Bas de Leede comes with a lot of international pedigree and carries the legacy of his father Tim who once had India on the ropes during their 2003 ODI World Cup encounter in South Africa. But the Dutch side came into the competition needing some inspiration a heartbreaking loss to Pakistan in their opening match. De Leede did just that as he came through with a match-winning 72 not out and disciplined bowling as the Netherlands got off the mark with a seven-wicket victory over Namibia.
De Leede also took two wickets for 20 runs in his three overs and got support from Logan van Beek (2/13 in three overs) as the Dutch managed to restrict Namibia to 156 for the loss of eight wickets in their 20 overs. The all-rounder led the chase expertly with the bat as Netherlands reached the target with xx balls to claim their first points of the tournament.
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Dutch LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES
During the match against Pakistan, the Dutch were caught with bat and ball in the dying overs of the match. He almost sealed a famous win with the ball before Van Beek went wide in the 19th over when he was picked apart by Faheem Ashraf.
But the bowlers were much more disciplined from start to finish in the first innings. Aryan Dutt and Van Beek started by giving the Namibian openers no space before the former frustrated Louren Steenkamp for long enough to make a mistake and stump.
Dutch captain Scott Edwards kept making changes to his bowling package, meaning Namibia scored just 29 runs in the first five overs. Seeing the impact Dutt made with the ball, Edwards decided to bring on Colin Ackermann, allowing Loftie-Eaton and Frylinck to capitalize and gain some momentum.
The duo added 50 runs off 41 balls and Loftie-Eaton continued to display his classy pull game alongside Gerhard Erasmus as the duo added 35 runs. This saw Namibia score 100 runs in the 13th over and it looked like a big finish and a huge score was in store for Delhi.
But once Loftie-Eaton and Erasmus went down, the Dutch came back into the contest and started to apply the pressure. While Smit provided some fireworks, De Leede was able to clean him up and ensure Namibia could not capitalize on a great start.
LIAR LEADS HELP
Ahead of the T20 World Cup, De Leede decided to leave Durham to focus on his international commitments. The all-rounder said it is necessary for him to improve his game even more with the tournament in mind.
“It’s given me a real focus over the last couple of months. With the T20 World Cup in mind, I knew what was needed so I put in a lot of hours trying to improve my game,” De Leede said after the win.
That maturity was on display during the game on Tuesday, February 10, when he led a pursuit drive from the front. Michael Levitt got off to a flying start as Max O’Dowd fell cheaply early in the chase. This put De Leede in the middle and looked largely in control, although there were times when the boundaries dried up.
With Levitt gone as well, the jack-of-all-trades took on the burden of ensuring the pursuit was completed. He stitched together a 70-run stand with Ackermann that basically sealed the game for the Dutch.
The trick from De Leede was to take calculated risks as he was able to get boundaries when needed and then set himself up for a big target. The all-rounder got to his fifty in just 38 balls and by then the equation sounded well in favor of the Dutch.
The 18th over saw De Leede hit a pair of sixes and a winning boundary that accounted for 21 runs from Loftie-Eaton to record the Netherlands’ biggest win in T20 World Cup history in terms of wickets remaining.
The biggest problem for Namibia was not applying enough pressure with the ball and subsequently building a partnership with the bat.
“It was a question of applying pressure. There was enough in the wicket. It’s always difficult to manage when you shy away from a few runs. You have to try a few things and buy a wicket or else. We tried but we couldn’t quite apply the pressure,” said captain Erasmus after the loss.
They will now have to regroup quickly as they face defending champions India at the same venue in a few days time.
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Published on:
February 10, 2026
