The second part of the double header of action on the opening day of the T20 World Cup on Sunday sees the two lesser lights in Group A battling it out when the Netherlands go up against UAE at Kardinia Park in Geelong.
I’m sure both teams will recognise the strength of the other two in the group and so both will be acutely aware that they have to win this if they are to have any chance of coming out of this group and making the Super 12s.
Netherlands
On paper, the Netherlands look a decent enough outfit. The problem they have is they looked a decent enough outfit a year ago and completely bombed their lines. They were awful with the bat and the ball and it goes without saying that a massive improvement is needed on those performances for them to have any chance here. What is also needed is to completely forget what happened a year ago. They don’t need to carry the mental baggage into this match.
The Netherlands should be much more competitive here. They have an arsenal of seam bowlers, some of whom have some real pace and experience about them and they should go a lot better in these conditions. They have enough batters to go well too but yet there are still doubts about them. They flattered to deceive in a warm up defeat to Scotland and while we shouldn’t take those matches as gospel, it does nothing to dispel the concern over whether they can handle the pressurised nature of these tournaments.
UAE
The United Arab Emirates make their first appearance in this tournament since 2014. They missed out on the event a year ago which will have disappointed them but they are here now and although they probably don’t get the conditions to suit that they would have had a year ago, they are on the verge of getting a domestic T20 league going so you would imagine that whatever happens over the course of these three matches, UAE cricket is only going to get better from here on in.
The strength of the UAE side appears to be their batting. In the 13 T20 internationals they have played in 2022 they have put up scores of 150 on 11 occasions so you would imagine if they take to the conditions here then they are going to put up the number of runs needed to win this match. Then it is all about whether their bowlers can utilise their change ups enough to keep the Netherlands batters under control.
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Team News
Netherlands have recalled the likes of Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe, Brandon Glover, Fred Klaassen, Timm van der Gugten and Logan van Beek to their squad. Tom Cooper joins it for another hurrah on home soil too.
UAE have chosen not to bring established star Rohan Mustafa to this tournament which leaves a hole in their side. Junaid Siddique will be given the task of leading the attack while Muhammad Waseem will be the one relied on with the bat.
Betting
When I assessed this match I had the Netherlands as a slight favourite but all the time with the caveat of worrying about their mentality as far as this tournament is concerned after they completely bombed out of it a year ago. They went into their opening match of that event against Ireland where they were also 50:50 on paper and got drubbed. I’m not sure they’ll get thrashed here unless there is a mental block on them but I think UAE have drifted to a price that is perfectly good value.
UAE have actually won four of the last five meetings between these two countries and while they were three years ago I think the Emirates side are on the verge of starting to really improve whereas even with all their county players available the Netherlands are probably beyond their peak. UAE seem to be going well with the bat and if they do that here and put some pressure on the Netherlands it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise to me if the Dutch crack. I’ll pay to find out.
Tips
Back UAE to beat Netherlands for a 3/10 stake at 2.55 with Unibet
