Netherlands 166 for 4 (O'Dowd 53, Cooper 36, Obuya 2-16) beat Kenya 136 for 8 (Obuya 63, van Meekeren 3-27, Klaassen 2-23) by 30 runs
Unlike the other reigning co-champs Scotland, the other joint-title holders from the 2015 T20 World Cup Qualifier managed to avoid the upset bug as Max O'Dowd's first innings half-century was more than enough behind a quality team bowling effort as Netherlands coasted past Kenya in a 30-run win.
Kenya paid for sloppy fielding in the Powerplay as O'Dowd was dropped on 2 at mid-on before later going on to make his fifty while his opening partner Tobias Visee survived two chances on 1 and 12. It allowed the pair to add a brisk 36 off 21 balls for the first wicket before Visee fell to a yorker from Nelson Odhiambo in the fourth.
O'Dowd and Ben Cooper then teamed for a 77-run second-wicket stand as Kenya's bowling unit struggled to apply any sort of pressure. Though boundaries were few, singles were plenty during the partnership. O'Dowd (bowled), Cooper (caught extra cover) and Ryan ten Doeschate (slog to deep midwicket) all fell in the space of 13 runs as Kenya fought back late through Collins Obuya's spin. But Pieter Seelaar's late cameo along with Roelof van der Merwe added 40 off the last 25 balls to take the Dutch out of any danger.
Paul van Meekeren sparked the Dutch in the field, first with a sharp catch on a skier to claim Dhiren Gondaria in the fifth for Timm van der Gugten's only wicket of the day. Van Meekeren then bowled Alex Obanda to start the sixth with a full and straight delivery, the first of his three wickets in the match. Jasraj Kundi was bowled flicking across the line to van der Merwe to make it 39 for 3 before a methodical 70-run stand between Rakep Patel and Obuya brought respectability back to Kenya's innings.
However, they were never seriously in striking distance, needing more than 10 an over for the last 12 overs. Rakep holed out to long-on for van Meekeren's second wicket before Fred Klaassen produced a double-strike in the 18th with some intelligent death bowling. He ran back 25 yards changing direction in his follow-through to claim a skier off Obuya before a cutter produced another thick edge to short third man two balls later to dismiss Shem Ngoche. Van Meekeren clean bowled Lucas Oluoch in the final over to finish off his haul for the day while Brandon Glover also contributed an economical spell of 1 for 19.
