Another blistering display from man of the series Tobias Visee was not enough to seal victory for the Netherlands in the final match against Ireland in the Muscat T20I Quadrangular, his 36-ball 78 outdone by Andy Balbirnie, who hit a 50-ball 83 to set up a dramatic last-ball win for Ireland, Stuart Poynter clubbing the Irish to victory with a last ball six, breaking Ireland's five-year, five-match T20 losing streak against the Dutch.
The loss opened the door for Scotland to come back from their opening defeat at the hands of the Dutch to claim top spot with a convincing win over hosts Oman, Adrian Neill and Mark Watt staring with the ball as the hosts were held to to 111, Richie Berrington and Calum MacLeod sing the Scots to victory with 27 balls and 7 wickets to spare.
It was again a tale of a good start squandered in the morning as the Dutch failed to capitalise on a breakneck 116-run opening stand between Visee and Max O'Dowd, Stuart Thompson taking three wickets in an over to stop the innings in its tracks. Visee hit 12 fours and 3 sixes to take his tournament run tally to 193, but after he top edged a cut off George Dockrell to find the hands of Peter Chase the Dutch momentum evaporated.
O'Dowd swiftly became Thompson's first victim, pinned LBW for 38, and Wesley Barresi followed in the next over as Boyd Rankin clung on to a swirling top edge off Stirling. Number 3 Ben Cooper could only watch as Thompson deprived him of three more partners in succession, Ryan ten Doeschate, Roelof van der Merwe and Sikander Zulfiqar perishing in the space of five balls.
From then on the Irish were well on top, and from a commanding position of 119-1 after the first ten overs, the Dutch managed only 63 runs at the cost of eight wickets in the second half. With the wicket true and quick as they have been all series, 182-9 looked a losing score at the break, and so it proved - though only just.
Ireland too got off to a fine start, Balbirnie and Kevin O'Brien brushing off the early loss of Paul Stirling with a rollicking 86-run second wicket stand. But with 99 on the board the tide began to turn again, O'Brien pulling Fred Klaassen into the hands of Zulfiqar in the deep. Zulfiqar then came on to claim his first T20I wicket, knocking over Thompson's off stump after having been hit for six three balls prior.
With 61 runs still needed off the last six overs the game was back in the balance, and the pressure would tell as Shane Getkate and then Balbirnie both holed out off van Meekeren in the 17th. Fred Klaassen would strike twice in the penultimate over, leaving van Meekeren with 12 to defend in the last, Poynter on strike with number nine Josh little for company. It would be the Dutch that folded in the end though, Max O'Dowd misfielding to gift Little a boundary on the second ball to keep Irish hopes alive, before a run out and a first ball duck for Rankin shifted the odds back in the Netherlands favour.
Six to get off the last two balls, Poynter turned down a single on the first before taking full advantage of a poorly executed slower bumper to heave the dumbstruck van Meekeren over the midwicket boundary and seal a remarkable win.
While Ireland's last-ditch effort provided the day's drama, Scotland's demolition of Oman was an altogether more clinical display. Barring a brief wobble at the start of the chase, the Scots looked in command throughout, rolling Oman for 111 and overhauling the target with four and a half overs to spare. The hosts were under the pump from ball one, Alasdair Evans producing five dot balls on the trot before Naseem Kushi's frustration got the better of him, launching a wild pull straight into the hands of Michael Leask on the square boundary. Oman never got back into the game.
A horrid piece of ball-gazing in the second over saw Wasim Ali run himself out, and skipper Jatinder Singh was cleaned up by debutant Adrian Neill in the fourth. The towering right arm quick would have a fine first outing for Scotland, finishing with a run-out, a catch and three wickets for the cost of just 21 runs.
Mark Watt would add another three scalps to his tally too, bringing his tournament total to 7 and finishing top of the wicket-taking table. Probably the most significant was that of Mohammad Nadeem, whose 38-ball 29 was the only substantial top order contribution. Some late hitting from number 8 Sandeep Goud got the hosts to triple figures at least, his unbeaten 31 taking them as far as 111 before the final wicket fell, Bilal Khan sharply run out by Evans in the final over.
It never looked a total likely to trouble the Scots, and George Munsey got them off to a now customary brisk start after the break. At 25 without loss after 14 balls the match looked headed for an early conclusion, but Nadeem would bowl both Munsey and Kyle Coetzer to put the brakes on the Scottish charge. When Matt Cross drove Bilal Khan to extra cover on the first ball of the eighth with 68 still needed the hosts might just have glimpsed a way back into the game, but Berrington and MacLeod put the match to bed with an accelerating 4th wicket partnership, finishing unbeaten on 47 and 29 respectively as Scotland romped home.
Oman finish the series winless despite looking competitive at times, while the three European teams all finished on two wins from three. Scotland's superior net run rate sees them claim the title, to add to their victory at last summer's European tri-series. The Dutch beat the Irish into third place by the slimmest of margins, though they may well reflect that the margin separating them from a series win was even slimmer. Ireland will nonetheless be happy to have shaken off their role as the Netherlands' T20 whipping-boys, the series' photo-finish underlining how little separates the three European sides in this format.
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