All-rounder Paul Stirling cracked a 72-ball 101 as Ireland completed their World Cup campaign on a winning note despite their group stage exit with a six-wicket win over Netherlands on Friday.

The Dutch had posted a competitive 306 from their 50 overs on the back chiefly of 106 from Ryan ten Doeschate and 84 from skipper Peter Borren.

But their innings dramatically ran out of steam with their last four wickets falling in successive balls, all from run-outs, as they chased valuable extra runs in the final over from Kevin O’Brien.

From early in the Irish innings it was clear that the Dutch total would probably be found wanting on a batsman’s delight of a wicket.

Stirling and captain William Porterfield (68) put on 177 for the first wicket and all their batsmen went on to make useful contributions before Kevin O’Brien lofted a huge six over long off to overhaul the Dutch total with 14 balls to spare.

It was a low point for the consistently impressive ten Doeschate to finish his World Cup campaign as he joined a select band to score his second century at this World Cup.

The powerful Dutchman slammed a superb 106, including 13 fours and a six, to join South African AB De Villiers and India’s Sachin Tendulkar as the only players so far to score two hundreds in this tournament.

The Dutch had gone into the match without a win from their previous five matches but after a dreadful start in which they lost Eric Szwarczynski (1) and Tom Cooper (5) with only 12 on the board, ten Doeschate rebuilt their innings.

After he departed, caught by John Mooney off spinner Stirling, Borren carried on the assault on the Irish bowlers with 84, including 10 fours off 82 balls.

Source: Times of India

Imrul Kayes scored an unbeaten half-century as Bangladesh crushed the Netherlands by 6 wickets in their ICC Cricket World Cup match in Chittagong.

Opener Kayes scored 73 off 113 balls to complete Bangladesh’s domination of the match after their bowlers bundled out Holland for a paltry 160.

Abdur Razzak was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers with three for 29 as the inexperienced Dutch batsmen struggled against the accurate left-arm spinners.

The victory ensures Bangladesh’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals are still alive, while England must beat the West Indies on Thursday if they are to stand any chance of qualifying for the last eight.

Batting first after winning the toss Holland had a pedestrian start although Eric Szwarczynski and Wesley Barresi hung around for nine overs.

Shakib al Hasan provided the breakthrough by trapping Barresi lbw and Razzak soon saw off pinch-hitter Mudassar Bukhari.

Shafiul Islam was luckless in a probing opening spell that read 6-3-7-0, but the seamer set the stage up for the left-arm spinners to skittle out Holland.

Szwarczynski scored 28 off 63 balls before Shakib ran him out and Holland’s innings from thereon revolved around Ryan ten Doeschate (53 not out), who eventually ran out of partners.

The biggest stand for the Dutch was 34 between Alexei Kervezee and Ten Doeschate, and only Tom Cooper (29) attempted to show some initiative in the first half of their innings.

Razzak claimed three for 29 while four batsmen were dismissed through run outs which left Ten Doeschate stranded on a 71-ball 53. The Dutch were all out with nearly four overs remaining.

In reply, Kayes and Junaid Siddique put Bangladesh in the hunt after the early loss of Tamim Iqbal, who was dismissed by Bukhari.

The second-wicket stand added 92 runs before a loose shot caused the downfall of Siddique, who made 35, but by then Kayes had completed his eighth one-day half-century.

Kayes soon took Bangladesh past 100 by the 25th over along with Shahriar Nafees, who struggled initially taking 10 balls to get off the mark.

Nafees however found his rhythm quickly and passed 2,000 ODI runs with a lofted boundary off Cooper as Bangladesh closed in on the target.

Cooper’s double strike soon saw off Nafees (37) and Shakib, but Kayes and new man Mushfiqur Rahim (11 not out) took Bangladesh home with 8.4 overs remaining.

Source: ESPNStar

India defeated Netherlands on a sluggish track at the Feroz Shah Kotla with more than 14 overs to spare though the margin of victory couldn’t mask a lacklustre performance from the home side. The Indian bowling was just about tidy against some dour Netherlands batting, and their bunch of big hitters came unstuck for a while against the left-arm spin of Pieter Seelaar in a low-intensity match.

