The Netherlands have started their T20 World Cup campaign with a win over Nepal at the Grand Prarie Stadium near Dallas, though the time they took to chase their target may yet hinder their chances at progression.

Dutch captain Scott Edwards won the toss and chose to bowl first in front of a near-capacity crowd that looked to be 90% in favour of Nepal. However most of the Nepali batters were unable to get a decent start with captain Rohit Paudel's 35 their only score of note.

Tim Pringle and Logan van Beek both took three wickets as the Dutch bowled Nepal out for 102.

The Dutch lost Micheal Levitt early, but fellow opener Max O'Dowd played a key role in the eventual six wicket win, scoring an unbeaten 54 from 48 balls. Bas de Leede hit the winning runs, hitting the fourth ball of the penultimate over to the boundary for four runs.

With only eight balls remaining in the innings though, the Netherlands may regret taking so long to chase down the target should net run rate play a key role in progression to the Super Eight stage.

The next game for the Dutch will be on Saturday at the temporary Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Long Island when they take on South Africa, a team they beat at the 2022 tournament to secure qualification for this event. Nepal don't play for another week, with their next match coming against Sri Lanka in Florida next Tuesday.