Nepal’s captain hailed their last win against PNG as the most important moment in Nepal’s cricketing history. Why? That win assured Nepal of assured ODI status for the first time ever. Nepal has possibly achieved what it came to do so in this tournament already but they still have one more game to play. They will now face the Netherlands for 7th place in this tournament. The Netherlands will be disappointed to find itself in this position but will no doubt want to avoid a defeat to Nepal under any circumstances.
Match Preview
Nepal
There was obvious joy and ecstasy in the Nepal camp after their last match. They have come a long way in a relatively short time and are being compared to Afghanistan as a potential major cricketing nation of the future.
For the time being, though, Nepal will have to forget all that concentrate on the task ahead. Nepal has beaten the Netherlands in the past and will definitely believe they can do it again. There are some obvious plans that Nepal will try to execute in this match.
Spin and a lot of it will be thrown at the Netherlands in an effort to exploit their weakness against the slower bowling. Nepal would have seen how the Netherlands batsmen struggled against spin against Hong Kong and will want to do the same this time around.
Nepal’s teenage wunderkind, Sandeep Lamichhane picked four wickets in the last match and will be the biggest threat to the Netherlands this time as well. He was very well supported by Airee, who had the match of his life, and Sompal Kami.
We don’t thin Kami will have the same effect in this match, though, because he is a solid medium pacer at best. The Netherlands has plenty of those itself. For Nepal to do well in this match, their bowlers need to outperform their batsmen once again.
The Nepali batting has been brittle and overly dependant on Paras Khada. The Nepali captain has batted well bt will once again be required to put in a special performance against the Netherlands to give his team a chance. Runs from Airee and Aarif Sheikh will give Nepal the confidence of chasing down a reasonable total if they get a chance.
Netherlands
Having secured their ODI status before the tournament even began, the Netherlands had only World Cup Qualification to play for. They were unable to achieve that objective and so in that regard have the least on the line among all the associate nations.
Peter Borren and his men will still want to win against Nepal, though. This is not going to be an easy match for the Netherlands. They have struggled against spin in this tournament and very nearly collapsed against Hong Kong in the last match as well.
The Netherlands needs its top order to do well and ensure they are able to get enough runs to bat Nepal out of the contest. Barresi, Cooper, O’Dowd, and Borren are the players that will look to get those runs against Nepal.
We are confident that the Netherlands will be able to score freely off the Nepali medium pacers but could struggle against spin. This means that maximizing the powerplay overs will be crucial for them. Roelof van der Merwe is pretty aggressive against spin and could be promoted up the order to try and create some havoc.
Van der Merwe will also be the bowler that Nepal will be most wary against. His fast and accurate spin bowling is difficult to score off and very dangerous when he gets some purchase off the surface. He took four wickets in this last match and is in excellent form.
Van Meekeren, Klaassen, and Snater will be the other lead bowlers that try and make the most of conditions against a weak Nepali batting.
Pitch and Conditions
The conditions in Kwekwe are expected to be sunny and excellent for cricket. There is a minimal threat of rain but nothing that should affect the length of the game. The pitch in the last match provided a lot of help to the spinners. It was slow and difficult to score off. This is definitely shaping up to be a battle of the slower bowlers on both sides.
Our Prediction
Nepal and the Netherlands share a 2-2 record over the last four matches they have played against each other. We think that conditions will suit the Nepali spinners but their batting is just too unpredictable. The Netherlands should be able to survive the barrage of spin bowling and come out victorious on the other side.
Back the Netherlands to win.
The post Nepal vs Netherlands, 7th Place Play off ICC World Cup Qualifiers 2018 – Betting Tips appeared first on Cricket Betting.
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