Bouncing back from Thursday's defeat to Namibia in the CWC League 2 opener, hosts Nepal sprung a remarkable ambush on top-seeded Netherlands in the second game of the six-match trilateral series. A near-faultless effort with the ball saw the visitors skittled for just 137 before the home top order exploded out of the gate. Kushal Bhurtel backed up his four wickets with a breakneck 28 to send the Dutch into a tailspin. Twin fifties from Aasif Sheikh and Anil Sah then saw Nepal romp to a nine-wicket win inside of 16 overs, delivering the Dutch their second-heaviest ever ODI defeat by balls remaining.
A hostile opening spell from Sompal Kami kept the Dutch on the back foot early, removing debutant Michael Levitt with the third ball of the match and the pressure soon producing the first of three run-outs as a ball-watching Max O'Dowd was sent on his way on the last ball oif the 6th over. Sybrand Engelbrecht and Bas de Leede looked to rebuild, but their 38-run stand was the best the Dutch would manage. Lalit Rajbanshi accounted for both of them, the latter with the ball of the competition thus far, ripping from leg to take the top of off stump. Skipper Scott Edwards sought to salvage something with the lower order, but would be pinned in front for 33 by Bhurtel, whose increasingly impressive legspin delivered figures of 4-20 as the tail folded quickly.
Bhurtel began the blitz targeting Aryan Dutt in the second over, taking the offie for three boundaries off his first four balls before top-edging Kingma in the next over for a 10-ball 28. Kingma might have had a second had a simple catch at 45 not been shelled, but that was the last sniff the Dutch had as Sheikh and Sah took the bowlers to task. Anil Sah brought up a half-century off just 30 balls, thumping Dutt over midwicket for his fourth six of the innings. By then the game was long gone, and Sheikh followed him to fifty soon after, the pair cruising across the line with 208 balls to spare.
Brief Scores:Netherlands: 137 in 39 overs (Scott Edwards 33; Kushal Bhurtel 4-20) lost to Nepal 141/1 in 15.2 overs ( Aasif Sheikh 54*, Anil Sah 57*) by 9 wickets