Nepal blown away by Dutch attack

KATHMANDU, 

JUL 02 - Nepal was completely outclassed and outperformed by a superb Netherlands side in their second T20 International in Netherlands on Wednesday.

The Dutch side was extremely handy with the bat and even bettered their performance with the ball to crush a hapless Nepali side and claim a comprehensive 103 runs victory.

Losing the toss and asked to bat first, a 59-ball 76 by opener Michael Swart and Ben Cooper's 66 from 46 balls propelled them to 172 runs from the 20 overs. Nepali bowlers were toothless in their attack bleeding runs and failing to claim wickets to halt the opponent's run flow.

Sompal Kami was the most economical bowler giving away 24 runs from his four overs. He also claimed two wickets.

Chasing 173 for victory, Nepal's troubles began right from the start when Gyanendra Malla was caught on 12 runs. Malla started the batting with an attacking approach hitting three boundaries but was caught in the last ball of the first over when he looked to clear the fence for a big hit. Binod Bhandari (2), Paras Khadka (2), Basanta Regmi (2) and Rajesh Pulami Magar (0), who succeeded Malla on the crease, scored a combined total of mere six runs in the embarrassing defeat.

Sharad Bheswakar (18) and Sompal Kami (14) were the only other batsmen to reach the double digit score. Michael Rippon was the pick of the Dutch bowler who claimed three wickets and gave only 11 runs from his four overs. Thijs van Schelven and Paul van Meekeren also had two wickets each to their kitty.

Nepal had lost their first T20 by 18 runs and now trail the four-game bilateral series by 2-0.