Chasing 190, India raced out of the blocks with Sachin Tendulkar becoming the first man to reach 2000 World Cup runs with a hat-trick of boundaries in the fifth over, and Virender Sehwag backing that with three more fours in the sixth. The flurry of hitting had the Delhi crowd buzzing, and when Sehwag carved Seelaar over extra cover for six and then dabbed him to third man for four, India were 69/0 in the eighth over and Netherlands looked set for a hiding.

Seelaar, though, ensured it wasn’t another embarrassingly one-sided match, like many of those involving the Associates in this tournament. He had Sehwag slicing to point, and then dismissed both Tendulkar and the promoted power-hitter Yusuf Pathan in the 10th over to rein in India.

Virat Kohli didn’t last too long before being bowled by Peter Borren, but Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh steadied the innings as Netherlands’ limited bowling struggled to make more inroads. They added 40 trouble-free runs before Gambhir was bowled round his legs. It was left to Yuvraj and MS Dhoni, India’s finishers over the past few years, to calmly steer India to victory with a 61-run stand, with Yuvraj getting his third half-century in a row.

India would have had a tougher test had it not been for a Netherlands middle-order collapse, which was sandwiched by a solid start and a flourish at the end. On choosing to bat, Eric Szwarczynski, playing his first match of the tournament, combined well with Wesley Barresi to put on 56, equalling Netherlands’ best opening partnership in World Cups. There were only six boundaries in the first two Powerplays but aside from a couple of half-chances, it was easy going for Netherlands.

Piyush Chawla, surprisingly retained after a horror match against Ireland, finally got the breakthrough in the 16th over with his favourite weapon, the googly, which bowled Szwarczynski after he read it too late. The next dismissal came from the most impressive bowler in the Ireland game, Yuvraj, whose wicket-to-wicket bowling got Barresi lbw.

Tom Cooper and Ryan ten Doeschate, two batsmen with career averages in the mid-60s, thwarted India for 10 overs, surviving two tough caught-and-bowled chances but dispatching the odd loose ball served up to put on 35. Netherlands were 99 for 2 after 29, not quite top gear, but the platform was in place for some big hits later on. It wasn’t to be though, as both batsmen were dismissed in successive overs to spark a collapse that cost them 5 for 28.

Bas Zuiderent had alerted the world to his talent with a half-century against England in 1996, but of the 16 innings he has played in World Cups since, 12 have been single-digit efforts. Today was another failure for the experienced batsman, done in by Zaheer’s swing.

There were a couple of avoidable run-outs as well, but the dismissal that was most embarrassing for Netherlands was Alexei Kervesee’s; he swiped a long hop from Chawla, expertly picking out Harbhajan Singh at deep midwicket.

The Netherlands captain, Peter Borren, had spoken of playing brave cricket before this game, and it was his adventurous hitting that lifted his side towards 200. He warmed up by lashing Yuvraj for a couple of powerful fours in the 42nd over, before taking the batting Powerplay and damaging Chawla’s figures with a couple of muscular hits over long-on. Mudassar Bukhari joined the fun, swinging two sixes over the leg side before both he and Borren were dismissed by Zaheer in the same over to wrap up the innings.

The win puts India top of the table, but they are through with their easy outings in the tournament, with only South Africa and West Indies remaining in the league phase before the knockouts.

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla smashed centuries against the hapless Netherlands bowlers on Thursday to set up a thumping 231-run win for South Africa.

De Villiers scored 134 for a second successive ton while opener Amla made 113 as the Proteas posted a mammoth 351-5 before dismissing the Dutch for a paltry 120 for their second consecutive win in Group B.

The Netherlands lost wickets at regular intervals against South Africa’s disciplined pace-spin combination before being bowled out in the 35th over, slumping to their third consecutive defeat.

Seamer Jacques Kallis rattled the top order with two wickets before Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir (3-19) and left-arm spinner Robin Peterson (2-22) did more damage.

Wesley Barresi, dropped on 21 by Morne Morkel at mid-on off Kallis, top-scored with 44 in a dismal Netherlands batting performance.

