Riding high on confidence after a historic victory in the first ODI, the Netherlands would put all in their might to go a step further and take an unassailable 2-0 lead when they take on Ireland on Friday, at Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd, Utrecht.
After being bundled out for 195 in the first match, the Dutch batters will be expected to step up. Their openers started off on a fluent note, driving and cutting to add seven fours between them, but neither lasted. They were then reduced to 53/5 before Tim van der Gugten’s 49 helped salvage some pride. Logan van Beek starred with both bat and ball, chipping in with 29 before taking two crucial wickets.
Ireland, on the other hand, will be playing for the series. Their defeat was their first against Netherlands since 2007. However, Ireland do seem to have got their bases covered.
Even in defeat, Paul Stirling showed he is much more than flamboyance. His 69 off 112 balls kept Ireland in the game until the last ball. They have got a great utility player in Simi Singh, who can be quite handy as a batter, and also picks up wickets.
Head to head:
Ireland leads with a scoreline 7-2.
Likely XIs:
Netherlands: Max O’Dowd, Stephan Myburgh, Ben Cooper, Bas de Leede, Scott Edwards (wk), Pieter Seelaar (c), Timm van der Gugten, Logan van Beek, Philippe Boissevain, Vivian Kingma, Fred Klaassen.
Ireland: Paul Stirling, Kevin O’Brien, Andy Balbirnie (c), Harry Tector, George Dockrell, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Josh Little, Craig Young, Simi Singh.
Prediction:
Ireland to win and level the series.