Netherlands eye innings victory after de Grooth's career-best 196

Tom de Grooth's career-best 196 left the Netherlands eyeing an innings victory over Bermuda in the ICC Intercontinental Cup match at VRA ground in Amstelveen on Tuesday.

De Grooth's superlative knock propelled the home side to 410 in reply to Bermuda's 183. And, faced with a resultant first innings deficit of 227, the visiting side had slumped to 51-3 in its second innings by the close of play on day two, still 176 in arrears.

De Grooth, a graduate of the ICC's Winter Training Camp for the Associate world's most promising players, started the day at 79 out of a Netherlands score of 155-0 and he was the glue that bound his side's innings together.

By the time he was the seventh man out, dismissed by part-time bowler Steven Outerbridge, de Grooth had faced 289 deliveries, striking 19 fours and one six.

It was the opener's maiden first-class century in his 10th first-class match.

De Grooth featured in three fruitful partnerships that laid the foundation for the Netherlands' substantial total.

After Bermuda fast bowler George O'Brien struck twice in eight balls to dismiss Alexei Kervezee (69) and Bas Zuiderent (2) to reduce the Netherlands to 162-2, de Grooth and Peter Borren (22) put on 54 runs for the third wicket.

De Grooth then added 42 runs for the fourth wicket with Geert-Maarten Mol (17) before putting on another 70 runs for the seventh wicket with captain Jeroen Smits (26).

O'Brien and left-arm spinner Dwayne Leverock were well rewarded for their hard work in the field for Bermuda. O'Brien captured a five-wicket haul on his first-class debut and finished with figures of 32-4-118-5 while Leverock claimed 3-118 from 30 overs.

When Bermuda batted for the second time, the Netherlands got an immediate success when Outerbridge fell first ball to collect a pair in the match. Dwight Basden and Jekon Edness soon joined him back in the dressing room as the tourists looked down the barrel at 19-3.

However, James Celestine (29) held the line alongside Roderick Masters (3) and the fourth-wicket pairing - two of five players in this Bermuda line-up making their first-class debuts - ensured there were no further losses before stumps.

It was the home side's seamers that did the damage as Edgar Schiferli picked up two wickets and Mark Jonkman bagged one to leave Bermuda with plenty to do when play resumes.

The ICC Intercontinental Cup has quickly grown in stature and profile since its inception three years ago and now the ICC's premier first-class tournament is an integral part of the Associate Members' cricket schedule.

Having previously been designed around a two-group, three-day format, the event has evolved into an eight-team, round-robin and truly global tournament featuring four-day cricket which gives those teams who do not play Test cricket the chance to experience the longer form of the game.

Scotland won the first ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, beating Canada in the final, while Ireland has been victorious in both events since then, beating Kenya in the 2005 decider and Canada earlier this year in the 2006-07 event.

The final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2007-08 will take place in November 2008 at a venue yet to be decided.