“It wasn’t easy up front. There was a little bit of juice in the wicket,” said South African skipper Graeme Smith, praising Amla and de Villiers.

“Once we set the platform it was about making it count and the two of them definitely did that.”

Losing captain Peter Borren said such a thumping defeat was hard to take but his side were still learning by playing against the top sides.

“I think we learn more from playing against this type of opposition… than playing against each other as associates,” he said.

In the South African innings de Villiers and Amla dominated the Dutch attack after South Africa were put in to bat in overcast conditions before a few thousand spectators in Mohali.

The Proteas lost Smith (20) and Kallis (two) to slip to 58-2 before de Villiers and Amla put on 221, South Africa’s best for the third wicket in a World Cup.

De Villiers raced to his 11th one-day hundred off just 88 deliveries, while Amla completed his eighth ton off 121 balls.

Amla impressed with his shot selection, patiently waiting for loose deliveries to punish, but de Villiers was more aggressive, once reverse-sweeping spinner Tom Cooper for a boundary.

They set the stage for the final onslaught, which saw South Africa plunder 136 in the last 10 overs. JP Duminy hammered 40 off just 15 balls with four sixes and two fours.

De Villiers, who scored an unbeaten century in the previous match against the West Indies, smashed seamer Bernard Loots for three successive sixes before hitting Ryan ten Doeschate for three fours in a row.

Amla hit eight fours in his 130-ball knock before being caught at point off ten Doeschate and de Villiers was run out after striking four sixes and 13 fours in a 98-ball innings.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Kemar Roach lifted the spirits on a dank day of World Cup action by becoming the sixth bowler to claim a World Cup hat-trick as West Indies cruised past a disappointing Netherlands outfit in Delhi.

Roach’s whippet pace and low trajectory overwhelmed Netherlands who, set 331 for victory, were left to regret their captain’s decision to field first. Roach finished the game in style, trapping Pieter Seelaar and Bernard Loots lbw before splattering Berend Westdijk’s middle stump to seal a 215-run victory.

After the World Cup found its voice in a nerve-shattering encounter on Sunday evening it reverted to an inaudible mumble on Monday as Canada capitulated against Zimbabwe in Nagpur, before Netherlands put up an embarrassing showing. Gone was the intensity and discipline that spooked England as they allowed West Indies to saunter to victory with more than 18 overs left unused.

This was an important match for West Indies who, coming into it, looked in danger of being drawn into a qualification dogfight in Group B. If they are to beat Bangladesh to the quarters they need their big guns to fire and they would have been relieved that Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard found their form before Roach’s heroics.

It was only a composed but futile 55 not out from Tom Cooper that dragged Netherlands past their lowest-ever ODI total – 80 against West Indies four years ago – in a showing that did themselves, and the beleaguered Associate brand, a total disservice.

Roach operated consistently around the 90mph mark and was happy to aim full at the stumps – a tactic shunned by England’s bowlers against the same opposition – and Netherlands’ batsmen were not up for a fight.

Though Roach took six, the crucial, crushing blow was landed by towering left-arm-spinner Sulieman Benn. Ryan ten Doeschate, the hero against England and the sole player in the side with the quality to mount a challenge, was trapped low on the front pad and despite a long stride, and a review, he could not survive. Thereafter it was only Cooper who could resist Roach’s pace.

The rot was set earlier in the day when Gayle made a measured 80 and Pollard a 27-ball 60 that carried West Indies out of sight. Gayle blended his immense power with the touch of savvy that has been absent from his 50-over game so far to bring up only his second ODI fifty. His assault gave a crowd deprived of much excitement something to cheer and emphatically confirmed that Borren’s decision to field first on a pudding pitch and speedy outfield was the wrong one.

Devon Smith’s silky fifty allowed Gayle plenty of time to rouse himself into the contest. At no stage were West Indies pinned down but it did take Gayle 24 deliveries to find the boundary. ten Doeschate’s first over shattered his shackles as he drove three times through the covers, before collecting two more boundaries in the next over. He looked poised to explode from thereon but was instead content to coast and make the most of some generous Netherlands offerings.

