All-round Roelof van der Merwe guides Netherlands to win

DUBAI: Somerset all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe took three wickets with his left-arm spin before calming the nerves of Netherlands in a tricky chase to strike the winning runs as they beat Singapore by five wickets in the ICC T20 World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.

After Singapore went through the Powerplay unscathed, the wily veteran struck a huge blow on the first ball of the seventh over to beat Singapore batsman Tim David’s drive and knock back the stumps for 19.

He struck again in the 12th over, enticing Manpreet Singh to drive to long-off before rounding off his spell with a successful lbw appeal after Sidhant Singh played back to a skiddy ball off a good length.

Surendran Chandramohan was the first of van der Gugten’s scalps, driving flat to Colin Ackermann at mid-off for a top score of 28. Van der Gugten later came back to clean up the tail in the 18th over, claiming Selladore Vijayakumar caught behind driving and Amjad Mahboob bowled after he was beaten for pace.

Navin Param, the star of Singapore’s win over Bermuda, entered at No. 5 but quickly ran out of partners thanks to van der Merwe and van der Gugten. What looked like an opportunity for the Dutch to go for a net run rate boost soon turned into an awkward endeavor due to a gritty effort from Singapore’s bowling and fielding unit.

Van der Merwe had entered at No. 5 and No. 6 in the first two Dutch wins but was pushed back to No. 7 on this occasion with Ackermann. Van der Merwe’s experience paid off as he settled nerves to give Ackermann the support he needed to ice the chase. Van Der Merwe eventually struck a full toss for the winning runs.