De Leede Leads Netherlands to Dominant 7-Wicket Win Against Namibia

Obviously coming from a cricketing family in the Netherlands, to be able to perform and hopefully make my family proud is really special. To be honest, It’s obviously a record that nobody wants, but I wasn’t too fussed about it and it wasn’t in the back of my head today. I’m pretty -yeah, I’m pretty forgetting in terms of performances, so It’s nice to put in a good performance today – Bas de Leede

Ashok Kumar 

New Delhi: T20 cricket came alive at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday as  Netherlands registered a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Namibia in a Group A encounter of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.

In what turned out to be a one-sided contest, the Dutch side delivered a clinical performance with both bat and ball to outclass Namibia on a bright and sunny afternoon in Delhi. The bowlers set the tone early, restricting Namibia to a modest total, before the Netherlands batters chased down the target with composure and authority.

Though the stands were not packed, the spectators who turned up were treated to an entertaining display of T20 cricket. The lively atmosphere, coupled with the energetic performance from the Dutch side, ensured an enjoyable outing for Delhi’s cricket lovers.

Attention now shifts to Thursday, when hosts India will take on Namibia at the same venue. With India in action, a much larger turnout is expected as fans in the capital eagerly await the high-profile encounter.

The victory gives the Netherlands valuable momentum in Group A, while Namibia will look to regroup quickly ahead of their clash against the tournament hosts.

The star of Netherlands first victory of the T20 world Cup was ‘Player of the Match’ all-rounder Bas de Leede, who scored unbeaten 72 off 48 balls with 5×4 and 4×6 and picked up two wickets for twenty runs to keep his team alive in the tournament.

Netherlands won the toss and elected to field first. Namibia scored 156 for 8 in the stipulated 20 overs and in reply, Netherlands crossed the target by scoring 159 for 3 wickets in 18 overs. Cuple of days ago in Colombo, the Netherlands saw the game being taken away from their grasp against Pakistan in the last few balls, but on Tuesday, Dutch all-rounder Bas de Leede made sure there were no hiccups this time and led his team to end as winners.

Bas, whose father Tim de Leede also represented the Dutch in 29 One-Day Internationals and had dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in the 2003 ODI World Cup for his first international wicket, showed his all-round prowess at Arun Jaitley stadium to keep his team alive in the tournament.

However, the things were not that hunky-dowry for Bas de Leede the last time he played in Delhi. Netherlands were facing Australia in a group-stage match of the ODI World Cup 2023 and the Flying Dutchmen were thrashed all along the ground as Pat Cummins’ side scored 399 in the first innings.Bas de Leede made an unwanted record of conceding most runs in an innings in ODIs. In his quota of 10 overs, he was hit for 115 runs by the Australians at an economy of 11.50.

Netherlands were bowled out for mere 90 in their chase of 399 and lost the match by 309 runs, and it was a forgettable outing for Dutchmen and Leede.

When asked about that 2023 match in the post-match press conference Ledde said, “To be honest, It’s obviously a record that nobody wants, but I wasn’t too fussed about it and it wasn’t in the back of my head today. I’m pretty -yeah, I’m pretty forgetting in terms of performances, so It’s nice to put in a good performance today,”

“Obviously coming from a cricketing family in the Netherlands, to be able to perform and hopefully make my family proud is really special,” Leede concluded.

Coming back to the match, De Leede got ample support from Colin Ackermann, who scored 32 off 28 balls, and opener Michael Levitt, who made 28 off 15 balls. His 70-run stand with Ackermann for the third wicket proved to be the game-changing partnership.

Meanwhile, taking a cue from the Netherlands, Namibia also began their attack with spin and found success straightaway as Max O’Dowd was caught at long-on by the Namibian captain off left-arm orthodox Bernard Scholtz’s quicker back-of-a-length delivery in the third over of the innings.

Left-arm pacer Ruben Trumpelmann removed Michael Levitt on the third ball of the sixth over, but the 22-year-old batter had inflicted enough damage with his 15-ball 28-run innings as the Dutch finished the powerplay at 50 for 2.

The Netherlands still needed 80 runs in the final half of their innings, and Ackermann’s wicket would have put them under pressure, but Steenkamp could not hold on to a regulation catch at deep square leg.

After being put in to bat, Namibia had a slow start. Louren Steenkamp and Jan Frylinck opened the innings as the Netherlands began with off-spinner Aryan. The Dutch bowlers made full use of the conditions and bowled four overs of spin in the powerplay as the Namibia Eagles could score only 40 runs in the first six overs, hitting just three boundaries and four sixes.

Namibia were left reeling at 65 for 2 after 10 overs. They were reduced to 107 for 4 in the 15th over.

Scores:

Namibia: 156/8 in 20 overs (Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton 42, Jan Frylinck 30, Logan van Beek 2/13, Bas de Leede 2/20).

Netherlands: 159/3 in18 overs (Bas de Leede not out 72, Colin Ackermann 32).