Cricket World Cup: All-round Mitchell Santner shines as Blackcaps rout Netherlands to remain perfect

An all-round performance from Mitchell Santner has seen the Blackcaps stay perfect at the Cricket World Cup in India, defeating the Netherlands by 99 runs in Hyderabad.

The left-armer took his second ODI five-wicket haul (5/59) to help bowl the Netherlands out for 223, after a lower order cameo of 36 not out from just 17 balls lifted the Blackcaps scorecard to 322/7.

Santner's knock came after the platform was laid by the top order, with Will Young (70), Rachin Ravindra (51) and Tom Latham (53) scoring half-centuries.

Ravindra's display also continued to add to his stock as a growing all-rounder himself, returning figures of 1/46 from 10 overs with the ball.

The Blackcaps celebrate a wicket.
The Blackcaps celebrate a wicket. Photo credit: Getty Images

With the ball, Matt Henry proved valuable support for Santner, taking 3/40, including the first and last wickets to end any hopes of an unlikely Dutch triumph. 

However, the Blackcaps' bowling performance wasn't as clinical as possible, with dropped catches, missed runout opportunities and even captain Latham being denied a stumping for collecting the ball in front of the stumps leaving plenty to work on moving forward in the tournament.

But for now, the Blackcaps are the first team of the tournament to pick up two wins, and will look to make it three against Bangladesh in Chennai on Friday (NZ time).

After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, Devon Conway and Young added a half-century stand inside the opening 10 overs. 

Backing up from his 152 not out in the tournament opening win over England, Conway was the first to fall, holing out to midwicket off the bowling of Roelof van der Merwe for 32 at 67/1.

At the other end, Young continued, and reached his half-century in 59 deliveries with seven boundaries and one six, before he fell for 70 at 144/2.

Ravindra also backed up his century against England with a run-a-ball 51, continuing to add to selectors' headaches as to which top order batter will make way for Kane Williamson when he returns from injury later in the tournament.

Stand-in skipper Latham added the third fifty, with his coming in 43 balls, while Daryl Mitchell (48 off 47) and Santner added cameos to take the total above 300.

In reply, the Netherlands' innings was built on a fluid 69 runs from Colin Ackermann, that ensured New Zealand were never truly out of sight – even if the Dutch faced an uphill task to reach the target. 

Only once in the innings could the Netherlands record a partnership of more than 50, coming between Ackermann and Auckland's Teja Nidamanuru, as regular wickets continued to dent what would have needed to be a record chase.

Henry started the effort by clean bowling Vikramjit Singh, before Santner took his first when he had Kiwi Max O'Dowd out LBW.

A spectacular catch on the boundary from Trent Boult off Ravindra accounted for Bas de Leede, before Nidamanuru was run out in comical circumstances after a mix-up with Ackermann.

Santner then ran through the middle and lower order, finally ending Ackermann's resistance when a mistimed reverse sweep fell to Henry at short third man – balls after he was dropped by the same man in the same position.

From there, cameos of 30 to captain Scott Edwards and 29 to Sybrand Englebrecht added some pride to the scorecard, but the Netherlands fell from 157/4 to 223 all out, and saw the Blackcaps stay top of the table with two wins, and a healthy net run rate.  

New Zealand 332/7 (Young 70, Latham 53, Ravindra 51; Van der Merwe 2/56) 
Netherlands 223 all out (Ackermann 69; Santner 5/59, Henry 3/40)

New Zealand win by 99 runs