The T20 World Cup continues with another double header of action on Wednesday and it is an important one as Group 2 of the Super 12s takes further shape beginning with a clash between the Netherlands and Zimbabwe.
The equation is pretty simple for the Netherlands. They are playing the role of party pooper from here on in whereas Zimbabwe are very much still in the semi-final shake up and a win here will further enhance those credentials.
Netherlands
To be fair to the Netherlands, while they haven’t always picked up the results in this tournament, some of the cricket they have played has been good enough to show that they should be taken on bigger teams a lot more often than they do. One of their aims at the beginning of the event will have been to qualify for the Super 12s and then the other would have been to showcase their ability to entice more teams to play them so they can continue to improve. They have ticked both boxes.
Where they have come up a little short in this tournament is in the middle order with the bat. Their big guns in that middle order haven’t really come to the party. They will hope that now that there isn’t any competitive pressure on them that those players can show the world what they can do. Netherlands have shown the strength they have with the ball in this tournament so if their batters do arrive they could cause what would have to be described as an upset.
Zimbabwe
You would have to say that Zimbabwe have been a breath of fresh air in this tournament. They were extremely encouraging in the way they handled the pressure to come out of their first group and they held their nerve to see off Pakistan in this stage of the competition. It was a surprise that they didn’t quite hold their nerve to get over the line against Bangladesh last time out and from their point of view you hope that doesn’t cost them.
Zimbabwe have been very strong with the ball throughout this competition. Their new ball bowlers have regularly got stuck into the opposing top order and then their spinners have backed them up nicely. If there is a concern over Zimbabwe you could say they probably rely a little too much on three experienced batters, but when two of those come off they suddenly become a very tough nut to crack. They’ll hope a couple of those hit form here.
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Team News
The Netherlands are expected to be without Bas de Leede after the savage blow to the head he took in the loss to Pakistan last time out. Vikramjit Singh might well replace him in the side with Stephan Myburgh moving down to three.
Zimbabwe might consider bringing Luke Jongwe back into the side to extend their batting and offer up another bowling option. Milton Shumba could be one man who might make way for the all-rounder to return.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets in this first match of the day. The first of them is on the performance of Sikandar Raza which looks low at 38.5 when you consider that when these two met in the final of the qualifying event to make it into this tournament, the all-rounder took 4/8 in his bowling spell. I’m not surprised by that in truth because the Netherlands have shown a real weakness when it comes to playing spin and given that Raza hides the ball until the last minute it is no surprise if they struggle to play him. Raza is also decent enough with the bat and there is nothing in this Netherlands attack that should cause him any problems so when you put it all together he should be more than capable of covering this line.
I’ll also have a small bet on Roelof van der Merwe to be the top Netherlands batter at 22/1. If you take Max O’Dowd out and to an extent Colin Ackermann there has been no contribution of any note from a Netherlands batter with the exception of Bas de Leede who isn’t expected to feature here. Zimbabwe have ripped a couple of top orders out already in this competition so there is a chance that the top score comes from the lower order. Van der Merwe is a much better batter than he has shown so far in the tournament and so in conditions which should suit him I’ll pay to see if he has an innings in him here.
Tips
Back S.Raza’s Performance – Over 38.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back R.van der Merwe Top Netherlands Batter for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Betfred
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