It is too bad that the England v Netherlands ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 was played to near empty stadiums in Orange City aka Nagpur because Netherlands have delivered half of what they promised to do, and now the other half of the match is awaited in anticipation as England try to overhaul Netherlands’ 292 with Kevin Pietersen opening in the innings.
It has to be said that the Netherlands innings held the promise of more, particularly in the manner in which Wesley Borresi took to England. His cameo knock of twenty-nine runs may seem small in front of Ryan ten Doeschate’s century. But it certainly set the tone for the match which was further by the rest of the batsmen in good measure.
England failed to find their rhythm, giving away four balls and dropping catches like butter fingers. To Holland’s credit, they made use of every loose ball, batted stoically when England took to using bouncers to intimidate and persisted well with a good run rate to ensure they had more than a decent total on board by the end of the fifty overs, a stark contrast to the response of the other associate nations matches involving Kenya and Canada thus far.
Borresi and Kervezee’s start was suitably built on rather impressively in a seventy-eight run partnership for the third wicket between ten Doeschate and Tom Cooper who was disappointed to be dismissed for forty-seven. Ten Doeschate was by far Netherlands’ most outstanding batsmen on the day and even he would have felt that Netherlands built rather well to the point where he had to take the match to the next level which he did.
If Ryan ten Doeschate’s century was studded by nine boundaries and three sixes, England’s efforts was so lopsided, it was hard to imagine that this was supposed to be a match between an associate nation and a Test team from where cricket is said to have originated. England would have felt their deja vu moments as Netherlands had previously beaten England in the ICC Cricket World Twenty20 2009 at home.
Graeme Swann was the only saving grace in the bowlers’ statistics, going for only thirty-five runs in his ten overs taking two wickets. However, Netherlands carried on in spirit, with Tom de Grooth and Peter Borren ( who survived a dismissal through England’s overlook) putting forth a cameo as England now face a daunting challenge in their first match in Group B.596191
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