Bas de Leede Joins Elite List; Becomes First Dutchman To Achieve A Rare All-Round ODI Record
Bas de Leede celebrates a wicket with skipper Scott Edwards (Twitter)
Bas de Leede shattered an all-time record in ODIs with his latest all-round spectacle against Scotland. For starters, the youngster collected five Scotland wickets to register his maiden ODI five-fer, and then whacked his first international century to drive Netherlands to a comfortable victory in the run-chase.
The cricketer became the first player from Netherlands, and only the fourth overall in ODI history to achieve this rare all-round feat. Fittingly, he was adjudged as ‘Player of the Match’ for his efforts.
Bas de Leede joins an elite all-rounders pack in ODIs
Including Bas de Leede, only 23 players in men’s ODI history have scored a fifty and taken a five-wicket haul in the same match. Moreover, only four of those have converted their half-century to a hundred, and Netherlands’ de Leede is now one of them.
West Indies legend Viv Richards was the first player to do so, when he smacked 119 and claimed 5-41 in his side’s huge win over New Zealand back in 1987. Former English cricketer Paul Collingwood one-upped the effort by collecting six wickets in his spell after hitting a match-winning ton against Bangladesh in 2005. The then UAE captain Rohan Mustafa was the last entrant to achieve the all-round double, as he accomplished the feat against PNG in 2017.
With his match-winning effort against Scotland, Bas de Leede has now joined this elite all-rounder club in ODIs. He faced just 92 deliveries to punch out 123 to power his side to a comfortable four-wicket triumph in a must-win World Cup Qualifiers game Bulawayo.
His batting blitzkrieg ensured that Netherlands knocked out Scotland from the competition, and booked World Cup tickets for themselves. They will now travel to India later this year for the main event, where they will compete against nine Test-playing nations for the elusive trophy.
The Dutchmen, under Scott Edwards leadership, have already been in scintillating touch off late. They recently stunned West Indies in a high-scoring thriller, and came agonisingly close to upsetting Asian heavyweights Sri Lanka in their subsequent outing.
With star all-rounders like Bas de Leede and Logan van Beek in their ranks, Netherlands will back themselves to pull off at least a few more upsets at the world event in India between October and November this year.
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