Bulawayo, July 6 After a magnificent all-round performance from Bas de Leede helped Netherlands qualify for ODI World Cup, to be held in India later in the year, captain Scott Edwards heaped praise on the pace all-rounder, saying it will be hard to find a better performance than his in 50-over cricket.
De Leede took 5/52 to keep Scotland to 277/9, and then overshadowed Brandon McMullen's 106 by hitting a superb 123 off 92 balls, laced with seven fours and five sixes at a strike-rate of 133.7, also his first ODI century.
His efforts meant Netherlands chased down 278 in 42.5 overs to beat Scotland by four wickets and pip them on net run rate to seal their spot in a 50-over World Cup for the first time since 2011.
"Build the man a statue. That was an unbelievable game. Hard to find a better performance in ODI cricket in a long time. Leede got five wickets and 123; he is an unbelievable player, we have always known that everyone is aware of that. It's not the first time he has done it and it won't be the last," said Edwards in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Needing 45 off the last four overs, de Leede and Saqib Zulfiqar smashed 42 runs in two overs to turn the game on its head. De Leede was run out just before Logan van Beek hit the winning runs as Netherlands got home with 43 balls to spare.
"Extremely (happy), yeah. Little bit loss for words. We thought that the WI game was a bit on the heart. But the last 20 overs there, I thought what Bas de Leede and Zulfiqar did in the last 10 overs was unbelievable to watch," added Edwards.
Edwards, the wicketkeeper-batter, also applauded his team and the message from coach Ryan Cook in making a turnaround in the game from 114 runs needed in 13 overs.
"This group is just incredible. We put in the hard work and the guys just enjoy everyone's success. We had a different match-winner in every game," Netherlands skipper said.
It's a pretty awesome feeling. From looking at the wicket at the start, probably not. It seemed like it was a good wicket. Got a bit tricky in the last 30 overs. It was just unbelievable batting by Leede and Saqib in the end.
(Ryan) Cook (head coach) brought the batting group together at the halfway point, the white board had 140 at 26 overs, we were maybe 15-20 behind. We knew what we wanted to do; we just needed a couple of batters to cash in towards the backend," he concluded.
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