Van der Merwe, O'Dowd hand Netherlands the advantage

The Netherlands got to a strong position on the opening day of its Intercontinental Cup match against Namibia at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Wednesday (November 29). Sent in to bat, it rode on an unbeaten sixth-wicket partnership of 253 runs between Roelof van der Merwe and Max O'Dowd to reach 400 for 5 by the end of the day's play.

The Netherlands lost a few wickets – of Stephan Myburg, Wessley Barresi and Peter Borren – in a heap after starting off well, but centuries from van der Merwe and O'Dowd, along with a knock of 65 from Ben Cooper, shored up its innings.

Namibia used as many as eight bowlers on the day, but only Craig Williams, the right-arm pacer, found success with figures of 3 for 47.

When van der Merwe and O'Dowd got together in the middle, the scoreboard read 147 for 5, with the Netherlands in a spot of bother.

But the duo made sure there were no hiccups from then on, rotating the strike regularly and sending the bad balls away for boundaries. At stumps, van der Merwe was unbeaten on 157 off 169 balls, with 12 boundaries and three sixes to his name, while O'Dowd remained not out on 109 off 192 balls, having hit 12 fours and a six.

The Netherlands is currently third in the tournament points table, with 52 points from six games, while Namibia is right at the bottom, with 27 points from six matches.