A Player of the Match performance from star allrounder Mitchell Santner helped New Zealand win their second game on the trot in the ongoing World Cup as they trounced the Netherlands by 99 runs at the Rajeev Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Monday, October 9.
The Blackcaps were tasked to defend 323 runs and they did it with ease at the end as Santner stole the limelight with a match-winning five-wicket haul and finished with figures of 5 for 59 in his quota of 10 overs.
Santner picked up the wickets of Max O'Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards, Roelof van der Merwe and Ryan Klein to complete his five-for and was ably supported by Matt Henry who grabbed a three-for (3/40) himself.
For the Netherlands, Ackermann played really well and scored a half-century (69 off 73 balls) but couldn't get the kind of support that was needed from the other end. Interstingly, most of the Dutch batters got starts but couldn't capitalise on them. The Netherlands got bundled out for just 223 in 46.3 overs in what is their second consecutive loss in the ongoing edition of the World Cup.
Earlier, the Netherlands' skipper Scott Edwards won the toss and elected to field first. His bowlers did well but were not good enough to limit the Kiwi batters to a gettable total. Half-centuries from Rachin Ravindra (51 off 51 balls), Will Young (70 off 80 balls) and Tom Latham (53 off 46 balls) bolstered New Zealand's batting run but wickets at frequent intervals turned the game in Netherlands' favour momentarily.
It was a quick-fire cameo from Santner that propelled the Blackcaps over the 300-mark. The southpaw scored an unbeaten 36 off 17 balls, including three sixes and two fours at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 211.76.
