Netherlands has a mountain to climb

Canada left Netherlands in a spot of bother on Day 2 of their ICC Intercontinental Cup match in King City, Toronto on Friday (August 23) with Netherlands ending the day on 169 for 4 in its second innings, still trailing the hosts by 103 runs.

Canada, resuming on its overnight score of 116 for 4, went on to score 436 in its first innings, a massive lead of 272 runs. Ruvindu Gunasekara, who remained unbeaten on 60 and held the key to Canada’s hopes, did not disappoint, as he went on to make a career best of 150, helping himself to 21 boundaries and two sixes along the way.

After the failure of the top order on Thursday, some useful contributions from the middle order were needed, and Salman Nazar (60), Jimmy Hansara (53) and Damodar Daesrath (46) pitched in. Vivian Kingma impressed with the ball for Netherlands earlier, triggering the top-order collapse to put Canada in a precarious 43 for 3.

Needing a special effort from its batsmen in order to stay in the game, Netherlands slipped quietly to 45 for 3. However, Eric Szwarczynski and Daan van Bunge put on a crucial stand of 99 runs for the fourth wicket to salvage Netherlands’ hopes heading in to the third day.

Szwarczynski remained unbeaten on 76 and will hold the key to Netherlands’ recovery, while Bunge’s fireworks resulted in an important 54 off 49 balls, with eight fours and two sixes, before he was caught behind off Raza-ur-Rehman.