Rain and Bad Light Delay Toss, but Promising Forecast for Chester Le Street Cricket Ground
Netherlands captain Scott Edwards won the toss and elected to bowl first against Nepal in their opening match of the T20 World Cup 2024 in Grand Prairie. The early-morning rain and poor lighting conditions caused a 30-minute delay in the toss, but once the rain cleared, the forecast for the rest of the morning looked favorable at the Chester Le Street Cricket Ground.
Edwards believed the ball would swing early due to the heavy overhead conditions, prompting him to field first. The Netherlands lineup features three fast bowlers – Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma, and Logan van Beek – along with spinner Tim Pringle. All-rounders Bas de Leede and Sybrand Engelbrecht also make the team, with Max O’Dowd and Michael Levitt opening the innings and Vikramjit Singh likely to bat at number three.
“We wanted to make the most of the conditions and put the Nepalese batsmen under pressure early on,” said Edwards.
This marks Nepal’s first appearance at the T20 World Cup in a decade, having last played in the 2014 edition where they won two games and narrowly missed out on a Super 10s spot due to net run rate. Captain Rohit Paudel expressed that he was not perturbed by the toss result and aimed to post a competitive total.
The Netherlands, on the other hand, have participated in previous T20 World Cups, most recently in 2022, where they upset South Africa and denied the Proteas a semi-final spot.
Pitch No. 6 is being utilized for this match, unlike the opening game between the USA and Canada, which took place on Pitch No. 4.
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