Cricket World Cup: Fielding howlers almost leave England red faced

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NEW DELHI: England suffered a real fright before escaping with a narrow six-wicket victory against the Netherlands in a Group B match on Tuesday, an outcome that struck a blow for the under-fire associate teams.

The match had all the ingredients of being the first upset of the World Cup as the Netherlands piled up 292-6, highest score by an associate team against a test playing nation, and then returned to terrorise the English batsmen who made a mad scramble to cross the line.

Andrew Strauss (88) and Kevin Pietersen (39) sought to gloss over the shoddy bowling and the ugly fielding some of their team mates had dished out and Jonathan Trott (62) beefed up the innings when both departed.

In the end, England needed Paul Collingwood's experience and Ravi Bopara's improvisation -- both were unbeaten on 30 - to complete the third highest run chase in the tournament's history with eight balls to spare.

The result is likely to question the International Cricket Council's decision to include only 10 teams -- instead of the current 14 -- in the 2015 World Cup.

Non test-playing nations have predictably been dismayed at the ruling and Dutch captain Peter Borren said their close result against England proved they deserved a place on the big stage.

"We showed we have got the potential to (create upsets)," Borren said.

"Today was one chance, hopefully we will get more chances in the tournament and we can take them."

The Netherlands' brilliant show was in stark contrast to England's slipshod display in the field.

Their bowling was pedestrian and the sharp fielding that has been the hallmark of the Ashes-winning team has suddenly deserted them.

"We got a lot of things wrong with our bowling. We let them off hook 3-4 times. It was a very poor first 50 overs," a rather embarrassed Strauss said.

"We have to learn pretty quickly because we can't do it too often," said Strauss, aware that the chinks could be ruthlessly exploited when they take on India in Bangalore on Feb 27.

Matt Prior, Pietersen, Trott and Graeme Swann dropped catches, ranging from sitters to half-chances, while Tim Bresnan and Ian Bell were poor in fielding.

Some muddle-headedness was evident in the 49th over of the Netherlands innings as well when Borren had to be called back despite being bowled by Stuart Broad because Collingwood had forgotten to walk into the circle, which meant England had just three inside which rendered it a no-ball. (Reuters)