Netherlands can start dreaming of the World Cup after a perfect group stage

Netherlands (107/7) beat Thailand (90 all out) by 17 runs

Two things that Dutch people are famous for: being very tall and making you pay for your food. 

In Isabel van der Woning and Iris Zwilling, Netherlands women have two very tall fast bowlers who have been making batters pay for their mistakes throughout this tournament. Zwilling’s 3 wickets for 9 runs and van der Woning’s 4 for 14 carried the Netherlands to an unlikely win against Thailand after the Dutch batters had posted a meagre and under par 107 from their 20 overs. 

Captain Babette de Leede’s run a ball 47 gave the Dutch innings an air of respectability after they had lost the early wickets of Phebe Molkenboer, Heather Siegers and Sterre Kalis in the first five overs. Thailand’s bowlers, particularly the impressive Sunida Chatturongrattana, were at times unplayable, eliciting prodigious spin and demonstrating unerring accuracy as they frustrated and bewildered the Dutch batters. Only de Leede demonstrated the patience and guile necessary to find the right balance of defence and attack in her shot selection.

Chasing 108 for a win which would have blown open the super six stage of this tournament, Thailand were undone by the brilliant bowling spells of first of all Zwilling – bowling a double wicket maiden in the first over of Thailand’s reply – and then van der Woning – hitting top of middle stump to remove the dangerous Natthakan Chantham for 26 and then, with the ball of the day, hitting top of off stump to remove Phannita Maya in the 13^th over.

This left Thailand on 51/6 – not even half way to their target and with no way back into the game.

So, the Netherlands go into the super six stage already on 4 points. This is probably enough already to qualify for the finals in England this summer. Thailand and USA start the super six stage on zero points. Victory against the USA on Wednesday will confirm the Netherlands’ place in England this summer.

Scotland will also be hoping that the Dutch beat the USA, as that will mean that victory for Scotland against the Americans will also be enough to almost certainly confirm qualification. The Scots, who have seemed fragile in this tournament, will not want to be relying on their results against Bangladesh and Ireland to ensure qualification.

The Scotland v USA game is due to be the final game of the tournament and, depending on other results, it could well be a winner-take-all knockout game for the fourth qualification slot. It would be a fitting end to what has been so far an absorbing and entertaining tournament.