The case of Sherlock Holmes playing in The Netherlands

Not many World Cup teams can boast a link to Sherlock Holmes, AFP reports. The Dutch can and they'll need all the sleuth's deductive skills if they are to unravel the world No. 1 South Africa in their opening World Cup match on Friday. Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was an avid cricketer and was part of the first team to tour The Netherlands in 1891.

The writer went on to play ten matches for MCC, eight of them at Lord's. He took only one wicket in his career but it was memorable - WG Grace for 110.

The first club in the Netherlands was formed in Utrecht by students from both The Netherlands and the Cape Colony in 1856. Despite those historic social and political links with their opponents, the Dutch will find it hard going to stop the South Africans.