The seam bowlers leaked runs both sides of the wicket and it was only the 23-year-old left-arm-spinner Pieter Seelaar who impressed. With an action and temperament similar to his touted Irish counterpart George Dockrell, Seelaar was happy to give the ball air and was rightly rewarded when Gayle holed out to long-off, one run shy of his 8000th in ODI cricket.

At that stage, two balls into the batting Powerplay, West Indies looked like suffering the same hoodoo that has infected many other teams throughout the tournament, but in Pollard they had the right man for the stage. There was the customary six-hitting, including a monstrous strike into the stands off Mudassar Bukhari, but there was plenty of nous too as he raced to his fifty from 24 balls, the third quickest in World Cup history.

Given the stiff target Netherlands were unlikely to get near and Roach ensured West Indies overcame them in style.

Sahil Dutta is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Ryan ten Doeschate produced a scintillating 119 from 110 balls, and followed up with the brilliant bowling figures of 2 for 47 in ten overs, to give England one of the biggest frights of their international lives. However, his very best efforts were not quite enough to propel the Netherlands to an incredible victory in their World Cup opener at Nagpur.

Faced with a massive target of 293, and humiliation on an even greater scale than they suffered at Lord’s two years ago, England responded with a determined batting performance under the floodlights, and thanks to composed half-centuries from Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott, they eventually reached safety with six wickets and eight balls to spare. However, the final margin of victory did no justice to the journey they were forced to undertake. Had England stumbled, it would surely have gone down as the greatest upset in World Cup history.

The final overs were fraught with possibility, as England battled with a run-rate that barely dipped below seven an over, against a pumped-up team of performers who could mainline their adrenalin straight from that opening fixture of the World Twenty20. With 69 needed from the final ten overs, Trott was exquisitely stumped off a leg-side wide by Wesley Barresi, who had earlier launched the Dutch innings with a sparky cameo of 29 from 25 balls, and when the in-form Ian Bell was bowled middle stump by the final ball of ten Doeschate’s spell, Nagpur really was living up to its reputation as the City of Orange.

That dismissal left England’s fate in the hands of Paul Collingwood, who has barely been able to buy an international run all winter, and Ravi Bopara, whose inclusion at the expense of the second spinner Michael Yardy contributed to their problems in the field, but for which he ultimately atoned with a vital 30 not out from 20 balls, including a soothing six over long-on off the first ball off the 49th over – the first of England’s innings.

It was Collingwood who proved the key, however. He was England’s captain when they lost in 2009, and ten years earlier he had also been on the receiving end of a NatWest Trophy beating while playing for Durham in Amstelveen. The threat of a triple dose of humiliation compelled him to rediscover his fighting spirit, and he restored faith in both himself and his team with an unbeaten 30 from 23.

It was all extraordinarily fraught. Whereas previous shocks have revolved around batting collapses in helpful conditions – think Ireland in Jamaica four years ago, or West Indies against Kenya in 1996 – this performance was all about the weight of runs that the derided Dutchmen were able to pile onto England’s shoulders. With Associate cricket in the spotlight like never before, following the decision to reduce the 2015 World Cup to 10 teams, and in light of the recent capitulations by Canada and Kenya in Group A, this was a performance that showed the sport’s second tier in the best and most timely light imaginable.

ten Doeschate’s prowess in limited-overs cricket is hardly a secret – he averaged 54 in the CB40 last season, and weighed in with nine wickets, as Essex advanced to the semi-finals – but England had no answers to his watertight technique and a shot selection that started out composed before exploding in the closing overs with 52 runs coming from his last 26 deliveries. He came to the crease in the 12th over and though he took 12 balls to get off the mark, the value in gauging the pace of the wicket paid off handsomely.

All told, ten Doeschate struck nine fours and three sixes in a 110-ball stay, the first of which came off a gentle full-toss from Kevin Pietersen, whose two overs were dispatched for 19 and highlighted England’s folly in omitting Yardy – Bopara’s medium-pace was not called upon. Swann, on his return to the team following the birth of his son Wilfred, was the pick of England’s bowlers with 2 for 35 in ten tidy overs, while Stuart Broad was menacing if a touch expensive in his first full international since the Adelaide Test in December. But ten Doeschate treated the rest of England’s attack with disdain, as he powered through to his fourth and highest century in 28 appearances for the Netherlands.

