The Netherlands moved to within two matches of a place in the World Twenty20 championship in Sri Lanka in September with a battling victory over Scotland at the Global Cricket Academy on Thursday morning, with only Ireland and – it became clear by the end of the day – Namibia standing between them and their goal.

In a game of shifting fortunes, the Dutch fought back after Scotland, who started at a gallop after Gordon Drummond won the toss and elected to bat. Richie Berrington plundered the bowling with some fine strokeplay, and by the end of sixth over 57 runs were already on the board.

Then Berrington danced down the wicket to Pieter Seelaar, misjudged his shot, and was comfortably stumped by Wesley Barresi. He had made 37 from 25 deliveries, with five fours and a six.

Apart from a couple of boundaries off Michael Swart's opening over, Calum MacLeod had been relatively subdued up to this point, but he and Preston Mommsen maintained the momentum so effectively that after eleven overs the Scots had reached 104 for one and seemed to be on course for a very substantial total.

But now a change came over the complexion of the innings. Seelaar's four overs cost just 25 runs, and he added Kyle Coetzer's wicket to his bag shortly after Mudassar Bukhari had trapped Mommsen leg-before.

MacLeod had meantime reached a fine half-century, but his was the next wicket to fall, caught by Barresi off the bowling of Borren. The Scottish opener had made 57 from just 42 balls, with five fours and two sixes.

The brakes had now been slammed on so effectively that only 62 runs came from the last nine overs, and the Scots ended on 166 for six, a defendable total but rather less than had seemed probable 45 minutes earlier.

Bukhari (two for 30) and Borren (two for 32) both bowled well in the closing stages, and at the innings break the momentum seemed clearly to be with the Dutch.

If that was the case, Scotland regained the initiative as the Netherlands began their chase, with Mommsen and Drummond restricting the scoring and Berrington picking up the wicket of Swart in the fifth over.

The key bowler, though, was Majid Haq, who removed Alexei Kervezee , Stephan Myburgh – whose 36 came from 24 deliveries and included three fours and two sixes – and Mudassar Bukhari at a cost of 22 runs.

The turning point came in the eleventh over, bowled by leg-spinner Moneeb Iqbal, who saw Tom Cooper dropped when he was on 8 and was then belted for three consecutive sixes. 23 came from that over, and suddenly the Dutch were ahead of the required rate.

Cooper continued to flourish, despite the loss of Borren, Bukhari and Barresi at the other end, and when he eventually holed out to deep square leg for a 32-ball 60 with four fours and four sixes, only 17 were needed from the final two overs.

Seven wickets were down, however, and Scotland's best hope seemed to be bowling their opponents out.

Tim Gruijters, coming out to bat for the first time in a Twenty20 international, now joined Tom de Grooth, and proceeded to despatch the second ball he received over deep midwicket. That reduced the target to little more than a run a ball, and a no ball from the first delivery of Drummond's final over set the scene for De Grooth to send the free hit ball to the fine leg boundary and keep the Netherlands' hopes of qualifying for Sri Lanka alive.

Dutch coach Peter Drinnen said after the match that he was delighted with his team's performance.

‘They threw everything at us,' he said, ‘and the boys responded magnificently. It was a great team effort, and that's what got us past the winning post.'

Ireland and The Netherlands have lost just one match apiece, and although neither has been consistently at its best, they have both demonstrated that they are strong contenders for that second qualification place. Their match tomorrow promises to be an epic encounter.