Kolkata, March 18:Netherlands exit the ICC World Cup 2011 without a win against their name. For the second time in the tournament Ryan ten Doeschate, the main-stay of their batting line-up hit a century (100 off 104 balls with 13 fours), but ended up on the losing side.
Ireland’s Paul Stirling hit his first CWC century that helped his side win their last match of the mega event played at Eden Gardens.
Ireland began their innings with a steady partnership of 177 runs between captain William Porterfield (68) and Stirling (101). Losing the openers in consecutive overs set the Irish back a bit, but Niall O’Brien (57*) put on effective partnerships with Ed Joyce (28) and Gary Wilson (27) to ensured that Ireland reach their target comfortably. They reached the target of 307 runs with 14 balls to spare.
Earlier, put in to bat, Netherlands lost two quick wickets - that of opener Eric Szwarczynski (1) and Tom Cooper (5), who came in after Wesley Barresi got injured in the second over. But, Alexei Kervezee’s dismissal that left the Dutch in a precarious position at 53 for three brought Barresi back to the crease. Barresi eventually scored 44. ten Doeschate mean while held up the other end and was duly supported by skipper Peter Borren who made 84 runs off 82 balls. Thanks to their partnership of 121 runs for the fifth wicket Netherlands were able to put up a score of over 306.
The Dutch looked set for a larger total until they lost four wickets to run outs in the last over of the innings. From 303 for six they were 306 all out at the end of 50 overs adding only three runs to their tally as they tried to squeeze in singles where none existed. Atse Buurman was the first to go, followed by Pieter Seelaar and Adeel Raja to complete a hat-trick of run outs. Mudassar Bukhari was the last to get run-out on the last delivery.
Brief scores:Netherlands 306 all out in 50 overs (Ryan ten Doeschate 106, Peter Borren 84, Paul Stirling 2/51) lost to Ireland 307/4 in 47.4 overs (Paul Stirling 101, Niall O’Brien 57, Tom Cooper 2/31) by six wickets
Man-of-the-Match:Paul Stirling for his 101 runs that helped Ireland chase the Dutch total of 306 successfully.
