Rippon stars to give full points to Netherlands

Michael Rippon (right) was the star for Netherlands as they beat Oman.

Michael Rippon's superb performance helped Netherlands beat Oman by five wickets during the Group B match at the Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in the Capital on Sunday.
Oman opted to bat first and had in their ranks five players making T20 internationals debut - Aqib Ilyas, Kaleemullah, Khurram Nawaz, Naseem Khushi and Arun Poulose, who opened with feisty Zeeshan Maqsood.
The Keralite in the team - Poulose slammed two boundaries for starters but fell to medium pacer Paul van Meekeren for nine runs. Aqib Ilyas (4 runs) gave away his wicket cheaply and was out to pacer Timm van der Gugten. Both the debutants looked good but were in needless hurry to go bang-bang from the first ball. Maqsood went on with his routine destruction taking three boundaries in Ahsan Malik over. Despite the loss of wickets, Oman stood at 44 for loss of two wickets from six overs.
It was, however, willy Rippon, who pegged back things for the Netherlands. He teased the batsmen with his flight and dried up runs. The pressure paid off as Maqsood (34) was run out in Rippon's next over. Ajay Lalcheta and Khawar Ali tried to push the score but fell in Rippon's third over. Lalcheta (13) got run out in a mix up and Ali (17) was stumped trying to go over long on. Oman tottered at 88 for five from 14 overs.
Skipper Sultan Ahmed didn't contribute much. When the seniors failed, the debutants rose to the occasion. Khushi (25) and Nawaz (26) rotated strike and punished poor balls. They stitched a 57-run seventh wicket partnership in 5.5 overs to set a target of 147.
Oman began their defence in grand fashion too as pacer Bilal Khan accounted for the wickets of Stephan Myburgh (4) and Ben Cooper. While Myburgh was bowled, Cooper was caught by wicketkeeper Sultan Ahmed for duck in the first over. But then started the rescue effort and once again it was Rippon, who with Wesley Barresi, played sensibly. Barresi would go on to hit Lalcheta for three boundaries and a six. Rippon kept the score moving with singles, doubles and odd boundaries. And by the time Rippon (40) fell to Kaleemullah, the requirements were 46 runs from 30 balls. Mohammad Nadeem bowled Barresi (48) and later Peter Borren too to make things interesting but Roelof van der Merwe played 15-ball 35 runs cameo with six boundaries to take home two points. - ashwani@khaleejtimes.com
 
Brief scores
Oman 146/7: Zeeshan Maqsood (34, 31 balls, 5X4), Khurram Nawaz (26, 18 balls, 1X4, 1X6), Naseem Khushi (25, 19 balls 1X4, 1X6); Michael Rippon (1 for 15 runs), Paul van Meekeren (1 for 21 runs) lost to Netherlands 148/5: Michael Rippon (40, 38 balls, 3X4), Wesley Barresi (48, 50 balls, 5X1, 1X6), Roelof van der Merwe (35, 15, 6X4); Bilal Khan (2 for 33 runs), Mohammed Nadeem (2 for 24 runs)