After calling for the Powerplay in the 43rd over, ten Doeschate lost his fifth-wicket partner Tom de Grooth, the hero of Lord’s 2009, who was bowled by a Stuart Broad yorker for 28. But undeterred, he picked off consecutive boundaries from Tim Bresnan to move through the nineties, before reaching his first World Cup hundred from 98 balls and in remarkable fashion, as a sharp single to short fine leg turned into five overthrows when Trott’s shy ricocheted off the stumps and away to the ropes.

On a night that belonged to the Dutchmen in spite of the final result, the nadir of England’s performance was reached in the final six overs of their bowling effort. Only last summer, England’s attack was touted as their likeliest route to World Cup glory, given how intricately each member of the attack knew their roles, and how quickly they were able to react to changing circumstances. However, the closing overs were a total shambles that would have disgraced a club side, given the breadth and variety of the errors that were committed.

A foretaste of the chaos came in Swann’s seventh over, when ten Doeschate, on 47, launched a drive into no-man’s land behind the bowler’s arm, where James Anderson and Kevin Pietersen converged from mid-off and mid-on respectively, but stopped dead as the ball plugged harmlessly between them.

Anderson’s day then went from bad to worse when he returned to the attack in the 46th over. His attempt at blockhole bowling resulted in two awful waist-high full-tosses, the second of which swung away down the leg side for four. Both were called as no-balls, and Anderson was very fortunate not to be withdrawn from the attack by the umpires. Or not as it happens, because the Dutch captain Peter Borren was delighted he remained. He belted three consecutive boundaries in a listless ninth over, to finish unbeaten on 35 from 24 balls.

England’s embarrassment didn’t end there. Though Broad showed some fight to end ten Doeschate’s stay via a catch in the deep in the 49th over, he was denied the wicket of Borren in the same over when Collingwood at midwicket failed to take his required position inside the fielding circle. A no-ball was signalled, Borren was recalled, and there was still time for one more howler, as Swann shelled a sitter at third man to reprieve Mudassar Bukhari.

The Netherlands final total of 292 for 6 was their highest against a full-member nation, and the second highest by any Associate, beating the 230 they scored against England on this very day 15 years ago, at the 1996 World Cup. The hero that day was the 18-year-old Bas Zuiderent, who was the only Dutchman to miss out this time around, as he made 1 from 10 balls before becoming Swann’s second victim. It was scant consolation for England on a day that they could not allow to get any worse.

The new opening pairing of Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen went some way towards atoning for England’s earlier errors with a 105-run stand in 17.4 overs. They started with clear intent as Strauss snaffled three fours in the first over, from Mudassar Bukhari – two clips off the toes and a fortuitous under-edged cut past off stump, en route to 88 from 83 balls, while Pietersen’s first shot was a sweetly timed drive to a Berend Westdijk outswinger.

On a slow deck, Pietersen’s instinct was to advance onto the front foot at every opportunity, and his timing seemed in fine fettle even though he kept picking out the fielders in a well-drilled Netherlands outfit. Strauss meanwhile hung back in his crease and took advantage of the Dutch inexperience to nudge and pull eight of his first nine boundaries behind square on the leg-side.

However, as the hardness went out of the new ball and Barresi came up to the stumps to restrict Pietersen’s footwork, his returns tailed off appreciably. Having scored 29 from his first 31 balls, he made just 10 from his next 30, before Pieter Seelaar added his name to the list of left-arm spinners to have captured one of the more notable scalps in world cricket. A tempting delivery was tossed up outside off stump, and Pietersen failed to get his feet to the pitch as he poked an uppish drive to short cover.

In the end humiliation was avoided, and given the lop-sided format of the World Cup, England have already made a significant stride towards the quarter-finals. But with the in-form Indians looming in Bangalore on Sunday, there is no room for another performance this poor. The world is watching. And they’ve taken note.

Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo

Alastair Cook continued his sensational Ashes form with another century as England surged into the lead in the second Test in Adelaide.

For the second time in the series he batted through an entire day, hitting an unbeaten 136 to propel England comfortably beyond Australia’s meagre 245.

