Netherlands Beat Oman by 106 Runs — Bas de Leede's 145 Not Out and a Cedric de Lange Hundred Build 371

Oman won the toss and chose to bowl, and for eleven overs they must have wondered why. Max O'Dowd and Cedric de Lange put on 102 in 70 balls before O'Dowd was trapped lbw by Aryan Bisht for a 46-ball 63. That should have been the opening for Oman. Instead it was only the start of the day for Bas de Leede, who walked in at 110 for 2 and was still there when the fiftieth over ended, 145 not out off 110 balls.

Netherlands finished on 371 for 5. Oman batted out 49.3 overs and made 265, with Zikria Islam's 77 off 46 the brightest thing in their innings, but the result was settled long before. Netherlands won by 106 runs.

The innings had three acts. In the first, O'Dowd attacked: eight fours and three sixes in his 63, and 102 on the board at 11.4 overs. In the second, Oman briefly fought back. O'Dowd fell, Noah Croes was caught off Bisht for 5 at 110 for 2, and for a while the run rate cooled. It was in that quieter middle that the match was really won. Cedric de Lange and de Leede added 154 off 138 balls without taking a needless risk, and by the time de Lange was caught off Shah Faisal for 102 off 91 in the 39th over, Netherlands were 264 for 2.

The third act was not entirely smooth. Zach Lion-Cachet was stumped off Samay Shrivastava for 5 and Colin Ackermann bowled by Mujibur Ali for 4, and 264 for 2 became 294 for 5 in the 45th over. A side with less certainty at the crease might have settled for 340. De Leede and Michael Levitt, whose 29 came off 19 balls, added 77 unbeaten runs in the last 34 balls instead.

Chasing 372 needs a start, and Oman lost Jeet Shah at 35 and Hammad Mirza, caught and bowled by Lion-Cachet, at 60. Jatinder Singh held things together with 67 off 76 and added 71 with Mujibur Ali, but both fell to Daniel Doram within 15 balls of each other, and at 152 for 5 in the 32nd over the required rate had long gone out of reach.

What Oman can take from the evening is Zikria Islam. Coming in at number seven, he hit four sixes and five fours in 77 off 46 balls, added 48 off 36 with Aryan Bisht, and was the last man out in the final over. Earlier, Bisht's 2 for 32 and Shrivastava's ten overs for 46 were the best of Oman's bowling on a day when Shah Faisal, Hassnain Shah and Jay Odedra went for 228 between them in 25 overs.

Oman chose to field and paid for it, but the surface did not obviously turn on them later: they still made 265 batting second and lasted into the final over. Runs were there for anyone who stayed in, which is why the partnerships decided this match more than any single spell. Bisht and Shrivastava were Oman's most economical regular bowlers, at under five an over, and for Netherlands the wickets were shared among Aryan Dutt, Lion-Cachet and Doram, with no Dutch bowler conceding more than 5.2 an over across a full allocation.

The figures are 145 not out off 110 balls, with 14 fours and five sixes, and two catches in the field. The figures miss the timing of it. De Leede came in just after Netherlands had lost two wickets for eight runs, when the obvious thing was to see off the moment. He did that, and then he kept doing it until the moment belonged to him. Three wickets fell at the other end between the 39th and 45th overs; de Leede simply carried on. An innings like this is not a storm. It is a tide, and it came in all afternoon.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we'll have full analysis for the next encounter.

For Netherlands, the top four is producing big totals: O'Dowd, de Lange and de Leede all made at least 63 here. The thing to watch is the wobble between the 39th and 45th overs, when three wickets fell for 30. For Oman, the lower order showed it can hit, but the top order has to give it something to work with. Against a total like this, 60 for 2 inside 14 overs leaves too much to do.