Borren's career-best stuns Scotland

Netherlands 210 (Van der Merwe 73, Davey 3-36) and 123 (Davey 3-43) beat Scotland 133 (Taylor 46, Kingma 4-32) and 156 (Berrington 59, Taylor 52, Borren 4-1) by 44 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

An inspired bowling spell of 4 for 1 from captain Peter Borren propelled Netherlands to a dramatic 44-run victory over Scotland on the final day of the Intercontinental Cup match at Voorburg Cricket Club. Borren produced his best first-class figures to send Scotland crashing from 150 for 6 to 156 all out immediately after lunch.

It was Netherlands' first I-Cup win in more than seven years. Their last triumph in the four-day competition came against UAE in April 2008, when centuries from Bas Zuiderent and Ryan ten Doeschate helped erase a first-innings deficit and get the Dutch over the line in Sharjah.

While Borren's heroics sealed the victory here, the turning point came five minutes before the lunch break when part-time left-arm spinner Michael Rippon broke through Richie Berrington and Rob Taylor's 93-run sixth-wicket stand.

The pair had got together at a time of strife: Roelof van der Merwe had captain Preston Mommsen caught at slip, and Josh Davey at forward short leg in the first 10 minutes of the day. Their resistance had lasted 201 balls before Berrington, on 59, was trapped lbw by Rippon.

Scotland had taken a tactical call in promoting Taylor one spot up, ahead of Matthew Cross. Van der Merwe was troubling the right-handers, taking the ball away from them, but against the left-handed Taylor, he looked less threatening. From 52 for 5, Berrington and Taylor cruised through nearly the entire morning session, and Berrington brought up his half-century off 115 balls with a square drive.

It wasn't a flawless partnership though. Berrington had been on 55 when he middled a pull off seamer Paul van Meekeren to deep midwicket, where Pieter Seelaar spilled a regulation chance. Undeterred, Borren kept searching for answers and found one in the form of Rippon and then later himself.

Borren had bowled one over at the end of day three without success, but on Friday afternoon he struck with his third ball thanks to a fine assist from wicketkeeper Wesley Barresi. Standing up to Borren's medium pace, Barresi flicked the bails for a superb leg-side stumping after the batsman Cross missed his flick and lost his balance. Con de Lange copped a pair when Borren had him lbw off the very next delivery.

Scotland's hopes were pinned to Taylor, who had top-scored in the first innings with 46. He was able to get to a fifty second time around, but was dismissed soon after, chasing at a wide one from Borren in the 65th over. Barresi, standing up to the stumps again, took another smart catch.

One ball later the match was wrapped up as Borren bowled Alasdair Evans to spark raucous celebrations from the Dutch squad. The win meant Netherlands earned a full 20 points and are now top of the table in the Intercontinental Cup. Scotland are fifth, with 13 points, and are ahead of Afghanistan, Hong Kong and UAE. Both teams have two days off before the first of two WCL Championship matches on Monday in Amstelveen.