It was not to be. Cricket Papua New Guinea remains the last team to register a win in their ODI debut as Nepal handed over their chances and perhaps, the entire advantage on a plate ever so politely to Netherlands in their debut ODI and lost the game by 55 runs.
It was kind of nostalgic as Nepal bowlers were exceptional on the day barring few overs here and there to dismiss Netherlands for 189, on the latter’s return to the ODI fold after a gap of 4 years at VRA cricket ground in Amstelveen.
16 debutantes lined up for the historic debut game for Nepal, as opposed to their entire XI, the dutch themselves had lined up 5 debut caps for Bas de Leede, Fred Klassen, Shane Snater, Daniel ter Braak and Scott Edwards.
Both debutante Captains, Paras Khadka from Nepal and Pieter Seelaaar from Netherlands, had good outings individually with the ball. While Khadka was undoubtedly the best bowler for Nepal on the day with his subtle changes with pace and lengths to bamboozle the batting order and pick up 4/26 off his 10 overs. So crucial was his spell, that the other including the likes of Sompal Kami (3/34), Basant Regmi (1/28) and Sandeep Lamichhane (1/42) managed to juggle around their skipper to put up a good show in their bowling innings.
The X-Factor, Michael Rippon, was at his best upon his return to the dutch ODI fold and contributed heavily with the bat first, scoring a crucial half-century (51 off 76) and returning with the ball (3/23) and formed the partnership with Pieter Seelaar (3/20), which rock-bottomed the Nepali batting line-up as they fell like 9 pins.
Records galore were on the offing for Nepal for both bowlers and batsmen to feature among the first’s and among the batters, Gyanendra Malla made the most of the headlines by becoming the first ever half-centurion for Nepal in ODI records, scoring 51 off 61 deliveries. Dipendra Singh Airee was the 2nd top-scorer for the day with 33 runs to his name and Anil Sah contributed 21 runs at the top of the order.
Fred Klassen also had a memorable debut as he picked up 3/30 with the ball for the Dutch. Nepal team gave a guard of honour at the end of their bowling innings to Shakti Gauchan, who was is all likelihood playing his final International match for Nepal.
Both teams square up against each other in the final match of the 2-match ODI series at the same venue on 03rd Aug 2018.
