The Netherlands team played spoilsport on Bangladesh’s hopes of seeing a spot for the semi-finals in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 by giving them an 87-run defeat at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. On the back of the win, the Netherlands moved up to the eighth position in the points table, pushing defending champions England to the bottom.
Bangladesh on the other side also slipped down in the points table to ninth position. Talking about the game, Edwards decided to bat first after winning the toss in Kolkata. The Dutch got a terrible start as they lost both their openers Max O’Dowd and Vikramjit Singh in the first three overs. While struggling at 4 for 2, Wesley Barresi and Colin Akermann stitched an important 59-run stand to settle the Netherlands’ innings. Barresi ended up making 41 runs off as many balls before getting out by Mustafizur Rahim. Shakib Al Hasan pulled on further misery as he got rid of Ackermann in the very next over. Bas de Leede and Edwards then built a 44-run partnership before Taskin Ahmed struck to claim his second wicket of the day.
However, Edwards kept batting and reached his 15th ODI half-century while adding 78 runs with Sybrand Engelbrecht. Shortly, Edwards got put by Mustafiqur after scoring 68 runs off 89 deliveries, smashing six boundaries in Kolkata. Logan van Beek stood unbeaten on 23 runs off 16 balls but wickets kept falling as Bangladesh restricted Netherlands out for 229 runs. Shoriful Islam, Mahedi Hasan, Taskin, and Mustafizur all picked two wickets each.
In reply, Aryan Dutt gave the Netherlands a solid start, picking up the wickets of dangerous Litton Das in the fifth over. Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Shanto failed to move the scoreboard much and were dismissed to leave the Bangla Tigers reeling at 45 for 3. Mahedi Hasan and Mahmudullah then did stitch a 38-run stand but then it was broken by a brilliant fielding by De Leede to send Mahedy back to the pavilion. The Netherlands eventually crushed Bangladesh for 142 runs in 42.2 overs, winning the match by 87 runs.