Netherlands register third-highest successful chase in ODIs as Max O'Dowd's 158* outshines George Munsey's 191

Max O'Dowd slammed an unbeaten 158 off 130 balls as Netherlands registered the third-highest successful chase in ODIs in the ICC World Cup League 2 match against Scotland in Dundee on Thursday, June 12. Batting first after winning the toss, Scotland posted a mammoth 369-6 on the board as opener George Munsey hit 191 off 150. O'Dowd, however, played a blinder to take the Dutch home.

Munsey hit 14 fours and 11 sixes in his 191, which is now a record for the highest score by a batter from an Associate nation. The 32-year-old surpassed Ireland star Paul Stirling's 177 off 134 balls against Canada in 2010. Munsey narrowly missed out on a double hundred as he was bowled by Vivian Kingma. The Scotland batter added 150 for the fifth wicket with skipper Matthew Cross (59 off 49).

Chasing 370, Netherlands got off to a solid start as Michael Levitt (44 off 40) and O'Dowd added 67 in 9.2 overs. Safyaan Sharif (3-62), however, dismissed Levitt and Zach Lion-Cachet (3) in quick succession to reduce the Dutch to 75-2. Netherlands fought back courtesy of a third-wicket stand of 68 between O'Dowd and skipper Scott Edwards (32 off 26).

Wesley Barresi (13) couldn't contribute much, but O'Dowd found excellent support from Teja Nidamanuru (51 off 42) and Noah Croes, who blasted 50 off just 29 balls. O'Dowd added 111 for the fifth wicket with Nidamanuru and 76 for the sixth wicket with Croes. Having slammed seven fours and a six, Croes became Sharif's third victim of the match.

Fittingly, it was O'Dowd who hit the winning runs for Netherlands by clobbering Sharif of a maximum. The Dutch side got home by four wickets with four balls to spare. Despite Munsey's sensational 191, O'Dowd was named Player of the Match. He struck 13 fours and four sixes and also took two catches.

---

Netherlands join elite list with massive chase

Netherlands' chase of 370 against Scotland on Thursday is now third on the list of highest successful run chases in the history of ODIs. South Africa occupy the first two positions in the illustrious list. They famous chased down 435 against Australia in Johannesburg in March 2006 as Herschelle Gibbs slammed 175 off 111 balls.

The Proteas also chased down 372 against the Aussies in Durban in October 2016. Batting first, Australia scored 371-6 as David Warner (117) and Steven Smith (108) hit tons. David Miller, however, clobbered 118* off 79 balls to help South Africa pull off the second-highest successful chase in ODIs.