The Netherlands were well out of the game in their European Under-19 Championship match today, needing 44 from the last wicket pairing of Asad Zulfiqur and Davi Van Slobbe. Surprisingly they got oh so close, but just not close enough.

It was a low scoring game with Scotland, batting first after captain Neil Flack won the toss, only able to have four of their batsmen reach double figures. They owed much of their final total of 158 to opener Jack Waller, who scored 62 before he was the fifth wicket to fall.

Ryan Brown chipped in down the order with 32, whilst Rens van Troost was the pick of the Dutch bowlers with 4-19 from his ten overs.

The Dutch were scoring ahead of their required rate early on in the innings, but were losing wickets quickly. At the halfway stage they had scored 98, but lost six wickets in the process.

The run scoring slowed, and ten overs later they had lost three further wickets whilst putting on just another 17 runs. Asad Zulfiqar and Davi Van Slobbe almost pulled off an unlikely victory, putting on 37 to take the Dutch to 152, but Van Slobbe was eventually stumped to end the innings, giving Scotland a six run win.

After a rest day tomorrow, Scotland and the Netherlands will be back in action on Friday, playing Jersey and Ireland respectively. The Netherlands are now out of the running, even for the runners-up spot that gets them a place in the repechage tournament, whilst Scotland will hope to beat Ireland and give themselves a chance at going straight to the Under-19 World Cup.