A stunning heist!
De Leede’s all-round dazzle puts Netherlands on India flight | McMullen’s 106 went in vain for Scotland, who dominated the game for significant periods
Bulawayo
Bas de Leede put in an all-round performance for the ages as Netherlands stunned Scotland to book their ticket to the 2023 men’s ODI World Cup in India. First, de Leede’s maiden five-wicket haul helped Netherlands restrict Scotland to 277 for 9. Netherlands needed to chase that down inside 44 overs to trump Scotland on the net run-rate. Around the halfway mark, they looked all but out of the contest, before de Leede smashed 123 off 92 balls, his first ODI century, to power them over the line in 42.5 overs, with four wickets to spare.
This will be Netherlands’ fifth appearance in the men’s ODI World Cup, having last played in the 2011 edition. De Leede, meanwhile, became only the fourth player to score a hundred and take five wickets in an ODI.
This will be Netherlands’ fifth appearance in the ODI World Cup, having last played in the 2011 editions. De Leede, meanwhile, became only the fourth player to score a hundred and take five wickets in a men’s ODI, reducing Brandon McMullen’s equally outstanding hundred for Scotland to a footnote.
In the morning, Scott Edwards opted to bowl citing help for seamers in the first hour, and Logan van Beek duly sent Matthew Cross’ off stump cartwheeling in the opening over of the match. Christopher McBride and McMullen ensured Scotland didn’t lose another wicket in the first ten overs. While McBride struggled with timing, McMullen looked at ease. He used his feet well, often coming down the track to try to disrupt the Netherlands seamers’ lengths.
McBride chipped in with two successive fours off left-arm spinner Clayton Floyd in the tenth over but fell to de Leede in the next when he pulled straight to short midwicket. De Leede picked up his second wicket when George Munsey gloved a pull that was caught down the leg side.
That left Scotland 64 for 3 in the 15th over, but McMullen was looking more and more comfortable by now.
Through a perfect alchemy of timing and power, he put up an exhibition of eye-catching strokes. In the 11th over, he timed offspinner Aryan Dutt over long-off for his first six. A few overs later, he went down the pitch to a short ball from de Leede and smashed it over mid-on. To bring up his fifty – off 63 balls – he lofted Ryan Klein over wide long-off for another six, and then chipped Floyd over extra cover for back-to-back fours.
McMullen reached his hundred off 106 balls, with a punched four through extra cover off van Beek. He and Richie Berrington added 137 off 135 balls for the fourth wicket. Having reached 200 in the 38th over, Scotland were eyeing a total in excess of 300. But the late strikes from Klein and de Leede reined them in. Klein first had McMullen caught behind and then left Michael Leask’s stumps in disarray to make it 207 for 5.
Berrington held one end up and brought up his half-century but couldn’t provide the impetus. He was on 64 when de Leede uprooted his middle stump. Shortly afterwards, de Leede sent back Chris Greaves and Mark Watt off consecutive deliveries to complete his five-for. All that meant Scotland could score only 74 in the last 12 overs.