The tourists closed the second day on 317 for two, 72 in front and with their prospects of establishing a potentially match-winning advantage growing ever more realistic.

Jonathan Trott contributed 78 to a second-wicket stand of 173 with Cook which could be considered something of a disappointment after they put on an unbroken 329 in Brisbane, and a near faultless day for England was capped by Kevin Pietersen’s serene progress to 85. His partnership with Cook is currently worth 141.

That Trott and Pietersen’s efforts were overshadowed says everything about the quality of Cook’s innings, which was founded on the rocky foundations of England losing captain Andrew Strauss to the third ball of the day.

His performance today was immense, not only statistically but also in terms of the psychological effect it had on an increasingly bedraggled Australia attack forced to operated in conditions Cook later described as “ideal” for batting.

A flat pitch and searing heat unquestionably blunted the hosts’ potency, but Cook’s calm authority was reflected in the fact he did not offer a chance in six and half hours and England’s dominance by a run-rate of more than 3.5 an over.

Cook, who made 76 and 235 not out at the Gabba, has now scored a staggering 438 runs in a series that began with his place under threat. He has now batted for 17 hours and two minutes without being dismissed, beating Nasser Hussain’s England record.

While Cook and Trott came together in Brisbane with the scoreboard reading 188 for one – albeit with England still in arrears – their partnership here began after Strauss was bowled shouldering arms.

The captain was presumably leaving on length when he offered no stroke to Doug Bollinger and had his off bail clipped by a delivery that hardly deviated in line.

Trott was fortunate to survive a run-out chance on six – Xavier Doherty missed with his throw from square-leg after Cook turned down a single – and saw Mike Hussey drop a straightforward chance at gully off Bollinger when he had made 10.

Those errors contrasted starkly with England’s exceptional fielding yesterday, one of many comparisons that Australia would not have appreciated throughout the day.

There was no shortage of authoritative strokes, the majority coming initially from Trott’s bat in the form of trademark whips through the leg side as Australia’s tactic of attacking the stumps backfired.

Growing in adventure, Cook took three fours off Bollinger in the first over after the interval to remind Australia of the task facing them on a day when temperatures touched 37 degrees Celsius.

A miscued pull off Bollinger which looped to a vacant midwicket was the exception rather than the norm for the fluent Trott, who continued to punish anything remotely close to his pads as he followed Cook to 50, off 84 balls to his partner’s 102.

With their lead trimmed to 100, Australia thought they made the breakthrough when Cook was adjudged behind attempting to hook Siddle, only for the batsman’s referral to prove successful after replays showed the ball brushing arm rather than glove.

Brad Haddin, leaping to his left behind the stumps, failed to cling on to a similar chance offered by Trott off Harris, but the batsman failed to add to his score before he whipped the same bowler off his hips to a diving Michael Clarke at short midwicket.

A first setback for 47 overs failed to persuade Cook to alter his approach, and he made plentiful use of the numerous gaps in the field as he moved ruthlessly to three figures.

As usual, the leg side proved a popular scoring area, although the occasional drive through a congested off-side ring served as a reminder that Cook is more than an accumulator.

Pietersen’s panache has never been in doubt, and the manner in which he used his feet to dominate Doherty from the outset masked the fact he had spent much of the day – and the best part of two days in Brisbane – padded up waiting to bat.

Advancing to drive straight and wide of mid-on and mid-off, he spared neither the ineffective Doherty – his 15 fruitless overs cost 70 – nor any of the other bowlers in racing to a 72-ball half-century.

Even three overs with the new ball were not sufficient to stall England, who will head into the third day eager to tighten their grip on a game becoming ever more one-sided.

Source: ECB

Netherlands 163 for 6 (de Grooth 49, Borren 30, Anderson 3-23) beat England 162 for 5 (Wright 71, Bopara 46) by four wickets…

Cricket’s rich history of thrilling upsets was given another chapter as Netherlands sensationally beat England by four wickets in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 at Lord’s. Needing seven off the last over Ryan ten Doeschate and Edgar Schiferli ran for their lives and with two needed off the last delivery Stuart Broad missed a run-out from his follow through and the resulting overthrow set off wild scenes of celebration.

