Dutch make England sweat for opening Cup win

England labour to victory over Netherlands

England laboured to a thrilling six-wicket victory over the Netherlands in a Group B match to avert what could have been the first upset of the World Cup on Tuesday.

The Netherlands batsmen, especially the South Africa-born Ryan ten Doeschate (119), thrived on England's shoddy bowling and sloppy fielding to power the team to 292-6, a target that seemed quite a test for their opponents' tweaked batting order.

England's chase got off to a resounding start with Andrew Strauss (88) and Kevin Pietersen (39) providing a rollicking 105-run stand before they lost four wickets to find themselves in a spot of bother.

Image: England's captain Andrew Strauss plays a shot off the bowling of Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate in the Cricket World Cup Group B match between England and Netherlands in Nagpur, India Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011.

Text: Reuters

Images: AP

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