Queensland XI v Netherlands Game 3
2022 T20 World Cup Warm-ups
Thursday 6 October 2022 at Norman Gray Oval
It was Netherlands turn to bat first in the last of three warm-up matches v a Queensland XI at Norman Gray Oval. The skies had turned decidedly gloomy since the completion of the morning game and although BOM radar showed little rain around, the local faithful felt that there would be a few drops to be had.
Vikram Singh was Stephan Myburg’s partner at the top of the order on this occasion and although Myburg fell early to Aubrey Stockdale, Singh continued aggressively, smacking three sixes in the power play to catapult Netherlands to 51 from the first six overs. The 50 partnership between Singh and Bas De Leede came from 40 balls, but ended two balls later when Singh tried to loft Zanden Jeh over extra cover and was well caught for 32 by Matt Willans coming in from the boundary. Tom Cooper was keen to pick up where he left off that morning carving three boundaries in his first seven balls, but trying to hit Jeh out of the ground at the start of the 13th, he succeeded in picking out Hugo Burdon on the mid-wicket boundary. Nikhil Chaudhary chimed in with the wicket of Scott Edwards - trapped in front in the 14th and Roelof Van Der Merwe discovered just how good a fielder Hugo Burdon was at the beginning of the 16th, when a perfect throw to Drennan from backward square leg found him short of his ground attempting a second. Tim Pringle joined De Leede; the pair adding a quick-fire 32 from 17 balls before Pringle top edged one to deep square leg off Matt Willans and Josh Brown pouched it. Logan Van Beek and De Leede added 12 from 7 before a mix up between wickets and a Sam Heazlett rocket throw from mid-on beat Van Beek to the crease. Sharis Ahmad’s attempted ramp from the penultimate ball, cannoned off his pad and on to the stumps to make it six wickets in eight overs for the visitors. Nevertheless 65 came from those eight overs and a target of 150 was set.
Drizzly, miserable rain had made the pitch a little slippery and Netherlands quicks found the conditions a little dicey. Josh Brown took full toll of the circumstances, belting four 6s and a 4 in the powerplay and advancing Queensland to 57. Opening partner, Sam Heazlett had cleverly pushed the ball around to give the strike to the rampant Brown, but at the start of the 8th, he lofted Sharis Ahmad to long off and was caught by Logan Van Beek. Sam Truloff encountered a bit of fielding brilliance by Tim Pringle just 5 balls later to be caught short of his ground and thus, Max Bryant came to the wicket. Bryant faced three dots, but that was enough of that! In an exhilarating 26 minutes, Bryant rocketed to 79 from 25 balls with two 4s and ten 6s powering Queensland XI home with 6.2 overs to spare. Such was Bryant’s dominance and manipulation of the strike that Josh Brown who was striking at 144 when Bryant came to the crease, could only manage 10 from 8 in the 89 run partnership with Bryant.
Well done to both teams for some entertaining cricket over the three matches.
