Stuart Poynter’s six on the final delivery of the match helped Ireland clinch a thriller against the Netherlands in the fifth game of the quadrangular Twenty20 International series in Oman on Sunday, 17 February.
Poynter found himself on strike with Ireland needing six runs off two balls with just one wicket in hand to overhaul the Netherlands’ 182/9, which soon became six off one as Paul van Meekeren bowled a dot. The Ireland batsman held his nerve to send the last ball sailing over the ropes to give his team a thrilling win.
Chasing 183, Ireland did not have the best of starts, losing captain Paul Stirling (1) in the second over. But Kevin O’Brien and Andy Balbirnie led the fight back, adding 86 runs in 9.2 overs.
YYYYEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS – @spoynter_90 pic.twitter.com/t3SyEPlk13
— Cricket Ireland (@Irelandcricket) February 17, 2019
O’Brien hit four fours and three sixes in his 30-ball 46 and Balbirnie made 83 off just 50 balls with 12 fours and a six. Ireland were going well, but van Meekeren brought the Netherlands back into the contest by dismissing Balbirnie and Shane Getkate, after having sent back Stirling earlier, and left Ireland needing 30 off the last three overs with five wickets in hand.
Fred Klaassen, who had dismissed O’Brien earlier, then claimed the scalps of George Dockrell (12 off 7) and Simi Singh (8 off 6) to bring the equation down to 12 runs off the final over.
Van Meekeren then dismissed Boyd Rankin and Joshua Little was run out in what was an increasingly dramatic climax. The dismissals came off successive balls, but not before Little had hit a four and brought the equation down to six off four. In the end, however, Poynter had the last laugh.
Earlier, Tobias Visee and Max O’Dowd gave the Netherlands an excellent start, adding 116 runs for the first wicket in just 9.2 overs.
Visee top-scored for his side with a 36-ball 78, hitting 12 fours and three sixes, while O’Dowd hit five fours in his 32-ball 38. However, their wickets in the 10th and the 12th overs initiated a collapse as the Netherlands lost 5/22 in 5.1 overs and were reduced to 152/7 in the 17th.
The Netherlands’ two most experienced T20 players, Ryan ten Doeschate and Roelof van der Merwe, were dismissed for ducks while Warren Barresi and Sikandar Zulfiqar scored 3 and 4 respectively.
An unbeaten 21-ball 18 from Ben Cooper and an 8-ball 11 from Timm van der Gugten gave the Netherlands some momentum towards the end and they finished with a competitive total.
Stuart Thompson picked up 4/18 for Ireland while Rankin returned 2/27. Dockrell and Stirling each got a wicket as well.
