Ireland pulled off a remarkable win against the Netherlands as Curtis Campher took a four-wicket hattrick. The Netherlands folded to a mere 106 and stood no chance from the first ball. This game will also bolster the confidence of Irish men because their young players showed promising signs.
For the Netherlands, Ben Cooper and Bas de Leede fell by the score of 22. Then Max O’Dowd and Colin Ackermann put together a decent 39 runs partnership before Curtis’ match-defining over. Campher got Ackermann as he nicked one behind to keeper Neil Rock, who helped the team by insisting on a review after the umpire ruled Colin not out. Then Ryan ten Deoschete, Scott Edwards, and Roelof van der Merwe fell on successive delivers as Campher took a four-wicket hattrick.
Dutch players somehow hobbled to 106 courtesy of a 51 runs knock by Max O’Dowd and a 29-ball 21 run knock by skipper Pieter Seelaar. In Ireland’s innings, Kevin O’Brien and Andy Balbirnie fell by the score of 36 as the much-heralded top-order succumbed to Brendan Glover and Fred Klaasen. However, the youth brigade continued to impress as Gareth Delany struck a 59 runs partnership with Paul Stirling, as Delany made 44 runs in just 29 balls.
Pieter Seelaar had Delany bowled but it proved to be too late and fittingly, Curtis Campher and Paul took the team home with seven wickets and 29 balls to spare. Earlier, Mark Adair also bowled an impressive spell of three wickets for nine runs during Ireland’s bowling while Josh Little also went for just 14 runs and took a wicket. This truly marked the dawn of a new era in Irish cricket, however, there is still a lot of work to do.