Tom de Grooth played the innings of his life to hit 49 off 30 balls and Netherlands paced their pursuit of 163 so expertly that they were always ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis when steady rain began to fall to add to the drama. But the game deserved to be played to a finish and crucially Netherlands had the experience of ten Doeschate, who plays professionally for Essex, up their sleeve as he didn’t come in until No. 6.

Each time England nipped out a wicket the next Netherlands batsman held their nerve until the final-over equation with seven needed. England missed three chances off the first three balls as the fielding crumbled under pressure in the closing stages, with two run out opportunities and a dropped catch as ten Doeschate cracked a chance back to Broad.

When Schiferli, who had injured his shoulder diving to make his ground earlier in the over, clubbed the ball to the on side Broad collected in his follow-through. A direct hit would have given England the win, but even allowing the single would have sent the game to a Super Over – however Broad went for the win and he missed. Almost before the second run was complete the Dutch were sprinting from the dug-out.

Once again, Twenty20 had shown its capacity to produce the most incredible upsets. But this wasn’t about the gap being narrowed, this victory was all about the superior skill level of Netherlands on the night. The intent with which they went about the chase was thrilling in its freedom and confidence.

Darron Reekers set the tone with thumping sixes over midwicket off Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson a stark comparison to England who didn’t manage a single six throughout their innings. Netherlands were nervous for the first 10 overs and didn’t appear to have a pray as Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright opened with a stand of 102, yet England managed just 73 in the second half of the innings.

The confidence Netherlands gained from their strong finish in the field – where, notably, they held their chances – showed in the batting performance. When Alexei Kervezee pulled to mid-on and Reekers’ brief dash was ended by Broad it appeared England would have too much fire power. However de Grooth took 16 off the sixth over, including a straight six, and England knew they were in a battle.

Adil Rashid, on his international debut, produced a neat legspinner to have Bas Zuiderent stumped, only for Peter Borren to open his account with a thumping pull over midwicket. de Grooth continued to play one of those innings that amateur cricketers dream of and each boundary gave him another story to regale with in the years to come.

Paul Collingwood opted for his medium-pacers rather than returning to the strike bowlers as the runs were whittled down. de Grooth launched the England captain over midwicket for a flat six, but two balls later got a leading edge against a slower ball that looped to extra cover. The celebrations, though, were muted; this wasn’t what the hosts had expected.

Borren top-edged to short fine-leg and Daan van Bunge picked out Wright on the cover boundary with a powerful drive that lodged in the fielders’ elbow, but ten Doeschate found a crucial four in the 19th over with a sliced drive that was parried over the rope by an airborne Eoin Morgan. This was going to be Netherlands’ moment.

It was the type of start the event desperately needed on a cold, grey, damp day which forced the opening ceremony to be cancelled amid memories of the inglorious beginning to the 1999 World Cup. It didn’t seem the most astute scheduling to open with a game involving a minnow, but now the tournament is alive.

England will want to forget the evening. It started badly when Kevin Pietersen was ruled out with a recurrence of his Achilles problem and Rob Key was drafted in having not played during the warm-ups, and finished batting down at No. 6 where he never plays in county cricket.

That was partly down to an excellent opening stand between Bopara and Wright, a continuation of their effort against West Indies, which made it appear that England would have a routine few hours of cricket. Their partnership of 102 equalled England’s best in Twenty20 internationals, but the middle order couldn’t build on the foundation and showed a worrying lack of striking power. Huge credit must go to the Netherlands attack who got their game together after a slow start.

Still, at the half-way stage, most pundits and a large proportion of the crowd will have thought England had enough. No one told the men wearing orange – a motley crew from a country where football is king and cricket barely rates a mention – who less than two hours later and put some of the highest paid players in the world firmly in their place. Say what you like about Twenty20, this was a sporting drama at its very best.

Andrew McGlashan is assistant editor of Cricinfo

Captain Paul Collingwood says England will enter the ICC World Twenty20 with quiet confidence they can triumph on home soil and end their wait to win a major international trophy.

