England shocked by Netherlands in World T20 opener

LONDON: Netherlands made a great setback when they shocked England by four wickets off the final ball in the opening day/night match of the World Twenty20 here at Lord’s on Friday.Chasing a modest target of 163, Netherlands achieved on the final ball to get a thrilling four-wicket win.All credit went to Tom de Grooth, Peter Borren and Ryan ten Doeschate. Grooth smashed 49 from 30 balls with six fours and one six, Borren made 30 off 25 balls with one four and one six, Doeschate was unbeaten on 22.James Anderson took three wickets for 23 runs.Earlier, Openers Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara provided a sound stand of 102 runs to help England pile up 162-5 after Netherland captain Jeroen Smits won the toss and opted to field in their group B match.Both Bopara and Wright batted aggressively and took England to 102 before Bopara departed. He made 46 from 34 balls with five fours.However, Wright succeeded in getting fifty and ultimately got out for 71. He faced just 49 deliveries and hit eight boundaries.Ryan ten Doeschate claimed two wickets for 35.No other batsmen could make any significant score as England set Netherlands a target of 163 runs.England were without star batsman Kevin Pietersen after he suffered a recurrence of his Achilles injury and his place was taken by Rob Key, who did not play in either of their warm-up matches.