Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards was one relieved man after leading his team to edge the UAE by three wickets in a low-scoring thriller match on day one of ICC Men's T20 World Cup at Kardinia Oval, Geelong, on Sunday.
Netherlands were in trouble at 76/6 in 13.3 overs. That's when Edwards, along with Tim Pringle, shared a 27-run stand for the seventh wicket. Though Pringle fell, Edwards made the winning run in the final over to win the match for the Netherlands with a ball to spare.
"It was nervy until the end but just relieved that we got over the line. I think it was about making the most of the powerplay, we knew it was going to be tough through the middle and saw it throughout their innings.
We lost too many wickets when we were about to get going.""It was just about being busy, play low risk, take it deep and then hopefully get away in the second last over, it didn't happen like that but we ended up getting over the line.
All the guys (bowlers) did their job. I am still struggling to process it (the win), but the main thing is relief, getting the tournament underway with a win is the most important thing," said Edwards in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Fast bowler Bas de Leede was the pick of the bowlers for the Netherlands with his spell of 3/19, all of his scalps coming in the 19th over, including of UAE skipper CP Rizwan and got the player of the match award for setting the base for the Netherlands' win.
"I like bowling in those situations because I know the batters are going to come after me. I try to be one step ahead. We plan our death overs even before the game. It was nice to pull back the game a little bit. It got a little closer than what we were expecting.
Obviously Freddie (Fred Klaassen, 2/13) at the end also - outstanding," he added.Though UAE did fight back, thanks to a 3/24 from Junaid Siddique, they would look back at the slip-ups which costed them the win.
Rizwan himself had dropped a simple catch of Pringle when Siddique had two wickets already in the 14th over. Then, there was a direct hit of Edwards in the final over, which was missed."It is definitely heartbreaking.
We had given our heart and soul into it but if we had grabbed those chances, especially mine, it would have made the difference. It is not that easy to chase here, we saw the last match and Sri Lanka almost collapsed before 100.
We told the boys it is never over till the last ball and we tried to instill that belief.""They (Netherlands) kept their nerve and that was the difference. It was tricky (on when to bowl Junaid), you have to take wickets but also keep in mind we have (overs) in the end, we almost got it right. We should be happy with the effort," said Rizwan.