Van Bunge gives Dutch hope of deepening English gloom

The Englash sporting equivalent to losing against Australia at football is to be defeated by the Netherlands at cricket. Tomorrow in the weary old South African seaside resort of East London – imagine a run-down version of Morecambe – this has a chance of coming to pass.

It cannot happen, of course, it simply cannot. The gap in ability and experience between the sides is as wide as the North Sea. If England contrive to lose this one, they would be talking of bungs in about the length of time Shane Warne spent in the World Cup – no time, that is.

Talking of bungs, however, brings the subject to Daan van Bunge. He is one of the batsmen who would probably have to score heavily if the Dutch were to create the sort of upset which would provoke calls for the immediate sackings of everybody in a senior position in the England team and probably most of those in junior positions as well – calls which would probably be answered.

Van Bunge does not think it is a realistic prospect, but then he went into the Netherlands' Group A match against India on Wednesday with similar expectations. By the time the first innings was over, the World Cup was preparing for its greatest shock since Kenya turned over the West Indies. India, a team containing Sachin Tendulkar and few others bordering on greatness, were all out for 208.

"We really thought we had it then," Van Bunge, at 20 the side's youngest player, said. "The game was there for us at half-way but then we lost too many early wickets and the chance was gone. We can only hope it will come again."

Young Van Bunge was the only Dutchman to insert his finger in the gushing dyke. He saw the ball was moving about dangerously, put his head down and by his own admission played for himself. Such a strategy produced a diligent innings of 62 from 116 balls and brought him to within a wicket of being only the second player in a World Cup to carry his bat through a completed innings. The only other is Ridley Jacobs, the West Indies wicketkeeper. They would have made a rum pair.

On the face of things, it is ridiculous that the Dutch are competing in the World Cup – for the second time, no less. The country has 5,000 players, about 4,998 fewer turf pitches and is in thrall to football and speed skating.

Van Bunge began playing after his elder brother answered an advertisement for cricketers placed in his primary school by a local club. (There is virtually no school sport in the Netherlands and coaching youngsters is almost completely up to clubs, which does not seem to prevent them producing star sportsmen who are also well-rounded individuals). The Van Bunge boys fell in love with cricket immediately.

"It's the chance for the individual to do well in a team setting which appealed to me," he said. "The spirit of the game was also something that I liked and still do." There was also the small matter that the Van Bunge boys' mother would not let them play football after one of them came home black and blue.

If Dutch cricketers are few, they are dedicated. The country has set up a national academy in Cape Town which Van Bunge has attended for two successive years. He averaged 60 this winter for his club side.

For years, the Dutch stayed relatively strong because they imported experienced foreigners. They have ended that policy for one of encouraging indigenous players and are led by an experienced one of their own, Roland Lefebvre, the former Glamorgan seamer.

Van Bunge is the future and has serious intentions of following Lefebvre, Adrianus van Troost and Baz Zuiderent into county cricket. He will spend this summer on the MCC ground staff. His heroes are Jacques Kallis and Brian Lara, neither of whom he will play against unless his side reach the Super Sixes. It is a regret that he will miss the chance to compare leg-spinning notes with Shane Warne, who has left the tournament after failing a random drugs test.

"We're simply very happy to be here. Our big objective is to beat Namibia in our pool game," he said. "It would be hard for us to expect anything else."

England to win in East London then, or else the nature of calamity will have taken a serious downturn.