Nagpur: Ryan ten Doeschate cracked a superb ton (119 of 110 balls 9 fours and 3 sixes), before giving off his wicket to Stuart Broad, to help the Dutch set a 293 target to the English side at the VCA Ground in Nagpur on Tuesday.
Ryan’s fine knock bolstered the Netherlands game plan of becoming the first associate nation to pull off a win in World Cup 2011.
The Dutch batting line up, the surprise package, showed there was always someone to take up the charge after wickets started falling. The last man at the guard post was Dutch captain, Peter Borren, himself.
The below-average English fielding gave out chance after chance for the Dutch to mature on field. Though Broad struck late to pocket two wickets, Greme Swann was the only other bowler who inflicted some fear into the determined Dutch side, taking two crucial wickets.
English captain Andrew Strauss sent in his medium pacers to give Swann the company from the other end and they proved successful, at least for a bit, in building the fort wall pierced by the Dutch openers.
Earlier, Wesley Barresi and AN Kervezee gave the Dutch, who beat England at Lord's in the 2009 World T20, a fiery start by dominating the English pacers.
Bartresi and Kervezee faced the English pace attack fearlessly and amassed 36 runs in 6.2 overs, before a faulty stroke selection tripped Kervezee.
The Netherlands captain Peter Borren won the toss and elected to bat against England in the teams' World Cup Group B opener.
England recalled star off-spinner Graeme Swann in place of left-arm spin bowler Michael Yardy in the only change to the side that beat Pakistan in a warm-up match last weeek.
England are looking to add a maiden World Cup title to the World Twenty20 trophy they won in the Caribbean last year.
England: Andrew Strauss (C), Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson.
Netherlands: Peter Borren (C), Alexei Kervezee, Wesley Barresi, Tom Cooper, Ryan ten Doeschate, Bas Zuiderent, Tom de Grooth, Mudassar Bukhari, Pieter Seelar, Bernard Loots, Berend Westdijk.