New Zealand defeated The Netherlands by 99 runs as they scored 322 for 7 (Young 70, Latham 53, van der Merwe 2-56) against The Netherlands’ 223 (Ackermann 69, Santner 5-59, Henry 3-40).
New Zealand Beat Netherlands: Three consecutive maiden deliveries began New Zealand’s innings, but the last three overs, bowled by Tom Latham, Mitchell Santner, and Matt Henry, saw them score 50 runs, taking their total to 322. Netherlands folded for 223 after starting the chase slowly and remaining in place the entire time, further solidifying New Zealand’s lead in the points standings after going two for two.
Player of the Match Santner, who scored an unbeaten 36 from 17 balls with the bat before taking 5 for 59 with the ball, made history by being the first New Zealand spinner to take five wickets in a men’s ODI World Cup. He continually changed his pace on a spin-friendly ground, which is exactly the quality that makes him frightening. Of all his wickets, Scott Edwards’ was the standout.
Santner slowed it down considerably and used the sixth ball of the 35th over to bait Edwards with a wide line outside off. The Netherlands skipper attempted to crawl across the line after scoring 12 runs off the previous three deliveries, which featured a six and a four, but the ball ballooned back towards Santner as the needed rate increased. At 174 for 6, Netherlands’ slim chances of pulling off an upset were thus gone.
But at one point, they had the ball and put New Zealand in a precarious situation. Latham continued to frustrate the Netherlands bowlers at one end as New Zealand lost 3 for 16 in the last overs (238 for 3 in the 41st became 254 for 6 in the 45th). Despite the sluggish and gripping nature of the pitch, which proved tough for all incoming hitters save for Latham, he hammered 53 from 46 balls after being 1 off 5 balls after 34 overs.