Match details
Bangladesh vs Netherlands
June 13, Kingstown, 10:30am local
Big picture: Winner stays in touching distance of Super 8s
Netherlands will hunt for their first big fish (Full Members side) when they take on Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup’s newest venue in Kingstown, St Vincent. It is a fresh pitch where competitive cricket hasn’t been played for a while now. Both sets of batters, battered and bruised in New York, will look forward to a better experience.
Bangladesh endured a hectic travel schedule after their South Africa game in New York, with their chartered flight out delayed by five hours. They arrived early Tuesday morning in their Kingstown hotel, and cancelled training on that day.
Their top order batting has also been worrying. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto opened with Tanzid Hasan against South Africa, with Soumya Sarkar left out, but neither opening pair has managed a double-digit stand yet in this tournament. Litton Das showed a bit of form against Sri Lanka but gave it away cheaply against South Africa. Only Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah have shown batting form, while it has mostly been the bowling attack that has kept Bangladesh afloat.
Netherlands will have their hands full against Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Taskin Ahmed with the new ball, before Mustafizur Rahman and Rishad Hossain go at them in the middle overs. The pace trio has done well in the death overs too, and among the spin-bowling allrounders Mahmudullah has been mostly economical while Shakib Al Hasan, despite a poor start to the tournament, can never be counted out.
Netherlands themselves have bowled brilliantly in the T20 World Cup, beating Nepal in Dallas and pushing South Africa close in New York. Logan van Beek, Bas de Leede and Tim Pringle have bowled well in partnerships alongside Vivian Kingma and Paul van Meekeren.
Like Bangladesh, they too have batting problems. Max O’Dowd has made their only half-century so far, while the rest of the batters haven’t taken off, particularly Michael Levitt who was their form player leading up to the T20 World Cup.
This could be a tense scrap in Kingstown, with the result coming down to which bowling attack can better dominate on the day.
Form guide
Bangladesh LWWLL (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Netherlands LWLLL
In the spotlight – Logan van Beek and Taskin Ahmed
Taskin Ahmed has performed admirably as the attack leader. He has taken the big wickets of Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, Kusal Mendis and Dasun Shanaka in Bangladesh’s two games, while going at just 5.50 per over. It is still early days but if he can keep getting the ball to shape and maintain his overall fitness, Taskin could end as one of the top bowlers of the tournament.
Logan van Beek has already bowled arguably the ball of the tournament. His delivery to Reeza Hendricks in New York pitched on middle and off, squared up the batter, and flicked the off bail as van Beek flew into a celebratory run. He has been Netherlands’ best bowler in their two matches so far, picking up five wickets. Accuracy is van Beek’s hallmark, regardless of whether he is bowling with an upright or wobbly seam.
Team news: Bangladesh could look at batting options
Bangladesh are still unsure about their top and lower middle order. Soumya Sarkar and Mahedi Hasan are among their batting options if they are looking for another change.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Najmul Hosain Shanto (capt), 3 Litton Das (wk), 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Towhid Hridoy, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Jaker Ali, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Tanzim Hasan, 10 Taskin Ahmed 11 Mustafizur Rahman.
Barring last-minute injuries, Netherlands are likely to continue with the same XI.
Netherlands (probable): 1 Michael Levitt, 2 Max O’Dowd, 3 Vikramjit Singh, 4 Sybrand Engelbrecht, 5 Bas de Leede, 6 Scott Edwards (capt & wk), 7 Teja Nidamanuru, 8 Logan van Beek, 9 Tim Pringle, 10 Paul van Meekeren, 11 Vivian Kingma.
Pitch and conditions
International cricket returns to Arnos Vale after nearly ten years. The ground has never hosted a CPL match either, so it is hard to predict what the conditions might be like. There’s a bit of early-morning rain in the forecast in the region.
Stats and trivia
- Bangladesh, incidentally, played the last international match at Arnos Vale, a Test-match defeat to West Indies in September 2014. Mahmudullah is the only member of their T20 World Cup squad to have featured in that game. They will also play against Nepal here on June 17, and a three-match T20I series against West Indies later this year.
- Bangladesh hold an overall 4-3 win record over Netherlands in all formats but they lost their most recent meeting, the 2023 World Cup game in Kolkata.
- Netherlands made their best start with the ball against a Full Member team in T20Is when they reduced South Africa to 12 for 4 in their last game.
- Tanzim Hasan has picked up three wickets in the powerplay overs at this World Cup, at an average of 8.33.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84