Bowlers led by Bas de Leede helped the Netherlands edge out the United Arab Emirates by three wickets in a tense low-scoring match of the T20 World Cup on Sunday in Geelong.

Skipper Scott Edwards stood unbeaten on 16 as the Netherlands chased down their target of 112 with one ball to spare in second match of the day.

UAE pace spearhead Junaid Siddique returned figures of 3-24 and put the opposition in trouble with two wickets in the 14th over but Edwards held his nerve to get his team off to a win in round one.

De Leede, an all-rounder who is a pace bowler, led the charge with his three wickets to keep down the UAE to 111-8.

Electing to bat, the UAE batsmen survived the disciplined Dutch attack albeit scoring slowly as they reached 85-2 in 15 overs with Muhammad Waseem making 41 before falling to pace spearhead Fred Klaassen.

The wicket triggered a collapse as de Leede struck three times in the 19th over as the UAE slipped from 91-2 and managed just 26 runs in the final five overs.

In reply, Vikramjit Singh got out for 10 but Max O'Dowd hit 23 off 18 balls to get the team off to a quick start.

Junaid bowled O'Dowd in the sixth over and the Netherlands suddenly lost wickets in a heap to lose control of their modest chase.

Junaid struck twice in the space of three balls including Tom Cooper (8) and Roelof van der Merwe (0) and nearly had a third when skipper Chundangapoyil Rizwan dropped a catch at cover.

The spill proved costly as Edwards and Tim Pringle scored 27 runs and sneaked home in the final.