NED vs IRE, Sixth T20I Review: Ireland win tri-series after yet another close game against Netherlands

George Dockrell. (Source -Twitter/X)

The previous match between Ireland and the Netherlands in the Netherlands Tri-Nation T20I Series was an absolute thriller that went right down to the final delivery, with Ireland edging out a win by a single run.

Echoing the older fixture, the Netherlands won the toss and the Scott Edwards-led side opted to field first. The wicket of Andy Balbirnie on the final delivery of the fourth over saw Ireland at 23/1. The following two overs produced nine and ten runs each, helping Ireland reach a respectable total by the end of the powerplay. In a significant turn of events, Bas de Leede’s seventh over saw him capture two wickets and restrict Ireland to just three runs. The departure of skipper Paul Stirling in the tenth over left Ireland in a precarious position, with the scoreboard reading 57/4 at the halfway point of their innings.

It was during this phase that Curtis Campher and George Dockrell stepped up, with Dockrell being the aggressor of the two. Vivian Kingma seemed to have a good final over until two consecutive maximums off the last two deliveries tarnished his figures. The final over of the innings proved to be the costliest, conceding a whopping 23 runs. Dockrell reached his maiden half-century in style, aided by Mark Adair’s quickfire 19* runs off just eight balls, lifting Ireland to 161/6. Initially, it seemed like they would finish with a much lower total.

Transitioning to the chase, Netherlands had a marginally superior powerplay compared to Ireland, accumulating 49 runs without crucially losing any wickets. Gareth Delany, who faced challenges while batting, redeemed himself by taking Ireland’s first wicket, dismissing Michael Levitt, whose challenging innings finally came to an end. Max O’Dowd and Vikramjit Singh glided through the middle overs, hinting at an effortless victory for Netherlands with both batters firmly entrenched.

However, a flurry of three wickets in just two overs disrupted the momentum for the chasing team, leaving them requiring 20 off the final two overs. Despite the chase still being within reach, exceptional pinpoint bowling from Barry McCarthy and Adair restricted the opposition to just one boundary in the 12 deliveries bowled, leading Ireland to clinch another thrilling victory by a mere three runs.