Ireland 181-7 (20 ovs) (H Tector 60, A Balbirnie 45; B Glover 2-19), Netherlands 183-4 (19.1 ovs) (B Cooper 91no, M O'Dowd 69; G Dockrell 3-23). Netherlands won by 6 wkts.
The Netherlands chased down a sizeable Irish target to win Wednesday’s GS Holding T20I Tri-Series clash at Malahide by seven wickets and leave the table in the balance.
Irish captain Gary Wilson won the toss and elected to bat first, and his side put on a competitive total of 181 for seven from their 20 overs. The home side went in to the innings break feeling like they were 20-30 runs short, given they were at one stage 128 for two in the 12th over.
Andy Balbirnie followed up his 64 against Scotland on Tuesday with 45 from 26 balls against the Dutch, to continue his great year with the bat. However the batting plaudits went to 19-year old Harry Tector who scored 60 from 40 balls in only his second international appearance.
A rash of late wickets, and tighter Dutch bowling, restricted the Irish side from capitalising on their fast start, but 181 still would have seemed defendable.
In response, Mark Adair struck early removing Tobias Visée for a duck, however Max O'Dowd (69 from 45 balls) and Ben Cooper (91 not out from 56 balls) took the game away from Ireland with a 144-run stand.
Despite three late wickets to George Dockrell (three for 23), the Dutch side claimed the victory with five balls to spare.
Ireland and Netherlands are now joint top of the table, both with one game to play. The Scots are two points behind but have two still to play.
