Outstanding half-centuries from Rachin Ravindra, Will Young, Tom Latham and a fiery cameo by Mitchell Santner in the end help New Zealand post a challenging total of 322/7 against Netherlands in the ongoing ICC World Cup here at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Monday.
Young scored the highest for Kiwis with 70 runs off 80 while Rachin and Latham played decent knocks of 51 and 53 respectively.
Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren and Roelof van der Merwe bagged two wickets each for Netherlands. Netherlands bowlers gave their best in the match as they kept taking wickets, keeping a tight hold on leaking runs.
Opted to field against New Zealand, the Netherlands restricted the Kiwi batters from scoring runs from early on as the Dutch bowled three maidens in a row after taking the field.
Openers Devon Conway and Will Young refused to slow down and opened their arms with a barrage of strokes. Young was the first one to open his tally with two stylish boundaries in the third over of the game. Young then went on to hit a four and a six in the fifth over, gathering 11 runs in Aryan Dutt's over.
Conway took charge from the sixth over and soon the Kiwis were hammering boundaries against the Dutch.
Roelof van der Merwe broke the 67-run partnership stand as Conway was caught in the deep off in the 13th over of the game.
The left-handed batter Rachin Ravindra then joined forces with Young to keep the New Zealand run flow alive. In the 20th over Young brought up his half-century in 59 balls.
Will Young's outstanding stay at the crease was cut short by Paul van Meekeren in the 27th over of the game. Young went back to the pavilion after scoring 70 runs off 80 deliveries. The right-handed batter Daryl Mitchell then came out to bat.
Mitchell opened his hands and slammed van Meekeren for 13 runs with the help of one boundary and maximum.
Roelof van der Merwe gave the Kiwis a big blow as Ravindra was dismissed after scoring 51 runs. Skipper Tom Latham then came out to bat and the batter opened his hands with back-to-back three off Bas de Leede's over.
Netherlands bounced back in the game as they departed Mitchell (48), Glenn Phillips (4), Mark Chapman (5) and Latham, who slammed a fifty.
A half-century from Latham (53) and a cameo from Mitchell Santner (36* from 17) helped New Zealand post a competitive total of 322/7 at the end of their innings.
Brief score: New Zealand 322/7 (Will Young 70, Tom Latham 53; Roelof van der Merwe 2-56) vs Netherlands.
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