Tickner, Ben Sears lead New Zealand to victory against Netherlands

Blair Tickner and Ben Sears take seven wickets between them as the Dutch fall to a 16-run defeat in the first T20; Bas de Leede’s half-century goes in vain.

FILE PHOTO: Blair Tickner picked up four wickets. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

New Zealand bowled the Netherlands out for 132 and won its Twenty20 by 16 runs on Thursday.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary

After New Zealand medium-pacer Blair Tickner took three wickets in the first four overs, the chasing Dutch felt the pressure to hit out and lost wickets regularly. They were 73 for 6 in the 14th over and 93 for 7 after 16 and running out of big hitters.

Bas de Leede, who came to the crease after seven balls of the innings, was the last man out in the last over for a match-high 66 off 53 balls, including five boundaries and two sixes. De Leede also took two catches and bowled two relatively cheap overs.

But not as well as Tickner, who claimed 4 for 27 in 21 balls, and fellow medium-pacer Ben Sears, 3 for 22.

Opener Martin Guptill led New Zealand when it chose to bat first, scoring 45 off 36. Jimmy Neesham added 32 off 17 but the batters laboured against Netherlands spinners Tim Pringle, Shariz Ahmad and Tom Cooper to put up 148 for 7.

But it proved to be enough in the end. The teams play a second and last T20 on Friday.