Northern Ireland meets Netherlands' openers with awkward spin — they're bowled over! (8)
I believe the answer is:
ninepins
'they're bowled over' is the definition.
(ninepin get bowled over with a ball)
'northern ireland meets netherlands' openers with awkward spin' is the wordplay.
'northern ireland' becomes 'NI' (abbreviation).
'meets' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'openers' indicates taking the first letters.
'with awkward' becomes 'snipe' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'spin' is a reversal indicator.
The first letter of 'netherlands' is 'n'.
'snipe' written backwards gives 'epins'.
'ni'+'n'+'epins'='NINEPINS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ninepins that I've seen before include "Bowling targets" , "Skittles, IX objects to be knocked down" , "Bowling game" , "Form of skittles" , "Skittles (IX, not V)" .)