Netherlands beat England in World Twenty20 opener

LONDON: England was humiliated in the Twenty20 World Cup opener, losing by four wickets to the Netherlands on the last ball of the match in one of the biggest shocks in cricket history.

Needing seven runs off the final over after England had totaled 162-5 at Lord's, the Dutch team scored singles until Edgar Schiferli collected two off the final ball when bowler Stuart Broad's shy at the stumps went for an overthrow.

England now needs to beat Pakistan on Sunday at The Oval to have any chance of advancing to the Super 8 stage from Group B.

"The boys are very disappointed," England captain Paul Collingwood said. "We've got 24 hours to bounce back and we'll have to play a hell of a lot better on Sunday. We had the opportunities to win the game and unfortunately we didn't take them. Tonight we weren't good enough."

The Netherlands' Tom de Grooth hit 49 off 30 balls, including six boundaries and a six, while teammate Peter Borren added 30.

"This is a day we could only dream of," De Grooth said. "We went out there to play some cricket and to make England sweat a bit - and it worked."

England failed to hit a single six in its innings compared to three for the Dutch, while the hosts had several run-out chances but errors or misses from Broad, Ravi Bopara, Collingwood and wicketkeeper James Foster saved the Netherlands.

Netherlands captain Jeroen Smits won the toss and decided to field in damp, murky conditions.

England was cruising at 102 when it lost its first wicket in the 12th over, Bopara caught for 46 at long on by Pieter Seelaar off Ryan ten Doeschate after having hit five boundaries.

The hosts lost Owais Shah for 5 in the 14th over and Eoin Morgan for 6 in the 16th, before Luke Wright's 49-ball innings of 71 ended when he was caught by Borren off Ryan ten Doeschate in the 18th over to leave England on 144-4. Wright hit eight fours.

Collingwood (11) and Rob Key (10 not out) were the only other England batsmen to reach double figures.

The Netherlands got off to a bad start when Alexei Kervezee was out for 1 on the fifth ball. Darron Reekers produced an entertaining cameo with 20, including two sixes, before he was caught by Shah off Broad to make it 23-2 in the fourth over.

Bas Zuiderent (12) and De Grooth put on 43 in less than five overs, and De Grooth then added 50 with Borren.

A visibly rattled England missed the chance to run Borren out when he was 23. Next ball, he smashed a six into the top tier of the Compton Stand.

There was a premature sigh of relief among England supporters when De Groot was out two balls later, caught by Key off Collingwood. But Borren last another three overs, supported by Daan van Bunge (8) before Schiferli and Ten Doeschate had to face the final over.

Broad bowled around the stumps and managed to only concede a single on each of the first five balls, albeit with at least two good run-out chances among them.

Schiferli smashed the last ball straight to Broad, whose throw at the stumps would have won England the game with Schiferli well short of the crease, but the ball missed and allowed the two batsmen to scamper another run and start celebrations in the Dutch camp.

For some of the Netherlands players, the win will come at a financial cost if they progress to the Super 8s.

"I cant wait for the Dutch papers," Smits said. "But it's costing us a lot of money. We'll have to take some extra days off work, but at the moment I really don't mind."