At Lord's, June 5 (floodlit). Netherlands won by four wickets. Netherlands 2 pts. Toss:
Netherlands. Twenty20 debut: A. N. Kervezee. Twenty20 international debuts: J. S. Foster,
R. W. T. Key, E. J. G. Morgan, A. U. Rashid; D. P. Nannes, B. Zuiderent.
A stunning victory for the Netherlands on their first senior visit to Lord's marked a
wretched nadir in the painful saga of England's one-day humiliations. The tension built
throughout the Dutch reply, culminating in a final over of impossible drama that included
three missed run-outs and a dropped catch. Bowling round the wicket from wide of the
crease, Broad stifled the scoring by maintaining a full length, but since he committed all
four fluffs, here was England's villain. The Dutch needed seven from that last over. From
the first ball Broad somehow missed the non-striker's stumps from close range; from the
second he tried a Jonty Rhodes dive, but broke the wicket with his hand, not the ball. From
the third he put down a sharp return catch from ten Doeschate. Three balls, three missed
chances, three singles. A scrambled bye - Foster's offers to stand up were ignored - and a
run to mid-on left Schiferli needing two from the final ball. Lord's held its breath. Schiferli
mistimed his shot; he knew there wasn't a single, let alone two, but he had no option, and
charged for the other end as the bowler fielded in his follow-through. Hard-wired to attack,
Broad turned, shied at the stumps and, to his utter horror, missed, as England had all night.
The courageous Dutch filched an overthrow - and thousands of orange supporters were
tickled pink. Had Broad allowed the tie, England would have had a tilt at victory in a
"super over". But this was the right result; they had been punished for disdainfully
underestimating their opponents, rashly giving a debut to Rashid rather than playing the reliable Swann. A tense finish looked improbable after Bopara and Wright had put on 102
to equal England's best stand in Twenty20 internationals. But Pietersen was absent with
an injured Achilles heel, and England had an Achilles heel of their own. Key, a strange
selection for the squad as he had been out of form, was played in the unfamiliar position
of No. 6, instead of Graham Napier. After their opening stand, England scored 60 from
8.4 overs, and their other five batsmen hit one boundary from 37 balls. Having clawed
back the initiative, the Dutch batsmen started out with belief. The stocky Reekers
pummelled two leg-side sixes before de Grooth combined powerful strokes, some learned
on the hockey field, with deft placement. They scored predominantly on the on side, while
the English batsmen, against a more disciplined line, had favoured the off. Borren weighed
in to ensure that, as rain fell, the Dutch were always ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis par
score. Then came the riveting denouement…
Man of the Match: T. N. de Grooth. Attendance: 23,665.