De Leede stars but Bangladesh edge Dutch women in World Cup

The Netherlands captain Babette de Leede scored her side’s first T20 World Cup half-century on Sunday but could not prevent a tense six-wicket loss against Bangladesh in Birmingham.

Bangladesh scraped home in the last over, led by their 20-year-old opener Juairiya Ferdous’s half-century, to gun down their highest successful chase and spoil the Netherlands’ maiden appearance on the biggest stage.

It was an emotional occasion for the Dutch as the national anthem, the Wilhelmus, rang around the ground before the start of play. With plenty of travelling fan support, the smiles never left the faces of the players despite the result.

Having won the toss and opted to bat first on the same strip where England had amassed 219 against Sri Lanka two days earlier, Heather Siegers (16 off 13) found the early boundaries but the Dutch regularly lost wickets to be reduced to 76-5.

De Leede overcame a scratchy start herself to give the Dutch a semblance of control. At one point she was 13 off 19 balls but finished with a 45-ball 50, making the most of as many as four lives, surviving a run-out, a dropped catch at mid-on and two LBW calls.

Once settled in, she ran smartly between the wickets and played to her strengths: unfurling a paddle scoop, crunching back-to-back cover drives off left-arm spinner Sanjida Akter and playing an array of sweeps against the spinners.

De Leede became only the eighth woman to score a half-century on T20 World Cup debut, alongside her idol Sarah Taylor, the former England wicketkeeper.

“Losing wickets gets me more focused and involved in the game – I can’t mess up. It was a very eventful innings with reviews but my run-out was quite crucial. If it hadn’t happened, we could have scored a few more runs,” she said after the game, typically understated.

Her run-out in the 17th over proved significant but Iris Zwilling and Silver Siegers took 12 runs off Marufa Akter’s last over to swing back the momentum and help the Dutch post a competitive 139-8.

It didn’t look nearly enough when Bangladeshi openers raced to 67 in the eighth over, with Ferdous teeing off and scoring 50 of them, striking seven fours and two sixes.

But leg-spinner Caroline de Lange, who quit her job as a doctor to be able to play in the World Cup, came within a whisker of a World Cup hat-trick, dismissing Ferdous and then the captain, Nigar Sultana Joty, who fell for a first-ball duck.

Later, Silver Siegers produced a stunning delivery to peg back Dilana Akter’s off stump, and Frédérique Overdijk’s run-out appeared to have turned the game in the Netherlands’ favour, as Bangladesh lost four wickets for 18 runs to slump to 85-4.

But Bangladesh, playing in their seventh T20 World Cup, showed their batting chops and absorbed the pressure better to script a tense victory on the back of Sharmin and Shorna Akter’s 56-run stand.

“We didn’t score enough runs with the bat. Our innings never really got going. I felt like we lost a lot of wickets along the way, and Bangladesh bowled a lot better. They have been to World Cups before, you could tell. They play as a unit, as a machine really, and experience definitely helped [them],” De Leede said.

“[But] it was really special, our families and friends are all here. I hope we inspire young girls back home. It’s so cool. I would wish this upon anyone playing cricket in the Netherlands.”

The Dutch will now move on to Leeds where they take on the No. 3-ranked side, India, on Wednesday (June 17) at 3.30pm local Dutch time. All games are live on the public broadcaster NOS and the YouTube channel of cricket’s governing body, the ICC.