Ragged England sneak past Dutch

2011-02-22 19:09:16

A ragged England survived a major scare in their opening World Cup match as they beat a spirited Netherlands with only eight balls to spare in Nagpur.

All-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate smashed 119 from 110 balls as the Dutch took advantage of some poor England bowling and abject fielding to post 292-6.

Andrew Strauss (88) and Jonathan Trott (62) gave England a solid start.

But after runs dried up in the middle overs, Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara (both 30 not out) saw England home.

The duo brought a nerve-wracking run chase to a conclusion in the penultimate over, with Bopara crashing a six and two fours off medium pacer Bernard Loots.

However, the day belonged to South Africa-born Ten Doeschate, whose innings paved the way for the closest finish yet of the 2011 World Cup.

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The Dutch had made a positive start to their innings with Wesley Barresi striking three fours off an over from Broad.

But, in the following over, Tim Bresnan made the breakthrough as Worcestershire opener Alexei Kervezee's attempted pull skimmed off the top edge of his bat and into the gloves of Prior.

Netherlands' bright start forced Strauss to turn to the spin of Swann in the 12th over and England's off-spinner reproduced his handy habit of striking in his first over.

A skilfully flighted ball at a tempting length outside off stump passed Barresi's outside edge and Prior whipped off the bails moments before the batsman could get his foot back behind the line.

Tom Cooper, dropped by Pietersen at fine-leg on 46, was out one run later when he flicked a Collingwood ball straight to Anderson at mid-on.

Bas Zuiderent got himself squared-up and gifted a dolly of a catch to Collingwood and Tim de Grooth was bowled by a Broad yorker after a decent 28 off 31 balls.

Ten Doeschate motored into the 90s with two successive fours off Bresnan before reaching three figures courtesy of more hapless fielding from England as Trott's attempt at a run out cannoned off the stumps and flew away to the boundary for four overthrows.

A magnificent innings finally came to an end in the penultimate over when a slog off Broad picked out Bopara at deep square leg.

Bopara and Collingwood saw England home with a 55 partnership

But there was still time for the Dutch to take advantage of some comical fielding to post the second highest total by an associate nation against a Test side in all one-day internationals - behind Zimbabwe's 312-4 against Sri Lanka in 1992.

Strauss set the tone for England's reply with three fours in the first over, one of which flew off an edge and almost took out his off stump.

With the Dutch bowlers struggling to adjust their line to the left-hander, the England captain made the most of some leg-stump bowling to race to his fifty off 34 balls with nine boundaries.

Pietersen made a positive start to his innings before getting bogged down by some tight bowling, and prodding left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar straight to short extra cover for 39.

Strauss looked on course for his sixth one-day international hundred before he got a little greedy and pulled the ball straight to deep square leg.

Trott and Ian Bell kept things ticking along with ones and twos but with the required run rate creeping above seven and boundaries a rarity, the game remained in the balance going into the final 10 overs.

Ten Doeschate proved his qualities with the ball by having Trott stumped and clean bowling Bell, who only managed one boundary in his 40-ball 33.

That left Collingwood and Bopara needing 52 from 7 overs and luckily for England they were up to the task.

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E-mail this to a friend Printable version ENGLAND Team guide Pick your own England XI England and Wales Cricket Board NETHERLANDS Team guide Netherlands Cricket (in Dutch) see also Jonathan Agnew column 22 Feb 11 |  Cricket Strauss demands England reaction 22 Feb 11 |  England England v Netherlands as it happened 22 Feb 11 |  England England v Netherlands photos 22 Feb 11 |  Cricket Strauss wants shorter World Cup 20 Feb 11 |  England Superb Netherlands shock England 05 Jun 09 |  England Cricket World Cup 2011 squads 19 Jan 11 |  Cricket Cricket World Cup 2011 09 Mar 11 |  Cricket related bbc links: Cricket World Cup on the BBC TMS podcast BBC Sport on your mobile BBC World Service's enhanced match scorecards Download our cricket masks related internet links: World Cup 2011 BBC World Cup on Twitter Test Match Special photos on flickr International Cricket Council The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Skip to top PRODUCTS & SERVICES Daily and weekly e-mails Mobiles Desktop Tools News feeds Interactive TV Podcasts A-Z of Sports American Football Archery Athletics Badminton Baseball Basketball Bowls Boxing Canoeing Cricket Cycling Darts Disability sport Diving Equestrian Fencing Football Formula 1 Gaelic Games Golf Gymnastics Handball Hockey Horse Racing Ice Hockey Judo Modern Pentathlon MotoGP Motorsport Netball Rowing Rugby League Rugby Union Sailing Shooting Snooker Squash Swimming Table Tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Weightlifting Winter Sports Wrestling blq.setLabel('searchSuggestion', 'Search BBC Sport');

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