De Leede takes Netherlands to big win

Bas de Leede scored an unbeaten 72 and took two wickets as the Netherlands hammered Namibia by seven wickets for their first win at the T20 World Cup on Tuesday.

The experienced all-rounder struck key blows with his pace bowling to help restrict Namibia to 156-8 at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.

De Leede then turned up with the bat to hit five fours and four sixes in his 48-ball knock to help the Netherlands chase down their target with 12 balls to spare.

His third-wicket partnership of 70 with Colin Ackermann, who scored 32, set up the chase before he polished it off with skipper Scott Edwards (18 not out).

It was the Netherlands’ biggest win by wickets at a T20 World Cup.

“I think we were lucky to bowl first, it gave us a good look at the wicket and I thought we adjusted really well as a bowling group,” said player of the match De Leede.

Edwards called De Leede’s all-round effort “sensational” as the Dutch bounced back from their narrow loss to Pakistan in their opener in Group A.

Namibia lost wickets at regular intervals after being put in to bat in their first match of the tournament.

Only Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton stood out with his 42.

Logan van Beek returned figures of 2-13 in his three overs of seam bowling and De Leede took 2-20.