 England will play Netherlands in the first game of the 2009 version of the ICC
World T20 at Lord's. This will be a Group B encounter, with Pakistan being
the third team in the fray.
England's build-up in the tournament has been reasonable, having won both their
warm-up games. However, one of the games was against a beleaguered Scotland,
in which they were stretched to almost the last over, before being guided to
a win by former captain Kevin Pietersen. They came back well to make
mincemeat of West Indies; chasing the target of 140-odd in less than
15 overs, thanks to their opening combination of Ravi Bopara and Luke
Wright.
While Wright has finally come good, Bopara will definitely be the man to watch
out for in the tournament, especially as the tournament progresses into the
second round. In the lead-up to this tournament, he already has smashed couple
of near-run-a-ball centuries in test matches, which had been preceded by some
confidence-inspiring batting for the Kings XI Punjab.
The bowling will heavily rely on the pace and swing of James Anderson
and Stuart Broad, but one gets a sense that they will miss a genuine third seamer
if Ryan Sidebottom does not get to full match fitness very soon. Sidebottom
did have an excellent couple of spells against Scotland, but was thrashed around
in the next game. England looks to be wanting to 'hide' Graeme Swann from the
opponents' eyes, as he has bowled only two overs in the two warm-up games. There
is hardly any doubt that he will hold the key to England's chances in the middle
and end overs of the opposition inning.
Netherland have had four friendlies to strut their wares, and have given a
reasonable account of themselves in a couple of games; beating a veterans' England
team and losing to Ireland via a Super Over. However, it has been the other
two games that would have hurt the Dutch, losses to Bangladesh and New Zealand
by 64 and 90 runs respectively; colossal margins in this format of the game.
The problem lies in the Dutch batting, which hasn't been able to really fire,
and apart from a Peter Borren inning of 40, none of the others have really managed
to get to anything substantial. From the bowling perspective, potentially their
best bowler, and of the Delhi Daredevils fame, Dirk Nannes has had a
couple of outings, having been scattered all over the park against the Kiwis,
but then coming into his own in the Ireland game. Nannes and the experienced,
Ryan ten Doeschate will hold the Dutch bowling keys!
However, it is difficult to see England go down to this Netherlands outfit.
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