Nepal ended their ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers campaign on a bitter note crashing to a 45-run defeat to the Netherlands to finish eighth in the tournament in Zimbabwe on Saturday. 

In the seventh place playoff at the Kwekwe Sports Club, Sompal Kami returned the miserly figures of 4-24 from 10 overs but still the Dutch managed to reach 189-9 after their tail enders hung on till the last over. Nepal hardly forged any notable partnership in the game before the entire team was bundled out for just 144 in 44.4 overs. 

With One Day International status already secured for both teams, Nepal looked like getting pulling off respectable seventh position but former South African international Roelof van der Merwe had other ideas. The left arm orthodox bowler took three middle order wickets including that of skipper Paras Khadka as Nepal were squeezed out to their lowest total in the tournament.

Nepal’s previous lowest in the tournament was 149 runs against Scotland in the Group ‘B’ game that Nepal had gone on to lose by six wickets. 

Van der Merwe got rid of Khadka in the 17th over and followed it up with the dismissal of consistent Rohit Kumar Paudel (duck)  reducing Nepal to 61-5 in the 2st over. Gyanendra Malla’s poor form with the bat continued as the opener lost his wicket in the fourth over to Fred Klaassen making 16-ball four.

Malla, dubbed the most technically sound batsman in the Nepali camp, ended up the tournament making just 79 runs from six matches. Van der Merwe then got rid of Anil Sah (eight). Khadka was next to go for 22 off 37 balls with three boundaries. Aarif Sheikh (five) lost his wicket to Shane Snater.

Nepal’s hopes rested on Dipendra Singh Airee, who had stroked a magnificent half century against Papua New Guinea on Thursday, but Pieter Selaar trapped the middle order batsman leg before wicket. Airee made a 38-ball 25 with three hits to the fence.

Karan KC (13) and Kami avoided the humiliation taking the team across triple figures with a 31-run stand - the best for Nepal on Saturday -for the eighth wicket. 

Fast bowling spearhead Kami ended up as the top scorer for Nepal making 36 off 53 deliveries hitting three boundaries and a six. Sandeep Lamichhane (14 not out) and Lalit Rajbanshi (two) frustrated Dutch bowlers surviving 42 deliveries and scoring 17 runs. 

Man-of-the-match Van der Merwe took 4-20 from 10 overs, while Klaassen and Seelar had two wickets apiece.    

Earlier, Kami produced a fiery spell of removing Wesley Barresi and Ben Cooper for duck. He returned to star with the dismissal of Peter Borren and after Sandeep Lamichhane bowled Max O’Dowd (28) reducing Netherlands to 48-4. Van der Merwe (25) and Baas de Leede tried to rebuild the innings with a 39-run sixth wicket stand before Lalit Rajbanshi removed the former. 

De Leede, however, forged a crucial 41-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Scott Edwards (25) as Netherlands got the breathing space to build on the total at closing stages. Nepal could have got themselves a different approach  while chasing had they folded Netherlands lowly after Kami’s dismissal of De Leede reduced them to 144-8 in the 43rd over. 

But Pieter Seelar (23) and Shane Snater (23 not out) combined for 37 runs to guide their team to what ultimately was a winning total. De Leede top scored in the game with a 91-ball 39 hitting four boundaries. Apart Kami, Lamichhane (2-41) and Rajbanshi (2-38) shared four wickets between them. Shakti Gauchan, who played his first and last match of the tournament, returned the figures of 1-36 from eight overs.

Summary

Netherlands 189-9 in 50 overs (B de Leede 39, M O’Dowd 28; S Kami 4-24, S Lamichhane 2-41, L Rajbanshi 2-38) beat Nepal 144 all out in 44.4 overs (S Kami 36, DS Airee 25; R van der Merwe 4-20, F Klaassen 2-37, P Seelaar 2-30) by 45 runs

Man-of-the-match: R van der Merwe