|
|
Netherlands v Scotland, St Kitts
Netherlands' Mike Denness
Andrew Miller in St Kitts
March 22, 2007
|
Jeroen Smits got to make the call at the toss with Luuk van Troost dropping himself for the game against Scotland
© Getty Images
|
|
Sacrificial lamb of the Day
Luuk van Troost, Holland's amusingly outspoken captain, decided after
two barren outings that he hadn't been putting his money where his
mouth was, and dropped himself - Mike Denness-style - for this, the
final World Cup outing of his career. It was an act of supreme
selflessness that paved the way for one of the most memorable moments
in Dutch cricket history. Not that there've been a whole lot of those,
of course.
Unknown entity of the Day
At Graeme Smith's press conference on Wednesday, and to much amusement
from the assembled scribes, a question from the veteran
Independent correspondent, Stephen Brenkley, was interrupted
with an "excuse me, but who are you?" from the South African media
manager, Gordon Templeton. Today, there very nearly wasn't a press
conference. The "excuse me" question was this time addressed to Ricky
Ponting, who was briefly refused admission to the briefing room
because he wasn't wearing the correct accreditation.
Wrecker of the Day
The Netherlands' opening bowler, Billy Stelling, missed their game
against Australia because of a back problem, but he looked none-the-worse for his lay-off today. He struck with the second ball of the
match, and then twice in two balls to dismiss two former England
internationals, Gavin Hamilton and Dougie Brown. By the start of his
seventh over he had conceded just four runs for three wickets, and
Scotland were down and out.
Shot of the Day
Ryan ten Doeschate was described by his captain as "too important" to
rely on for runs, but he didn't seem to be buckling under the burden
all the while he was giving Scotland's bowlers the run-around. His
matchwinning 70 not out included six fours in eight balls as the end
came swiftly, but the highlight was a wonderful straight slap off
Glenn Rogers that landed on the roof of the pavilion and couldn't be
retrieved.
Butterfingers of the Day
Daan van Bunge has had an eventful World Cup. There was that
over against Herschelle Gibbs, of course, followed by a bold 33
against Australia on Friday, and he even picked up his first wicket of
the day today, when Scotland's No. 11, Paul Hoffmann, ballooned a
drive to mid-off. But the one thing he couldn't pick were his slip
catches. Two of them went down today - Majid Haq and Neil McCallum -
which slightly undermined the claim made by his coach, Ian Pont, that
the Netherlands' fielding was in the top four for this tournament.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
|
