor struck quick half centuries against South Africa but their efforts were not enough to see New Zealand home. What would be worrying Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum the most would be the form of the team’s bowling department. In both the matches, New Zealand bowlers leaked runs to allow the opposition teams to post 170-plus targets. And this is an area McCullum would want his players to make amends. Squads: New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (Capt), Corey Anderson, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Ronnie Hira, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson. Netherlands: Peter Borren (Capt), Wesley Barresi, Mudassar Bukhari, Ben Cooper, Tom Cooper, Tom Heggelman, Ahsan Malik, Vivian Kingma, Stephan Myburgh, Michael Rippon, Pieter Seelaar, Michael Swart, Eric Szwarczynski, Logan van Beek, Timm van der Gugten. PTI