We were hammered, admits Netherlands skipper

Charlie Austin

September 21, 2002

Netherlands captain Roland Lefebvre admitted his side had been "hammered" by Pakistan, but defended his side's participation in the tournament, arguing that the only way to improve was to play against the best.

Pakistan needed just 16.2 overs to reach the Netherlands 137 run target as Imran Nazir scored 59 from 40 balls and Shahid Afridi blitzed 55 from only 18, the second fastest one-day fifty.

"Ya, we got hammered in the end," admitted Lefebvre. "I didn't expect it to end that quickly. I thought they might play some shots but I hoped we might be able to contain them a bit a longer. It was disappointing, but they have got some very clean hitters of the ball who really got going."

However, he tried to look on the bright side, particularly their stubborn batting which had seem them bat out the full 50 overs, Lefebvre leading the way with an unbeaten 32.

"I was pleased that we batted the full fifty overs, which was an improvement on our earlier game - we have to look for the positives and that was one," he said. "Hopefully, next time, we will also score some more runs."

He defended his decision to bat first: "The wicket was flat and I just thought we had to be positive and try to get 180 or so on the board. The batsmen have to take some responsibility by batting first. As players you can run but you can't hide."

Although Netherlands lost both their games by massive margins, Lefebvre argued that it was essential for his side to play as much competitive cricket as possible.

"There is a big gap between the major and minor cricket nations but you don' t solve the problem by not playing each other," he said. "The minor nations have to compete at this level to improve. There is a lot of hard work to be done."

Pakistan captain Waqar Younis was happy with the performance of the top order, claiming that the attitude of the players was better than during the Sri Lanka game.

"I thought the body language was a lot better in this game than the last month or so and the boys were more keyed up although the opposition was definitely weaker," he said.

"I am glad that we have started to play better. This may not be a big win but it's a positive with so much serious cricket coming against Australia and South Africa."

Pakistan will now remain in Sri Lanka for the forthcoming Test series against Australia, which is to be played in Colombo and Sharjah. Pakistan will be without key players, including Inzamann-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana who need surgery for long-term injuries, and Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar who are keen to take a break.

Waqar appeared supportive of their decision to rest: "We don't want to burn out these old heads in the team. We have a lot of serious cricket coming up, especially in South Africa and we want to be fresh."

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