Netherlands won their first match at the ICC World Cup Qualifiers as Papua New Guinea fall to a 57 run defeat.
The Hebou PNG Barramundis played their part in an entertaining day of cricket at the Old Hararian Sports Club.
Assad Vala won the toss and chose to field, but his bowlers could not find any early breakthrough. Both Keeper-Batsman Scott Edwards and Ben Cooper got the Dutch off to a solid start as they took the game to the PNG bowlers.
After Norman Vanua and Vala opened the bowling, as many as 5 bowlers were used by 10th over to break the partnership. The assured openers had a 50-run partnership that laid a solid foundation for the Dutch as wickets quickly became the need of the hour for the Hebou PNG Barramundis.
It wasn't until the 14th over, that a breakthrough came in the form of 6th bowler to take the ball. Charles Amini Jr trapped Edwards LBW for 27 runs. The spinners seemed to be working as Mahuru Dai removed Been Cooper on the first ball of the 17th over, taking a wonderful diving catch in the process.
Ryan ten Doeschate's woeful run in Zimbabwe continued as he became Amini's second wicket of the game, caught by Assad Vala for just 5.
Bas de Leede was next to go in the middle of a mini-collapse by the Dutch.
Alei Nou the bowler as de Leede was caught by youngster Kipling Doriga. Captain Peter Borren was next to fall for just 2 as Norman Vanua got just reward for his bowling spell as Mahuru Dai caught his second catch of match. Netherlands went from 57/0 in the 14th over to 99/5 at the end of 30 overs.
In came Roelof van der Merwe and Sikander Zulfiqar with a defining partnership as the next 20 overs saw Netherlands score at nearly a run a ball.
Zulfiqar really came into his own in the 38th over, when he took on Charles Amini who had an excellent time with the ball, up until that over, his final one, which went for 12 runs.
Amini finished with figures of 10-1-36-2. As Zulfiqar continued his assault, Mahuru Dai got the wicket of van der Merwe, whose knock of 38 runs from 41 balls was as timely as it was crucial as it propelled the Dutch past the 150 run mark with 8 overs to go.
Pieter Seelar was the next batsman to come in and he had one thing on his mind. Attack. He went after Vanua in the 46 over and smashed him for a four and a six in consecutive balls.
Vanua got his own back on the next ball as he clean bowled Seelar, whose cameo put a gloss on the Netherlands batting performance.
Netherlands had yet to cross the 200 run mark in their previous 2 games and it was now a race to see whether they can get there. And they did in the 49th over. The 50th over was bonus territory and Zulfiqar took full advantage, bringing up his half century in style with a 6.
Tim van der Gugten added to the score by hitting a six himself before getting out to the bowling of Nou as 16 runs came of the last over and Netherlands finished at 216/8.
The Papua New Guinea response got off to a disastrous start as in form-batsman Tony Ura was dismissed with score just 8, in the 3rd over of the match. The impressive Fred Klaassen trapping Ura LBW for just 3.
Assad Vala, who had been promoted to open the innings with Ura, had to consolidate with Lega Siaka. Vala took on the bowling of Shane Snater, hitting him for 11 runs in the 11th over. The batsmen were struggling to pick up the line and length of van der Gugten, who finally got reward for his disciplined bowling in his 4th over, as got Lega Siaka for just 7, caught by de Leede.
In came Sese Bau and both Vala and Bau assumed control of the chase as Papua New Guinea had got past the 50 run mark in the 15th over and the Hebou PNG Barramundis had reached 68/2 in 20 overs, with Vala looking in good touch.
Then started the Roelof van der Merwe show. The spinner was to take 4 of the next 5 batsmen to walk out in a devastating spell.
First to go was Bau, LBW for 10. Mahuru Dai fell for nought in the next over to Snater's bowling, caught by Scott Edwards who was to take another catch very soon.
In walked Kipling Doriga, only to see captain Assad Vala fall to the bowling of Fred Klaassen. Captain Borren had made the bowling change, which came across as a masterstroke as Vala was out, 6 runs short of his half century, caught by Edwards.
Charles Amini, who scored 9, was stumped by Edwards and Jason Kila (0) caught by Klaassen in the same over, of the bowling of van der Merwe.
Doriga offered some resistance as Vanua was promoted up the order, in light of his recent contributions with the bat. The move worked, but for a knock that can be best described as a cameo. Vanua smashed van der Merwe for 6, only to be out LBW as Papua New Guinea went from 68/3 to 126/8 in an all too familiar batting collapse.
Doriga was joined by John Boge Reva, who took on the bowling, hitting a run a ball 15, including 3 fours. Doriga too tried to accelerate in what looked increasingly a losing cause.
Seelar got the wicket of Reva as he tried to keep up with the run rate, holing out to Snater, who was to wrap up the Papua New Guinea innings in the 43rd over as Alei Nou fell for 6 and Kipling Doriga's measured innings of 32* was in vain. Van der Merwe was awarded man of the match for his knock of 38 and 4 wickets to top it off.
After the match, new Cricket PNG national coach, Joe Dawes, had this to say: "There's really good things there, we getting ourselves into positions to be competitive and we should be winning games but again the batsman are just letting us down not doing the job.
“Again you look at our senior players, Assad has been around a long time, Mahuru Dai has been around a long time, Tony Ura has been around a long time and he's in good form but he's not doing the job.
“Youngsters, bar-Kipling (Doriga), everyone else has played 15-20 games for the country. So they are young but they have played (enough) games to be able to do better."
Dawes clearly sees areas of improvement and is addressing them as he works more and more with the Barramundis. With a thrust on youth, the future is where the Barras will look to, for the rest of the tournament.
Elsewhere, Zimbabwe beat Hong Kong to go top of Group B, tied with Scotland with 3 wins out of 3, while Afghanistan put the first set of points on the board with a very impressive 6 wicket win against Nepal and West Indies won the battle of Group A, beating Ireland by 52 runs despite a few scares.
