Shai Hope guides the West Indies to a comfortable win in a rain-soaked series opener

The West Indies beat the Netherlands in a series opener in Amstelveen courtesy to a brilliant century from Shai Hope at the top of the order. Hope put on a century-stand with Shamarh Brooks for the opening wicket to lay the foundations to the chase, and despite losing the wickets of the middle order, Hope and Brandon King finishes the match with eleven balls to spare after their hosts set a target of 247 in 45 overs following a lengthy rain delayed first innings.

After being asked to bat first after losing a crucial toss. An outstanding opening partnership between Max O'Dowd and the youngster Vikramjit Singh, withstanding an aggressive new ball spell from Alzarri Joseph, who gave both the Dutch openers plenty to think about but O'Dowd and Singh took their chances, and Vikramjit in particular began to find his range after the first few overs, imposing himself to start smashing the ball to the boundaries. This pair added 63 runs in 12 overs to provide a solid foundation. Then they had minor contributions from each member of the top order, with no significant score. Netherland didn't get to a commanding position until Teja Nidamanuru, a 27-year-old India-born allrounder, Top scored by a quicker half-century on debut. Nidamanuru faced only 51 balls in his innings and hit 3 fours and 2 sixes. This assisted the Netherlands to post a total of 240 for 7, which was thereafter adjusted to 248 using the DLS method.

Shai Hope and Brooks put up 120 for the first wicket, setting the tone for the chase. While their approach was not aggressive in the T20 sense, they were always able to stay ahead of the asking rate. Then came a halt when Logan van Beek, a seam-bowling allrounder, took up two wickets in quick succession. First he dismissed Brooks with a brilliant return catch, then he sent back Nkrumah Bonner with a lbw. Skipper Nicholas Pooran was departed for 7 three overs later by Aryan Dutt. Netherlands got a rhythm to win this match. It was dismantled by Hope and King when decided to put an end to any remaining dreams by putting together a unbeaten 116-run partnership. 

West Indies 249 for 3 (Shai Hope 119*, Shamarh Brooks 60, Brandon King 59*) beat Netherlands 240 for 7 (Teja Nidamanuru 58*, Vikramjit Singh 47, Akeal Hosein 2-29, Kyle Mayers 2-50) by seven wickets

The second and third One-Day Internationals will be held on June 2 and 4, respectively. Despite the victory, West Indies are still ranked 10th in the ODI Super League, Top 7 are direct qualifiers - including the hosts - for the ICC Men's 50-overs World Cup in India next year. The Netherlands are in bottom place, having won only 2 of their 11 matches so far.