England v Netherlands match report: Poms squeeze past the Dutch in a thriller – ICC World Cup 2011
NED 292/6 50 overs ENG 296/4 48.4 overs
An outstanding effort by Ryan Tan Doeschate went in vain as the Netherlands lost a close game to England at the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Vidarbha-c860 Cricket Association ground in Nagpur.
The lopsided start to the tournament suddenly sprung to life with an outstanding effort by Doeschate that almost took the Dutch to a stunning upset after the first three days were marked by one sided encounters between the leading contenders and the lowly
ranked teams in both groups.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Netherlands-c753 came out to play with a great deal of determination and had a resolute attitude towards the game as they gave the English team a real scare by posting an extremely challenging total of 292 runs batting first.
After a solid start the Dutch were well served by Tim Cooper and Doeschate who stabilized the innings in the middle overs before propelling the team to a highly competitive total.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Cooper-c51561 went for 47 yet Doeschate carried on till the last few overs posting a splendid hundred, he was eventually dismissed for 119 runs which was an innings of high class. He hit 3 sixes and 9 fours scoring his runs off a mere 110 balls.
The English bowlers were tormented around the park with pacer James Anderson conceding as many as 72 runs off his quota of 10 overs.
The English nerves were settled by a steady opening stand between Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen. The two who were opening the innings together for the first time in ODIs added 105 runs before Pietersen fell.
Strauss was dismissed for 88 runs with the total at 166 in the 30th over of the innings; the English captain scored his runs off only 83 balls striking 9 fours in the process.
Jonathan Trott continued his golden run with the bat as he eased to another half century, he was sent packing with the total at 224 brilliantly stumped of Doeschate.
Doeschate continued his golden run in the match when he bowled Ian Bell for 33 leaving England needing 52 off the last 8 overs.
The task was duly completed by the pair of Ravi Bopara and Paul Collingwood; the winning runs came off the penultimate over as the English team heaved a sigh of relief.
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