The Japan Times - Ahmed takes four as Bangladesh beat Netherlands

The Dutch, who battled through the preliminary round to reach the Super 12, held the Asian nation to 144-8 with Paul van Meekeren becoming his country's joint all-time T20 wicket-taker along the way.

But they got off to a horror start in the run chase, losing two wickets in the opening two balls to Ahmed, then slumped to 15-4 in cold conditions at Hobart to put them on the back foot.

Colin Ackermann with 62 off 48 balls played a lone hand, making his maiden T20 half-century as partners fell around him and the Netherlands were all out for 135 on the final ball.

Defeat was a heavy blow with two points desperately needed in a group that features heavyweight opponents India, Pakistan and South Africa.

But it was a relief for Bangladesh, who qualified directly for the Super 12 but have suffered from poor form since the 2021 World Cup, playing 19 T20 internationals, losing 14, before meeting the Dutch.

After being sent into bat, Bangladesh plundered 12 off Fred Klaassen's opening over and kept the pressure on as the bowlers struggled to maintain their line.

With temperatures hovering around 12 Celsius (54 Fahrenheit), the Dutch took time to warm up but when Van Meekeren switched ends he found extra pace and Soumya Sarkar (14) mistimed a pull shot to Bas De Leede.

Spinner Tim Pringle was brought on and ended fellow opener Najmul Shanto's innings on 25 in the next over as Bangladesh faltered.

The momentum swung towards the Dutch with danger man Litton Das out for nine, slapping a Van Beek ball to Tim Cooper at mid-off, before the experienced Shakib Al Hasan fell four balls later, caught in the deep off Shariz Ahmad to leave Bangladesh at 70-4 before a brief rain interruption.

They returned and van Meekeren struck again, bowling Yasir Ali with a yorker to draw level on 58 wickets with Pieter Seelaar as the Netherland's top T20 wicket-taker, needing 22 fewer games to get there.

Afif Hossain (38) and Nurul Hasan (13) put on 44 before De Leede removed them both in the same over as their innings drew to a close.

The Netherlands had the worst possible start, with Ahmed bagging two wickets in his first two balls.

Vikramjit Singh edged to Yasir Ali at slip then De Leede got a nick to wicketkeeper Hasan before Ackermann successfully fended off the hat-trick ball.

Two needless run outs within three balls followed with Max O'Dowd (8) and Tom Cooper (0) the men left stranded.

They reached 59-4 before captain Shaun Edwards was undone by the spin of Al Hasan then Pringle (1) departed to Hasan Mahmud.

The covers came on as the rain returned, but it was again a brief delay with Ackermann resuming the chase before he was out going for a boundary to be the ninth wicket to fall.

T.Maeda--JT