USA remains in search of an elusive first-ever ODI win over the Netherlands after a Max O'Dowd fifty was followed by Kyle Klein's heroics with the ball for the Dutch in the second-lowest successfully defended ODI total at King City.

Photo credit: ICC TV

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Reprising his heroics from USA’s nightmarish experience tour of the Netherlands in the summer of 2024, Dutch pace bowler Kyle Klein decimated USA’s chase with the target in sight by taking three wickets in five balls as USA collapsed from 145 for 4 to end up all out for 175 in a 21-run defeat to the Netherlands at Maple Leaf CC in King City on Monday. USA was able to see off Klein’s new-ball spell without issue, but could not do the same when he returned to wreak havoc in the 39^th and 41^st overs as he finished with 3 for 38 across 10 overs to maintain the Dutch side’s ODI dominance over USA, who have yet to lose to the Americans in the format. 
 
The Dutch started the day sending out a teenage debutant, 18-year-old Cedric de Lange, to open the batting alongside veteran Max O’Dowd after USA won the toss and chose to field first. Meanwhile USA had a few shuffling pieces of their own in the field as Rushil Ugarkar came into the lineup for Ritvik Appidi while Ehsan Adil took over the honor of bowling the first over from Saurabh Netravalkar. 
 
However, it was the Dutch opening pair who controlled the opening sequence of play as de Lange and O’Dowd grafted out a 75-run partnership across the first 21 overs. The stand eventually ended when left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh entered the attack for the first time of the day and bowled de Lange through the gate with his final ball of the 21^st for 31. It wound up being the largest partnership of the day on a pitch that USA had hoped would flatten out in the afternoon but proved to do the opposite. 
 
USA’s fielding helped keep the Dutch in check too as captain Monank Patel pulled off the first of his two runouts on the day just three balls later. O’Dowd was on strike and tried to tap Ugarkar for a single into cover, but Monank closed in quickly to field as Netherlands captain Scott Edwards was slow to make his ground at the striker’s end and wound up a foot short of a direct hit to go back to the dugout without facing a ball. 
 
O’Dowd then teamed with Zach Lion-Cachet to stabilize the Dutch innings with a 55-run third-wicket partnership. O’Dowd brought up his half-century off 92 balls, his 16^th in 65 ODI innings for the Dutch, with a single to the cover sweeper off Ugarkar in the 29^th over. 
 
But the stand ended in the 38^th when Adil returned to the attack and bowled Lion-Cachet for 34 with a length ball that shot low to make it 130 for 3. Suddenly, wickets were falling rapidly for USA in the field as O’Dowd went in the next over to Harmeet for 59, edging an attempted cut that was juggled before being held by Smit Patel to end the 39th. In a bit of deja vue, Noah Croes entered at the non-striker’s end to start the 40^th and was runout on the very next ball to make it 132 for 5. De Leede was cramped up trying to drop and run a single off his ribs into midwicket, but Croes hesitated long enough for Monank to sprint forward in the ring and fire a direct hit from six yards away.
 
Harmeet struck for the third time in the 41^st, piercing the bat-pad gap on a forward prod by Roelof van der Merwe to bowl him for 5 at 137 for 6. Harmeet rounded out his haul in the 43rd with the wicket of Kyle Klein for 2, prodding forward and edging behind to Smit to make it 143 for 7. Netravalkar then returned for a death spell and bowled Aryan Dutt behind his legs for 4 after the tailender walked too far across his stumps trying to flick a length ball into the leg side to make it 152 for 8. 
 
Crucially though, USA could not wipe out the tail as debutant pace bowler Alex Roy provided a valuable role alongside de Leede upon entering at No. 10. The pair added 44 across the final 28 balls of the innings including a run-a-ball 14 from Roy. But it was de Leede who struck the biggest blows off Netravalkar in the final over of the innings, smashing him twice over the square leg rope for six to end with 36 not out off 34 balls in a match where no other top seven batter from either side had a strike rate above 77. 
 
Harmeet ended with 4 for 26 off his 10 overs, highlighting a selection misfire from USA to not have another specialist spinner in the XI. Ugarkar conceded 0 for 40 off seven as USA’s third specialist pace option while Netravalkar and Adil finished with 1 for 48 and 1 for 38 off 10 overs respectively. Shubham Ranjane was tidy to give away 0 for 25 off nine overs. Milind Kumar (0 for 10 off three) and Sanjay Krishnamurthi (0 for 5 off one) filled in the remaining overs for USA. 
 
