The Netherlands advances to the ODI World Cup thanks to Bas de Leede’s five-for and 92-ball 123

ball 92
Bas de Leede became just the fourth player in a Men's ODI to record a century and take five wickets

As Netherlands beat Scotland to qualify for the 2023 men’s ODI World Cup in India, Bas de Leede turned in an all-around masterwork. First, the Netherlands successfully held Scotland to 277 for 9 runs thanks to de Leede’s first five-wicket haul. 

For Netherlands to beat Scotland on net run rate, that required to be chased down in less than 44 overs. They appeared to be virtually out of the game around the midway point but de Leede hit 123 off 92 balls, his first ODI century, to carry them to victory in 42.5 overs with four wickets remaining.

In the men’s ODI World Cup, this will be the Netherlands’ fifth appearance. The 2011 edition was their most recent appearance. While this was going on, Brandon McMullen’s amazing century for Scotland was eclipsed by De Leede, who became just the fourth player to score a hundred and take five wickets in a men’s ODI.

Logan van Beek duly sent Matthew Cross‘ off stump flying in the first over of the game after Scott Edwards chose to bowl in the morning citing help for seamers in the first hour. In the first ten overs, Scotland didn’t lose another wicket thanks to Christopher McBride and McMullen. 

McBride had trouble with timing, while McMullen appeared comfortable. He made good use of his feet, frequently attempting to shorten the lengths of the Dutch seamers by coming down the track.

In the tenth over, McBride contributed with two consecutive fours off left-arm spinner Clayton Floyd, but he was out in the next over when he pulled straight to short midwicket and was replaced by de Leede. George Munsey gloved a pull that was caught down the leg side, giving De Leede his second wicket.

Scotland was left with 64 for 3 in the 15th over, but at this point, McMullen was appearing more at ease.

He put on a display of striking strokes with an impeccable synthesis of time and force. He timed off spinner Aryan Dutt over long-off in the eleventh over to score his maiden six. 

A few more overs later, he hammered a short ball from de Leede over mid-on after moving down the pitch to it. He lifted Ryan Klein over wide long-off for another six to bring up his fifty, which came off 63 balls, and then chipped Floyd over extra cover for back-to-back fours.

Through the use of a punched four off of van Beek, McMullen needed 106 balls to attain his century. For the fourth wicket, he and Richie Berrington put on a 137-run partnership off 135 balls. 

After scoring 200 runs in the 38th over, Scotland was aiming for a total of at least 300. However, the last-minute attacks from Klein and de Leede contained them. Michael Leask’s stumps were left in shambles when Klein first caught McMullen behind, bringing the score to 207 for 5.

Berrington held one end up and mentioned his fifty years, but he was unable to supply the drive. De Leede uprooted his middle stump while he was on 64. Soon after, de Leede completed his five-for by returning successive deliveries from Chris Greaves and Mark Watt. As a result, Scotland could only score 74 runs in the final 12 overs.

Netherlands got off to a strong start with 65 in 12.4 overs thanks to Max O’Dowd and Vikramjit Singh, but Michael Leask eventually trapped both lbw in consecutive overs. Netherlands’ chances were further harmed by the sudden losses of Wesley Barresi and Teja Nidamanuru, leaving them needing 170 runs in 20 overs to advance.

De Leede was at that point on 19 off 30. In the 25th and 26th overs, he and Edwards gave the chase new life by hitting four fours in the span of four balls. Before Edwards was out after failing to connect with a sweep off Mark Watt, the partnership accumulated 55 runs in 44 balls.

Even at this stage, Scotland was the favorite; the Netherlands, with half their team in the pavilion, needed 115 in 13.1 overs. And when the final three overs yielded just 12 runs, 102 runs from ten overs were needed.

De Leede launched an all-out assault as Netherlands faced certain defeat. He began by hitting Watt for a six before hitting Safyaan Sharif for two fours a few overs later. Saqib Zulfiqar also occasionally discovered a boundary to keep Netherlands moving along at the required pace. It was a tie when 45 runs in four overs were required. 

During a span of ten balls that also contained a maximum from Zulfiqar, de Leede went into overdrive at that point, smashing four sixes. De Leede reached his hundred after just 85 balls thanks to one of those hits. Netherlands required just two out of 11 balls by the squad he was run out by. They were purchased as singles.

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