Netherlands disappointed after narrow loss against England

A victory would have been an ideal result for Ryan ten Doeschate and the loss to England on Tuesday has left the Dutch star disappointed.

Ten Doeschate’s sparkling 119 was just not enough to spoil the party for England on Tuesday but the Dutch star is relishing the fact that he will have a few more opportunities to show his prowess.

“It’s (loss) disappointing for me as we were in a very good situation and should have closed in the match. I have worked really hard in the last two weeks and it was one of those days when everything came naturally,” he said.

However, the innings he played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium will remain special for him and has sounded a reminder for the ICC which is mulling cutting down on the number of teams from the next World Cup.

“It was pretty special for me. I told my teammates that we should put up a really good performance here on the biggest stage,” he said, adding that it was a combined team effort where most of the batsmen came good.

Ten Doeschate said he did not go into the match with a specific plan and in fact, pointed that as he spent time on the wicket, it became easier for him.

“There wasn’t too much planning but we assessed as we went along. I haven’t set personal goals for the World Cup but I want us to carry on playing great cricket.”

The Netherlands captain Peter Borren is now hoping to replicate the performance against other top teams in Group B. “There are still five more matches to be played and we would like to make a statement with our performance,” he said.

England captain Andrew Strauss was relieved to open his campaign with a win but made his displeasure about the poor bowling and fielding clear. “We got a lot of things wrong with our bowling and fielding. It was a very good wicket. We knew if we kept wickets in hand we’d have a good chance. We have to improve as the tournament goes on,” he stressed.