HYDERABAD: Bas de Leede was not even born when his father Tim de Leede played a World Cup match against Pakistan back in 1996 in Lahore. He went on to represent his country in three World Cups with the 2007 edition in the Caribbean being his swansong as a player. During his playing days, the all-rounder saw his team winning two matches in the showpiece event — once against Namibia in 2003 and once against Scotland four years later.
Despite a sparkling career, Tim never saw the Orange beating a full member in the World Cup. It looked possible, though briefly, on Friday when his son claimed four wickets against Pakistan in their first match of the tournament to bowl them out for 286 and then scored an almost run-a-ball 67 in Netherlands' chase. At one stage, Netherlands were 120/2 inside 25 overs and it seemed like a big upset was on the cards. But they lost their way after that. Bas impressed to offer some resistance before being castled by Mohammad Nawaz in the 34th over. His departure meant the game was all but over, and Pakistan completed the formalities in next eight overs as they bundled out their opposition for 205 to register a comprehensive 81-run win to kick-start their World Cup campaign in style.
Harif Raus was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan as he claimed 3/43 in his nine overs. Hasan Ali bagged two wickets while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan picked a wicket each.
Earlier, the 1992 champions lost both their openers — Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq — along with their in-form skipper Babar Azam inside the first ten overs with the scoreboard reading just 38. Wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel, who was making his World Cup debut, then added 120 runs for the fourth wicket to give some stability to the team in the middle order.
They again suffered a mini collapse as Rizwan, Shakeel and Iftikhar departed in quick succession with Pakistan tottering at 188 for six after 32 overs. Nawaz (39) and Shadab then put together 64 runs for the seventh wicket to take the team's total beyond 250. The total in the end proved more than enough for the Netherlands, who were playing their first World Cup match since the 2011 edition.
Pakistan will face Sri Lanka next on October 10 while Netherlands meet New Zealand a day before. Both the matches will be held at the same venue. Speaking during the post-match press conference, Bas said, "We were in a good position, then we lost Vikramjit Singh, Teja Nidamanuru and a few other wickets. It was tough to stitch a partnership thereafter. They bowled really well. The wicket was not easy to bat against spinners and they have quality spinners."
Brief scores: Pakistan 286 in 49 ovs (Rizwan 68, Shakeel 68; De Leede 4/62) bt Netherlands 205 in 41 ovs (De Leede 67, Vikramjit 52; Rauf 3/43).
