Congratulations to the Dutch team on some extremely positive performances at the ICC Cricket World Cup in recent weeks. Tim de Leede walked away with the Man of the Match award after the Dutch gave India a scare in their opening match, restricting the Indian batsmen to 204 (de Leede 4.35 from 9.5 overs), whilst Daan van Bunge, who spent a few weeks with the MCC Young Cricketers last summer and who will be returning as a contracted player this year, top scored for Holland with 62 runs. De Leede and van Bunge also shone in the match against England, with De Leede top scoring on 58, and van Bunge taking the wickets of Knight, Vaughan and Flintoff (3/16 from 3 overs).
The positive attitude of the Dutch team in opting to play what was clearly going to be a tough match against Australia rather than settling for the two points from a no-result, earnt them a lot of respect. Captain Roland Lefebvre (0/19 from 8 overs) and Jacob-Jan Esmeijer (0/16 from 5 overs) did a fine job in restricting the Australian batsmen to 170, and whilst the Dutch never looked likely to reach their target, their final score of 122 was no disgrace against the number one team in the World. Australian captain Ricky Ponting told Sky Sports: "Full credit to the Dutch boys, they turned up and wanted to play the game. It was done on a wicket that wasn't 100%, so full credit to them." Lefebvre was pleased with his team's performance: "This is the reason why we are here ñ to learn and to enjoy ourselves and we certainly did that today. We worked hard, and I was very proud of the way our bowlers handled the conditions."
The Dutch bowlers again did well to restrict Pakistan's batsmen to a modest total of 253/9, with de Leede and van Bunge taking 2 wickets each, although the match is more likely to be remembered for Dutch opener Nick Statham becoming Wasim Akram's 500th victim in ODI cricket, as Pakistan cruised to a 97 run win.
Zimbabwe (who went on to qualify for the Super Sixes, along with Australia and India from Group A, and Kenya, New Zealand and Sri Lanka from Group B) posted a total of 301, and thus put the game beyond the reach of the Dutch, who nonetheless passed the 200 run mark for the first time, thanks in part to a fighting 30 off 23 balls from captain Lefebvre, batting at 9, in what would be his last match of the tournament.
After brave performances against 5 stronger teams, the Dutch, without an injured Lefebvre, finally notched up a win in their last game, beating fellow Associates Namibia by 64 runs. A second wicket partnership worth 228 between Feiko Kloppenburg and Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk contributed to a total of 314, which the Namibians, despite some solid top order batting, were unable to match, Kloppenburg and Adeel Raja taking 4 wickets each. Kloppenburg, incidentally, became only the 6th player ever to make a century and take 4 wickets in the same limited overs international match, and walked away with the Man of the Match award, whilst van Noortwijk's run-a-ball 134 equalled the 6th highest individual score of the tournament so far.
Kloppenburg, who is due back at work on Monday, said: ""This will mean a lot for Dutch cricket. It was important to beat Namibia and finish on a high note as the best of the amateur sides." Roland Lefebvre agreed: "I didn't play a part today but I'm a very happy man. I never thought our guys would score two fantastic centuries. We have loved every minute of the tournament and I hope we've showed the world we can play."
