van Bunge heroics seals draw

Netherlands 229 and 233 for 8 (van Bunge 98*) drew with Canada 177 and 419 for 9 dec
Scorecard

Daan van Bunge fell two short of a deserved maiden first-class hundred, but nevertheless helped Netherlands pull off a fine result to draw against Canada on the final day at Rotterdam.

Play was delayed by rain on what was a blustery day, and only 59 overs were possible - all of which played into Netherlands hands, as they resumed in the perilous position of 120 for 5. he lost his overnight partner, Jeroen Brand, in the second over of the day when he was trapped lbw by Umar Bhatti, but found good support from Netherlands' dogged lower-order.

Bart Schilperoord helped put on 53 for the seventh wicket as van Bunge passed fifty, and there was a turgid but vitally defensive stand of 37 in 27.1 dead-panning overs with Mark Jonkman, as Netherlands ground the game to a virtual halt.

Jonkman fell, handing Qaiser Ali a wicket to record remarkable figures of 8-7-1-1, but van Bunge was defiant and remained heroically unbeaten on 98, an innings that spanned 294 balls, as the match was drawn.

Canada captain, Umar Bhatti, praised van Bunge's match-saving effort. "It was an excellent batting performance by (van) Bunge as he put the team first and batted with tremendous responsibility. Even the sight of a maiden first-class century couldn't distract him. I think his knock has been an example and a lesson for many batsmen," he said.

Bhatti was optimistic that his team would learn from their experience in this tournament. "This is just the beginning of a long season and I'm sure we'll be able to translate whatever we have learnt on this tour into those matches. Ideally, we would have been happier with a few more points against our names but we still have matches in hand and we'll try to bag maximum points from the Kenya match."

"The tour has proved to be an excellent learning curve to our team and specially the youngsters. Obviously we would have liked to win a few more matches but playing in different conditions and against different oppositions has provided to boys to understand what to expect at this level and how we can improve our performances for upcoming matches."