Wednesday’s outstanding nine-wicket warm-up hammering of West Indies at Lord’s, when Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright shared a 119-run opening stand off only 75 balls, has strengthened England’s understated belief they could upset the odds and win the tournament on home soil.

India, South Africa and Australia have been installed as favourites for the 17-day tournament, which finishes at Lord’s on June 21, but England believe they have the necessary firepower to trouble even the best teams.

“(Beating West Indies) gave everybody a realisation that we can do pretty well,” enthused Collingwood. “Having a performance like that does bring a lot of confidence.

“But we’re not going to get carried away by everything and we know we’re going to have to play to our absolute potential to get to those semi-finals, but there’s a lot of confidence around at the moment and it’s all good – there’s a real feelgood factor in the team.”

As hosts, England will open the tournament against the Netherlands at Lord’s tomorrow followed by a meeting with Pakistan at The Oval on Sunday.

Assuming they are one of two teams to qualify for the next stage, their reward is possibly the toughest route to the semi-finals with matches against South Africa, Australia and holders India predicted in the next stage.

But regardless of the scale of the challenge ahead of them, England’s preparation has gone well and skills and tactics picked up from the Indian Premier League – in particular going around the wicket to a right-handed batsman towards the end of the innings to limit his scoring options – have been incorporated.

“We believe we can win it,” said Collingwood. “I’m not saying we will win it because I don’t want to put pressure on the boys by saying we’ll win it.

“We believe we can and I’m quite happy with the boys keeping their feet on the ground and we’re going to have to play to our absolute best if we’re going to win it so at the moment I’m quite happy with the position we’re in.

“I’m not going to come out with any big statements, but we believe as a team that it’s a great opportunity for us. Twenty20 cricket brings teams closer together and anything can happen on the day – if you produce performances like Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright did then you’re going to win games.”

During their two warm-up matches England have also revealed other tactics, including giving medium-pacer Dimitri Mascarenhas the new ball against Scotland and Stuart Broad attempting to distract the batsman by running in on a mazy line.

But the ploy which has been most successful has been the idea to go around the wicket and slant the ball across right-handed batsmen at the end of the innings, which both West Indies and Scotland struggled to combat in the warm-up games.

Collingwood developed the idea following a chat with one of the Delhi Daredevils analysts during his stint with them in the IPL and texted both Broad and James Anderson on his return asking them to practise in anticipation of this tournament.

“I mentioned it to them about five weeks ago asking them to practise it,” revealed Collingwood. “It’s just another plan we’ve got in our locker, really, as the situations come along and we might use it, we might not.

“It’s a death option, it’s trying to make the batsman hit where your fielders are. It pretty much takes 90 degrees of the ground out because normally yorkers over the wicket can go in this format of the game.

“People are sweeping and reverse sweeping much better now so it’s hard for a captain to stop the flow of runs. We’ve done a little bit of it in practice, but I think we were a bit surprised about it the other night and we did start to think that it could work.”

Source: ECB

Jeroen Smits fulfils a childhood dream when he leads the Netherlands into their ICC World Twenty20 clash with England at Lord’s today.

The 36-year-old was awe-struck by the famous ground when he accompanied his parents to see the Dutch national side lose to Zimbabwe in the 1986 ICC Trophy final.

“I was really impressed with the stadium, all the facilities, but I really wanted to play for the Dutch team from that point onwards,” said Smits. “My parents loved cricket, so it was a good occasion to come over – a Dutch team playing the final at Lord’s.”

The present-day Dutch have qualified for three World Cups in a row and are one of three associate countries in the 20-over tournament. However, there remains a gulf between them and England.

The vast majority of those bedecked in orange are here as amateurs, on unpaid leave from work, to take on an elite, some of whom earned hundreds of thousands of pounds for a few weeks at the Indian Premier League.

“It is a big commitment but we love the game, we don’t make a living out of it,” said Smits. “Maybe if we do well in these kind of tournaments we will.

“It is a privilege to play in this tournament. It is the reason we are playing cricket, and we are having fun, that’s for sure.”

The only sense of equality between the teams is in their International Cricket Council daily allowance hand-out of $100 – a flat rate received by all players once the tournament begins.

Source:ECB