Toothless Tigers halted by the Dutch too

|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh, who were hoping to grab a win against the ‘underdog’ Netherlands, faced another defeat in the ongoing World Cup as the Dutch crushed Bangladesh fans hearts by thrashing Bangladesh team by 87 runs in Kolkata on Saturday.

Bangladesh have lost five out of their six games so far in this extravaganza and they are more likely are out of the tournament.

The Tigers collapsed to 70-6 and were eventually dismissed for 142.

Bangladesh openers Litton Das and Tanzid Tamim failed once again as both of them got out in successive overs, leaving Tigers two down for 19 runs inside the first six overs in their chase of 229.

Najmul Hossain Shanto's bad run with the bat continued as he was dismissed for an 18-ball nine, extending his streak of single-digit scores to five matches in a row.

Shanto hit an unbeaten 59-run knock in Bangladesh's World Cup opener against Afghanistan, and he followed it up with scores of 0,7,8,0, and 9.

Then Bangladesh skipper Shakib al Hasan got himself dismissed in familiar fashion when he tried to cut a back-of-a-length delivery pitched on middle and off stump.

Shakib, who visited Dhaka to work with his childhood coach amidst the World Cup to improve his batting woes, failed again with a delivery which got too close to him and he went on with the shot only to nick it to the keeper having managed a 14-ball five.

They were all but beaten at 70-6 when Mushfiqur was bowled for one by a fine van Meekeren delivery that jagged back.

Fellow veteran Mahmudullah, fresh from a hundred against South Africa, only managed 20 before he was well caught by Dutt off Bas de Leede.

Van Meekeren ended the match when he had Taskin Ahmed caught in the deep.

Earlier, Netherlands captain Scott Edwards made 68 as his side were held to 229 by Bangladesh.

Several Bangladesh bowlers took two wickets apiece at Eden Gardens, with the Netherlands in trouble at 63-4 and 107-5 after Edwards won the toss.

But Edwards shared partnerships of 44 with Bas de Leede (17) and 78 with Sybrand Engelbrecht as the Netherlands batted out their 50 overs.

Edwards won the toss and batted as the Netherlands looked to recover from a World Cup record 309-run defeat by Australia.

But Vikramjit Singh chipped the fit-again Taskin after making just three to Shakib and fellow opener Max O'Dowd then fell for a duck when he edged Shoriful Islam to slip to leave the Netherlands 4-2 in the third over.

Wesley Barresi, 39, in his first match of the tournament, repaired some of the damage with a run-a-ball 41 before he was caught off a mistimed drive.

And 63-3 became 63-4 in the 15th over when Colin Ackermann (15) top-edged a sweep off Mustafizur Rahman to short fine leg.

De Leede kept the Tigers at bay before he was caught behind off an excellent delivery from paceman Taskin (2-43), fit following a shoulder injury, to leave the Netherlands 107-5.

But Edwards, whose unbeaten 78 propelled the Netherlands to a shock win over South Africa earlier in the tournament, was still there.

Tonga-born and Australia raised, but Dutch qualified through his grandmother, the 27-year-old Edwards held firm to complete a 78-ball fifty with just three fours.

He was eventually out when he spooned a catch off Mustafizur to backward point, with Engelbrecht lbw to Mahedi Hasan soon afterwards as the innings fell away.

Both teams have identical records of one win and four defeats from their opening five World Cup matches.