Nepal on Wednesday defeated the Netherlands by five wickets in the second game of the ICC CWC League 2 tri-series being held in Dundee, Scotland. It is a consecutive win for the new head coach Stuart Law, after defeating host Scotland on Monday.

While the win over the Scottish team was a nail-biting one as Law’s Nepal won by 1 wicket, the win over the Dutch side was a more relaxing one.

The Dutch side elected to bat first after winning the toss in Forthill Cricket Ground and were bundled out in 49.1 overs with an average total of 225 on the board.

Sompal Kami claimed the first wicket for Nepal in his first ball of the inning. Michael Levitt (1 off 4) was Kami’s first victim in the first ball of the second over; he was caught by skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel.

A couple of overs later, Max O’Dowd (4 off 12), Levitt’s opening partner, joined him as the hero of the first game against the host Scotland, Karan KC, bowled him out in 4.5 overs.

However, despite losing the opening pair early, and cheaply, in at three and four, Vikramjit Singh and skipper Scott Edwards, put the wickets on hold. They completed a 50-run partnership for the third wicket in 72 deliveries.

But when Sandeep Lamichhane was called for his first over of the inning in the 22nd over, he broke the partnership by sending Singh back to the dugout at 38 off 56. Singh was caught out by Aarif Sheikh in the slip.

Nepal required another major spinner, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, to take care of in-form Edwards. Rajbanshi, bowling his first ball of the inning in the 27th over, had Edwards caught out by Paudel. Edwards missed his 50 by four runs.

In at seven, Noah Croes was also turning as a headache as he was also nearing the half-century mark, and extending the team’s total further. He was clean bowled by Kami in the 48th over; Croes departed at 48 off 55.

Kami bowled a full toss in the first ball of the last over of the inning. However, it was misjudged by Vivian Kinga, and he got bowled, ending the Dutch’s innings. Kami picked three wickets in total while KC, Lamichhane and Rajbanshi bagged two each.

All seven bowlers used by Nepal were economical. The most expensive one was Kami, with an economy of 5.23, while KC had the lowest (3.50).

In turn, Levitt, the opening all-rounder for the Netherlands, tried to compensate with the ball. He clean bowled Bhurtel (25 off 42) and had Bhim Sharki (11 off 26) caught out. It was pacer Paul van Meekeren who took the first wicket, bowling out Aasif Sheikh (19 off 22) in the seventh over.

The fall of the top three by the 16th over for less than 70 runs led skipper Paudel and Aarif Sheikh to focus more on protecting the wickets and taking the game as long as they could to chase the average target.

Further, with strong wind, both batting and bowling were difficult throughout the game; it was so strong that even the bails were falling off.

Meanwhile, in 30.3 overs, Paudel (23 off 39 with only one four) got run out with the team at 123. Just six legal balls prior, Paudel’s partner Aarif Sheikh was dropped at 25 in the slip, which would prove to be costly for the Dutch.

Aarif went on to complete his 50 in 81 deliveries, with the umpire raising both of his hands for the first time in the game. None of the Dutch batters scored a six in the first inning.

Nepal reached 200 with the end of the 44th over. When Aarif (78 off 99 with two sixes and seven fours) departed, the Rhinos were at 212/5.

“It was a difficult condition,” Aarif said in the post-match presentation. “After I played around 20 deliveries, it started getting easier.”

With only 14 more runs needed, Dipendra Singh Airee was there to finish. Airee, who struck a 50+ run partnership with Aarif for the fifth wicket, scored 38 off 51 to take Nepal as close as possible to the win.

Gulshan Kumar Jha ended the chase in style. He scored a six in the first ball of the 48th over by experienced Roelof van der Merwe to take Nepal’s total to 226. Jha stayed not out at 11 off 4 (1 four, 1 six).

Nepal will now face the host in the second game of the double round-robin tri-series on June 8.