Bangladesh held off a late surge from the Netherlands to close out an 8 run win, set up by an exemplary unbeaten 83 from Tamim Iqbal.
Iqbal's magisterial innings was the only one of over 15 for Bangladesh, as the Dutch pace attack gave Peter Borren little reason to rue his decision to chase. Timm van der Gugten and Paul van Meekeren were especially impressive, taking regular wickets to keep the scoring under control. The absence of Ahsan Malik was felt at the death however, as Iqbal and Arafat Sunny took 15 runs off Logan van Beek's final over to see Bangladesh post a defensible 153.

The Netherlands recovered from a slow start to get into a strong position on 71-2 by the half-way stage, but an exemplary display with the ball by Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza strangled the scoring, the pressure yielding dividends in the form of middle order wickets, and despite a late blitz from Mudassar Bukhari and Pieter Seelaar the lower order was left with too much to do, Taksin Ahmed giving away just 8 off the final over to complete an 8 run win.

The Netherlands had squandered an early opportunity to impose themselves on the match as Soumya Sarkar was reprieved first over, van Meekeren dropping a swirling top-edge off Bukhari at third man, and the ball rolling into the rope to add insult to injury. Van Meekeren made up for it an over later, however, knicking off Sarkar with his first ball.

A solid effort in the field kept Bangladesh to 33-1 in the powerplay, but Iqbal began to score with increasing fluency despite Roelof van der Merwe and Peter Borren removing successive partners. Van der Merwe might have had the wicket of Iqbal himself with a quicker wide yorker-length delivery, only for the stumping to be missed.

A double strike from Timm van der Gugten in the 15th over and Paul van Meekeren stringing together back-to-back overs of 3 and 4 runs, claiming the wicket of Nasir Hossain in the second, put the pressure back on. But with the aid of cameos from Mortaza and Sunny, Iqbal ensured Bangladesh finished strongly, leaving the Dutch a target of 154.

A slow start to the powerplay put the Dutch reply behind the pace, Wesley Barresi holing out in the fifth over for a scratchy 9 off 11. Ben Cooper's arrival at the crease saw the innings gain some momentum, and whilst he and Stephan Myburgh were at the crease the Netherlands looked in control.

The pair took the total past 50 before Myburgh was clean bowled by Nasir Hossain looking to slog-sweep for 29, and though Cooper and Peter Borren were able to maintain the impetus to take the Dutch to 71-2 by the 10th, but Shakib Al Hasan and Mortaza pulled back the scoring rate and Al Hasan benefited from the pressure as Ben Cooper missed a slog-sweep to a straight one in the 12th as the asking rate crept toward 10 an over.

Borren's battling 29 from 28 kept his side in the game, but when he holed out off Al Hasan on the last ball of the 16th the lower order was left with a target of 42 from 24. The death bowling of Mortaza and Taskin Ahmed would prove the difference between the two sides, Mortaza finding the stumps off van der Merwe's inside edge only to see the bails remain in place, but getting his man two balls later caught behind in an over that went for just 3 runs, finishing with exemplary figures of 1-14 from his 4 overs.

Ahmed bowled the 18th at the cost of just 6 runs, and with 33 needed from the last two the Dutch looked out of it. Tom Cooper went on the first ball of the 19th lofting Hossain to third man, but Mudassar Bukhari and Pieter Seelaar took 16 runs of the remaining five balls, Bukhari hitting his first two deliveries for four and six.

They could not repeat the feat off Taskin however, and a runout and 8 runs were all that the final over offered as Bangladesh closed out the win. The Dutch will be left to rue an opportunity missed, though the slim margin of defeat ensures the damage to their net run rate was limited, keeping open the possibility of them taking advantage should Bangladesh slip up in either of their next two games.