The Netherlands claimed the final qualifying place at the 2007 Cricket World Cup on Monday as they trounced the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 145 runs in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Trophy fifth-place play-off.
The Dutch — for whom their outstanding batsman Bas Zuiderent scored 116 not out — join Bermuda, Canada, hosts Ireland and Scotland, who have already qualified from this tournament.
Having narrowly missed out on automatic qualification during the group stage, The Netherlands bounced back with two emphatic victories to seal the final place in the Caribbean.
The Dutch beat Denmark by 89 runs on Saturday to reach the play-off, and proved far too strong for the UAE to claim a victory that will see them compete in a second consecutive ICC Cricket World Cup and third in total.
The key to their victory was the composure under pressure of their batsmen.
However, they struggled early on losing two quick wickets after being put in to bat. The swinging white ball saw Luuk van Troost and Dan van Bunge trudging back to the pavilion with only 15 on the board.
But Zuiderent, Holland’s outstanding batsman of the tournament, took responsibility for anchoring the innings. In tandem with Tim de Leede, he set about steering the Dutch into the ascendancy.
By the time that De Leede was out for 65, The Netherlands had a solid platform, so in the final overs Zuiderent and Ryan ten Doeschate were able to play without inhibition to push the score to 287 for four in 50 overs.
Ten Doeschate finished on 65 not out while Zuiderent had strolled to his third century of the tournament.
The UAE had cause for optimism as they had beaten The Netherlands in the 2004 ICC Six Nations Challenge on home soil, but they were soon to be robbed of any thoughts of victory.
They took an attacking approach from the start that kept them in touch with the run rate, but at the expense of valuable wickets as too many players took chances against the disciplined Dutch pace attack.
Five different bowlers picked up wickets as The Netherlands rattled through the UAE batting line-up. The game was wrapped up when Ali Asad Abbas was clean-bowled by Billy Stelling with the third ball of the 32nd over to leave the UAE all out for 142. — Sapa-AFP