For the first 25 overs of USA’s chase, the top order grafted toward what appeared to be a similar trajectory to their win over Canada, reaching 93 for 2 with a well-set Shehan Jayasuriya and Sai Mukkamalla batting together having just taken 10 runs off Lion-Cachet’s part-time spin. The only setbacks to that stage had been those of the opening Patels: Smit out for 17 after playing back to a length ball from Dutt that spun in sharply to bowl him through the gate, and Monank out for 25 chipping Dutt loosely to long-on. 
 
Roy’s debut wicket began the Dutch comeback in the field to end the 27^th over when he induced a soft drive from Mukkamalla that resulted in a thick edge to Lion-Cachet lunging to his right at backward point to make it 96 for 3. Jayasuriya tried to reestablish control for USA in the following over, charging and smashing van der Merwe’s spin into the sightscreen for six to bring up the USA 100. But a short time later, a chaotic see-saw sequence unfolded in the 32^nd that resulted in Jayasuriya falling to Dutt for 34 to make it 118 for 4. Dutt’s third ball of the over struck Jayasuriya deep in the crease in front of middle stump playing back, but umpire Harry Grewal denied what appeared to be a stone dead lbw shout. The scales evened out next ball though when Jayasuriya prodded forward clipping his bat into his pad and appeared to miss a sharp turning offbreak, but was given out on an appeal for caught behind. 
 
Kumar and Ranjane steadied things across the next seven overs for USA and the required victory equation was well under a run a ball with plenty of wickets in hand when Klein’s carnage changed everything. The first domino to fall in the sequence came in relatively innocuous fashion as Kumar miscued an attempted pull and was held easily at mid-on by van der Merwe for 19 to make it 145 for 5 in the 39^th. Two balls later, Krishnamurthi was bowled through the gate as a forward prod resulted in the ball caroming off his elbow and back onto the stumps. After a quiet 40^th over, Klein continued in the 41^st and won a generous lbw decision to claim Ranjane for 16 as replays showed the right-hander was struck outside the line of off stump while shuffling across to defend. Klein’s destructive five-ball burst resulted in USA losing three wickets for one run to make it 146 for 7. 
 
Harmeet crawled along after his arrival at the crease, trying to see off the final overs from Klein and Dutt as Netherlands captain Scott Edwards kept both on to try to kill off the game. By the time both had finished their spells, USA sat at 152 for 7 after 43 overs with the required run rate now more than a run a ball and Harmeet on 2 off 16 balls with only the tail left to bat with. Roy replaced Klein in the attack for the 45^th, but rather than being a weak link for Harmeet to target, the debutant took out Harmeet for 5 with a ball angled in from around the wicket that beat Harmeet’s attempted leg side flick to hit the top of off stump. 
 
With five overs to go, USA now needed 37 runs from their No. 9, 10 and 11 on a pitch that had plenty of variable bounce. By the start of the 48^th, the equation rose to 28 off the final 18 balls. Netravalkar heaved the second ball of the over off van der Merwe wide of midwicket for a boundary to keep USA in the hunt, but after a single put Adil back on strike, the match ended swiftly. Van der Merwe received a slice of good fortune when Adil shoveled a knee-high full toss to sub fielder Sebastiaan Braat at long-off for 16. But there was no luck required on the next ball to seal the match as last man Ugarkar shuffled across and defended down the wrong line to be struck in front of middle stump for a straightforward lbw decision as USA were all out for 175 in 47.5 overs with Netravalkar stranded on 8 not out. 
 
Dutt’s spell kept USA in check throughout the chase and he ended with 3 for 23 off 10. Fellow spinner Daniel Doram opened the bowling with Klein and ended with 0 for 31 off eight. Klein was unlucky to have O’Dowd beat him for Player of the Match honors after his 3 for 38 while Roy claimed a crucial 2 for 33 off nine overs on debut. Van der Merwe returned 2 for 29 off 6.5 overs while Lion-Cachet ended with 0 for 21 off four overs of part-time spin. 
 
USA now has three days of rest before returning to action on Friday against Canada. The Netherlands return to action on Wednesday to face Canada.