New Zealand vs Netherlands, 1st ODI - Will Young's ton gives hosts a comfortable win in the opener

New Zealand defeated Netherlands in the first of the three-match ODI series on Tuesday (March 29). After being put in to bat first, the visitors found themselves struggling at 45/5. But the 80-run stand between Michael Rippon and Pieter Seelaar rebuilt the Netherlands innings. Rippon scored a fighting 67 while Seelaar mustered 43 runs to propel the side to 202 runs.

The host suffered an early blow in the chase, however, Will Young and Henry Nicholls kept the scoring rate going and were at their fluent best. A very comfortable victory for the BlackCaps despite an extraordinary effort by Michael Rippon throughout the match who contributed 67 runs of 97 balls and took two crucial wickets in the game. The Kiwi batter Will Young played a phenomenal inning to score his maiden ODI century (103 not out) and showed a balance of calmness and aggression to a great effect on the field.

While the debutant Will Young led his side to an easy victory with an outstanding performance for the BLACKCAPS and was named man of the match, Henry Nicholls too played a vital role in today’s inning scoring 57 runs of 79 balls. Together, the players managed to get a partnership of 150+ runs against the Dutch bowlers.

New Zealand debutant Will Young talks about the first ODI played against the Netherlands, “To be honest, it’s been a bit of a funny summer, I haven’t played as much cricket, as I normally would have. I’m just taking it each game as I play, I’m just trying to make the most of every single opportunity I have in the middle there.

He also adds, “I sort of feel that this summer is a little bit similar to the previous summer.If you remember, Bangladesh came at the end of last summer and I got a couple of opportunities there. So,I’m sort of in a similar scenario, I guess playing against the Netherlands at the end of this home summer is helpful. It’s a nice way to finish playing some white-ball cricket and you can go out there and express yourself.”