Netherlands back on track at ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015

Despite being on the losing side, Evans won the man-of-the-match award for his remarkable bowling effort but, understandably, he was not celebrating too wildly afterwards.

“It’s always nice to take wickets in any format of the game but, obviously, it would have been nicer to get it in a winning performance. Never mind, we will now focus on our next game against Afghanistan and we’ll go again,” said the 26-year-old medium-pacer.

“I’m always very clear before the game – I want to keep it simple. I have two or three plans in place that I want to stick to and you always know that Twenty20 batters will always go after bowlers but bowling plans will still come off more often than not if you can execute them properly.

“Batters are going harder and harder these days but as a bowler if you’re sticking to your plans and keeping things simple that’s all you can do. If you bowl where you want to and the batsman hits you for four or six then you’ve still done your job, that’s all you can do. They’re taking risks, at the end of the day, and that will bring wickets eventually,” he said.

Meanwhile, in its first-ever match in this competition, Jersey got off to a winning start at Bready with left-handed opener Peter Gough putting in an innings of real quality to carry his bat and see his side home by nine wickets. Gough shared an opening partnership of 112 with Edward Farley which broke the back of the total of 153-6 set by Hong Kong. Gough finished unbeaten on 81 off 60 balls with Farley’s wicket the only one of the islanders to fall.

This win will give Jersey a huge confidence boost as they prepare to take on PNG tomorrow at the same venue.

“Amazing, unbelievable,” said Gough afterwards. “It was a lot to do with the way we bowled and fielded to be honest. On that wicket, to keep Hong Kong to around 150 was a great effort from the bowlers.

“We hadn’t batted very well in the warm-up games so this was very pleasing. We have batted well all season so we didn’t worry too much (after the warm-ups)… Yes, we are top of the table (in Group B) today, which is great, but we have a game against PNG tomorrow and so it’s our goal to be top of the table tomorrow night as well. We are pretty fired up for that.

“We are here to win games of cricket. If we turn up and put in the same amount of effort as we did today we know we have a good chance of winning tomorrow. If we have the same frame of mind as today, then we’ll be in with a good chance. It’s a great competition, a great tournament and you have to be on your mettle all the time or you will be found out,” said the 30-year-old.

At Watson’s in Edinburgh, Kenya maintained its 100 per cent record with a second win in the competition, albeit only by seven runs against an Oman side that will rue this lost opportunity. Chasing an achievable 144 for victory, the batsmen from the Arabian peninsula made starts but lost their wickets at the most inopportune of times. Shem Ngoche bowled well for Kenya finishing with figures of 3-21 but Oman will know this is one that got away.

Nepal inserted Namibia at a damp Stormont and, after a delayed start, promptly regretted that decision as the Africans got off to a good start reaching 61-1 after 7.4 overs when the rain returned to east Belfast. Stephen Baard on 39 was leading the way with some crisp hitting as the Nepalese struggled a little bit with a wet ball and greasy outfield. But it mattered for nought as the match was eventually abandoned with each team receiving one point for a no-result.

Click here to see Day 3 stats review.

Today’s scores:
Sat, 11 July –
At Bready: Hong Kong 153-6, 20 overs (Anshuman Rath 43; Ben Stevens 2-22)
Jersey 154-1, 17.2 overs (Peter Gough 81 not out, Edward Farley 57)
Jersey won by nine wickets

At the Grange: Netherlands 191-6, 20 overs (Wesley Barresi 75, Peter Borren 57; Alasdair Evans 5-24)
Scotland 159 all out, 19.5 overs (Preston Mommsen 68 not out; Mudassar Bukhari 3-22, Pieter Seelaar 2-19)
Netherlands won by 32 runs

At Myreside: Kenya 143-7, 20 overs (Collins Obuya 50; Rajeshkumar Ranpura 2-17, Munis Ansari 2-23)
Oman 136-7, 20 overs (Jatinder Singh 31, Amir Ali 30; Shem Ngoche 3-25)
Kenya won by seven runs

At Stormont: Namibia 61-1, 7.4 overs (Stephen Baard 39 not out)
Nepal
Rain stopped play. No result – one point each

Tomorrow’s fixtures:
Sun, 12 July – Ireland v USA, Stormont, Belfast (1000-1310); PNG v Jersey, Bready, Co. Tyrone (1000-1310); UAE v Netherlands, The Grange, Edinburgh (1000-1310); Canada v Oman, New Williamfield, Stirling (1000-1310); Scotland v Afghanistan, The Grange, Edinburgh (1415-1725)