England double-Dutched!

Mudassar Bukhari (C) and his Netherlands teammates celebrate the fall of yet another England wicket during their last ICC World T20 match at Chittagong yesterday. The Dutch pulled off a stunning 45-run win. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

The trend of exciting finishes continued till the last day of Chittagong's World Twenty20-leg yesterday as the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium saw the ghosts of Lord's reappear after half a decade and witnessed the Netherlands complete a incredible 47-run win over England.
It was their second win over their European rivals in T20 World Cups -- the first was in 2009 -- and the post-match celebrations -- which almost had a West Indian knack to it -- depicted just how special the result was.
Batting first in the 'battle-for-pride', the Dutch posted a seemingly below-par 133. England, who were expected saunter to the target, however, went down to some clever bowling and were bundled out for just 88!
Defending such a low total, the men in Orange needed early breakthroughs and that's exactly what happened as their pacers took three wickets in the Powerplay. Dutch bowlers took off the pace, which made hitting harder for the English batsmen; an aspect that was evidenced by the four fours that they had struggled to hit throughout the innings.
Michael Lumb was caught at cover in the third over off Mudassar Bukhari. The latter struck gold in his next over when he bowled the dangerous Alex Hales.
Two wickets down, captain Peter Borren brought a slip in and almost immediately got the rewards after Eoin Morgan edged Van der Gugten in the sixth over.
After the Powerplay, Borren brought in all the spinners and medium-pacers that he had in his armoury, and denied the English any pace whatsoever. As a result, the boundaries almost disappeared and the attacking field meant that the singles were hard to come by.
Swimming in a tide of pressure, Moeen Ali slapped one to cover while Jos Buttler mistimed one to deep midwicket. At 42 for 5 after 10 overs, the Netherlands, it seemed finally started to believe that they could actually pull this off. Ravi Bopara tried hard to re-ignite the chase, but with the asking run-rate climbing, Bopara perished courtesy of a brilliant catch by Logan van Beek inches from the mid-wicket boundary and that ended England's hopes. Thereafter they needed 59 runs off the last five overs, a task that proved too difficult for the tail-enders, who were removed two overs later.
While the bowling and the captaincy was apt, it was the fielding that impressed the most. A pin-point throw from Bukhari from the boundary ropes, helped them run-out Tim Bresnan in the 12th over. He deservedly was adjudged the player-of-the match.
Earlier, Netherlands rode on Stephan Myburgh's aggressive beginning to post a healthy 70 for 1 after 10 overs. With 10 overs remaining, the 160-170 mark was very much possible, however, as it so happened against the likes of South Africa and New Zealand, Netherlands' batting lost their way in the middle. The fall of Myburgh for 39 in the eleventh over dipped the run-rate. Wesley Barresi played the anchor role with a 45-ball 48. The last five overs saw them score just 27 runs.