New Zealand’s innings started with three maidens in a row but ended with them bashing 50 off the last sy Tom Latham, Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry, which propelled them to 322. Netherlands started the chase slowly and never shifted gears as they folded for 223, as New Zealand further consolidated their position at the top of the points table after making it two in two.
Player-of-the-Match Santner, who clubbed an unbeaten 36 from 17 balls with the bat, then grabbed 5 for 59 with the ball, and in the process became the first New Zealand spinner to claim a five-for in a men’s ODI World Cup. He varied his pace consistently on a spin-friendly pitch – exactly the trait which makes him threatening – as the highlight of all his wickets was that of Scott Edwards’.
Santner slowed it down considerably and went with a wide line outside off to tempt Edwards off the fifth ball of the 35th over. The Netherlands captain had cracked 12 off the three previous deliveries – it included a six and a four – and with the required rate mounting, went slogging across the line, only for the ball to balloon back towards Santner. Thus, at 174 for 6, all of Netherlands’ little-remaining hopes of causing an upset vanished.
However, they had New Zealand in a tricky position with the ball at one stage. New Zealand lost 3 for 16 in the death overs – 238 for 3 in the 41st became 254 for 6 in the 45th – but Latham kept defying the Netherlands bowlers at one end. From being 1 off 5 balls after 34 overs, he smashed 53 from 46 despite the slow and gripping nature of the pitch, which proved challenging for all incoming batters barring Latham.
Aryan Dutt had removed Mark Chapman to start the 45th over to leave Latham as New Zealand’s only specialist batter, but Netherlands let it slip despite standing a chance of restricting New Zealand to under 300. Before that, Will Young and Rachin Ravindra also hit half-centuries, together adding 77 in 14 overs for the second wicket. Eventually, New Zealand’s innings would be defined by such stands at a steady rate rather than massive ones.
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