Netherlands 151-4 in 20 overs (Peter Borren 49, Tom Cooper 40*, Nathan McCullum 1-20, Trent Boult 1-25) lost to BLACKCAPS 152-4 in 19 overs (Brendon McCullum 65, Kane Williamson 29) by six wickets at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong.
The BLACKCAPS recorded a solid win against the Netherlands, but not without one or two nervous moments. Brendon McCullum's 65 was the backbone of the New Zealand innings, helping get his team home after a good effort with the ball, particularly at the death. From here, the team plays a virtual quarterfinal against Sri Lanka on Tuesday morning to progress in the tournament.
The BLACKCAPS put early pressure on Netherlands, shutting down their big hitters to a large extent but not getting the breakthrough they wanted straight away. Dangerman Stephan Myburgh was the first to go, caught by Martin Guptill from Trent Boult for 16, closely followed by Wesley Barresi for four, caught by Luke Ronchi from Mitchell McClenaghan.
A few tough chances went to ground, one from Michael Swart that Brendon McCullum dived to grab spectacularly, but couldn't hold as he hit the ground - Nathan McCullum also had a tough caught and bowled chance from Peter Borren that was thumped back at him, but he was unable to hang on. Kyle Mills also grassed an outfield catch he did well to even get to.
Slowly the Netherlands gained momentum, and the partnership between Borren and Tom Cooper yielded 60 runs. Jimmy Neesham came into the attack with four overs to go and took his chance, bowling tight lines that proved hard to get away, producing two overs for nine runs, backed up by Mills, who also was miserly at the death.
Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson took a while to get going at the start of the innings in the face of some accurate and hostile bowling. Guptill went for nine caught behind by Baressi from Timm van der Gugten, to bring Brendon McCullum to the crease. He made steady progress with Williamson, content to do it in quick singles. Williamson was caught behind from Logan van Beek for 29.
Ross Taylor played himself in and was just starting to launch with a four and a six before skying can der Gugten to Barresi, who made a lot of ground to take the catch to add just a little tension to the chase.
As McCullum became the first batsman to pass 2000 Twenty20 International runs during the innings, he began to take control of the match, starting to find the boundary on top of the singles. His partnership with Corey Anderson was worth 46, and made the BLACKCAPS runs / balls ratio truly comfortable for the first time in the match.
McCullum went for 65, caught by Mudassar Bukhari from van der Gugten at cover with 18 still needed, but Anderson and Jimmy Neesham did it comfortably in ones to give the BLACKCAPS the win by six wickets with six balls remaining.
