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New Zealand coasted to a facile second win of the 2023 World Cup as they out-maneuvered Netherlands in the sixth match of the tournament at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
In what turned out to be a one-sided encounter, New Zealand posted 322 for seven in their stipulated 50 overs before restricting Netherlands to 223 in response.
Kiwis aided by joint team effort with the bat
An all-round display from Mitchell Santner and fifties from Will Young, Rachin Ravindra and Tom Latham ensured New Zealand had gone to the top of the table with the first team to get to two wins in the tournament.
On a ground hosting its third match in five days, the pitch behaved slightly slower than usual but that didn’t stop New Zealand from taking advantage of their opponent’s inexperienced bowling attack.
Having made a solid start through Devon Conway and Young, New Zealand were aided by starts for each of their top five batsmen which helped them set up a strong base for their final push. Young top-scored with 70 while Ravindra hit his second score of more than 50 in successive matches.
Stand-in captain Latham also chipped in with a quickfire half-century before Santner’s 17 ball 36 unbeaten was able to get New Zealand past the 300-run mark. The last eight balls of the Kiwi innings went for 29 runs.
Inexperienced Netherlands rolled over by Santner
In response, Netherlands needed the kind of start that they have been used to receiving from Vikramjit Singh and Max ODowd in the past but that was not to be.
Matt Henry continued his good form from the England match to send Vikramjit on his way while the early introduction of Santner put paid to the ODowd essay, falling for 12 and 16 respectively.
An all-star performance 🤩
Mitch Santner is awarded the @aramco #POTM for his excellent figures of 5/59 and quickfire cameo of 36* off 17 balls 🏏☝️#CWC23 #NZvNED pic.twitter.com/j5YpUPr8fU
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) October 9, 2023
Santner would add four more wickets to his tally to end with figures of five for 59 from his 10, just the second time in his career he had bagged a five-fer.
When Netherlands’ top-scorer from their match against Pakistan, Bas de Leede fell a victim to Rachin Ravindra for a mere 18, the writing looked to be on the wall.
A 50-run stand between Colin Ackermann – who finished his side’s best batsman with a half-century to his name – and Teja Nidamanuru gave Netherlands some hope of respectability while captain Scott Edwards delayed the inevitable with an innings of 30.
Henry came back to pick up two more wickets to go with his three-fer from the previous match as Netherlands were bowled out in the 47th over.
Santner was the unsurprising choice for the man-of-the-match award.
There are two matches to be played tomorrow as England face Bangladesh and Pakistan will be up against Sri Lanka.
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