Netherlands v Nepal, Match Scorecard

O’Dowd anchored the Netherlands chase with a calm and composed half-century, carrying his bat as the Dutch survived a couple of nervy periods to reach 109/4 and win with seven balls to spare.

Earlier, the Netherlands bowling attack put in an impressive display to restrict Nepal to 106 all out in the first innings.

Runs were hard to come by for the Nepal top order on the nation's return to World Cup action for the first time since 2014, with captain Rohit Paudel (35 from 37) the only batter to look comfortable against an attack that picked up wickets at helpful regularity.

A professional run-chase seals the win

Nepal had hope when Sompal Kami had Michael Levitt caught in just the second over.

But O’Dowd and Vikramjit Singh (22) settled any Dutch nerves with a steady 40-run partnership, before Sybrand Engelbrecht added a helpful 14 from 16 to bring the target within reach.

Kami (1/18 from 4), Abinash Bohara (1/29 from 3.4) and Dipendra Singh Airee (1/6 from 2) were the wicket-takers for Nepal, but while O’Dowd was in the middle it was always the men in orange who were in control.

And the experienced opener finished unbeaten on 54* from 48 balls, with Bas de Leede hitting the winning runs to end on 11*(10).

Nepal's first-innings struggles

Earlier, a rain shower ensured that the toss was officially delayed by half an hour, prompting fears of a reduced-overs contest in front of a big crowd in Dallas.

But the weather cleared and it was the Netherlands who won the toss, with captain Scott Edwards opting to bowl first.

Some excellent bowling in the powerplay kept things tight for the Dutch, who removed both openers cheaply, with Tim Pringle removing Aasif Sheikh (4 from 8) and Logan van Beek trapping Kushal Bhurtel lbw for 7 (10).

And two further wickets fell as Nepal reached 53/4 at the midway point of their innings, with Anil Sah (11 from 12) and Kushal Malla (9 from 9) departing.

Nepal ensured that their bowlers had a chance, with lower-order runs from Gulsan Jha (14 from 15) and Karan KC (17 from 12) meaning Nepal reached triple figures.

But Logan van Beek wrapped it up with four balls to spare as he bagged back-to-back wickets at the end of the final over to end the Nepalese innings on 106 all out.

Pringle finished with 3/20 from his four overs, with Paul van Meekeren taking 2/19, Bas de Leede picking up 2/22 and Van Beek wrapping the innings up to finish with 3/18 from 3.2.

The fans were out in force for the first match for Netherlands and Nepal at this T20 World Cup, with both teams knowing that victory in this game was likely to be crucial if they are to stand a chance of making it out of a group packed with quality.

South Africa and Netherlands set in the Group D qualifying spots after just the two fixtures so far, with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh making up the rest of challenging five-team pool.

Nepal will hope to bounce back when they line up next against Sri Lanka in Lauderhill on Wednesday 12 June.