Rain comes to Holland's rescue

Heavy rains at Matara postponed the start of the game between India and Netherlands. When the umpires finally decided that conditions were good enough to try to squeeze in 50 overs of cricket, the players took the field. At 13:00 local time, the match was declared a 35 overs a side game.

RV Ierschot, captain of the Netherlands side won the toss and decided to bat. The Indian medium pacers Shalab Sriwatsa and Mrithyunjay Tripathy bowled a tight line and met with immediate success. Opener Postma held fort at one end while wickets tumbled at the other end.

Mohammad Kaif wasted no time in bring spinners Anup Dave and himself on. Dave bowled superbly, varying his flight well and got good purchase off the wicket. He turned the ball away from the right hander and picked up wickets at regular intervals. Kaif complemented him perfectly, not giving away anything. Bowling in tandem, the spinners knocked the stuffing out of the Dutch middle order. Dave with 7-3-7-3 and Kaif with 7-2-6-1 ended any hopes of a comeback the Dutch may have harboured. The last pair stuck around for five overs, and yet it was the extras that top scored with 20.

The Indians should have had no trouble overhauling the meagre total of 58. With storm clods gathering fast over the Uyanwatte Stadium at Matara, the Indian top order went for expansive shots and three wickets fell in quick succession. Ravneet Ricky (3), Venugopal Rao (2) and Yuvraj Singh (0) were all accounted for by left arm seamer Vic Tewarie who picked up the wickets of Rao and Singh and was on a broken hat-trick as the rains once again came down. The showers came down unabated and the pools in the outfield forced the umpires to abandon the game at 4.35 local time.

When asked whether the outcome of the game was forced by the Indians inability to dismiss the last batsmen for nearly six overs, the Indian team coach Roger Binny said that "the lack of time was the crucial factor." He added that they "even sent a pinch hitter, but there just wasn't enough time."

Each team comes away from the match with one point and the Dutch will be overjoyed at the result.