Anderson the catalyst for England's opening win

Netherlands 142 England 144-4 England win by six wickets

When the moment the England players had been waiting for finally arrived it was a bit of an anti-climax. Absent was the roar of a full-house crowd when they walked out on to the arena to play their first match of the World Cup. Their arrival here at Buffalo Park was greeted by gentle applause. Nasser Hussain's team will have to wait another week before a more familiar type of reception greets them when they take on Pakistan in Cape Town.

England's comprehensive six-wicket win over the Netherlands was, however, just the type of gentle rehabilitation this hurt side required. In front of a smattering of spectators, England made harder work of the Dutch amateurs than they would have liked but the four points they took from the win were far easier to come by than those they have lost for failing to play in Zimbabwe.

The man responsible for helping nurse England back to health was James Anderson, the youngest member of their squad, who took the impressive figures of 4 for 25 on his World Cup debut. Before this winter, the Lancashire pace-man had played only three games of one-day cricket for his county and even though it may only be the Netherlands these figures show just what huge strides he has made in the last five months.

England started the day, after winning the toss, with a 30-second huddle in front of the pavilion. Whatever Hussain said worked because his bowlers hit the right part of the pitch from the first ball and his fielders backed this up with an energetic display.

It was the 20-year-old Anderson who gave England the start they wanted though. Bowling lively (88mph) away swing, the boy from Burnley dismissed Daan van Bunge – who scored 62 against India in the Netherlands' first game of the tournament – with a ball that bounced in the sixth over of the day. Trying to force his shot, the Dutch opener guided a comfortable catch to a fit-again Craig White in the gully.

What impresses about Anderson is the simple manner in which he bowls. He does not try to be flash; he just works a good line on or around off-stump and waits for the batsmen to make a mistake. Against players of the Netherlands' quality, errors come around quicker than London buses and it was not long before Anderson and Andrew Flintoff had reduced the Dutch side to 31 for 5.

Finishing a side off when they have them down has been a problem for England in recent times and it was again yesterday. The pitch may have offered the bowlers little help but during the second half of their innings, the Dutch batsmen appeared comfortable. That they prospered was mainly down to Tim de Leede, who scored a stylish, unbeaten 58.

Chasing 142 was never going to be a stiff challenge for England, whose sole purpose was to knock the runs off as quickly as they could, so that their net run-rate was high. Hussain more than anyone would be conscious of the importance of this column in the league tables because it was run-rate that knocked England out of the 1999 World Cup.

England changed their batting order after the loss of Michael Vaughan and Nick Knight for confidence-boosting fifties. Both fell, along with Andrew Flintoff, to the erratic leg-spin of Van Bunge but in general the Dutch bowling was far from taxing. It was the type of bowling any batter would dream of facing if he wanted to get back into form.

"I was very pleased with our victory," Hussain said. "It was nice to wake up a bit nervous and be thinking of cricket for once. What we need to do is win, win convincingly and then move on to the next game." Yesterday England did just that.

EAST LONDON SCOREBOARD

England won toss

NETHERLANDS
L P van Troost lbw b Anderson 8
D L S van Bunge c White b Anderson 4
N A Statham lbw b Flintoff 7
B Zuiderent c Hussain b Anderson 2
K J van Noortwijk c Stewart b Anderson 0
T B M de Leede not out 58
J F Kloppenburg c Knight b Blackwell 10
E Schiferli st Stewart b Blackwell 12
R P Lefebvre b White 6
Adeel Raja lbw b White 2
J Smits not out 17
Extras (lb10, w4, nb2) 16
Total (for 9, 205 min, 50 overs) 142

Fall: 1-15 (Van Bunge), 2-22 (Van Troost), 3-31 (Zuiderent), 4-31 (van Noortwijk), 5-31 (Statham), 6-67 (Kloppenburg), 7-90 (Schiferli), 8-108 (Lefebvre), 9-112 (Adeel Raja).

Bowling: Caddick 10-4-19-0 (nb2, w1) (7-4-11-0, 3-0-8-0); Anderson 10-1-25-4 (w1) (one spell); Flintoff 10-2-29-1 (w1) (6-1-15-1, 4-1-14-0); White 10-3-22-2 (2-1-2-0, 8-2-20-2); Blackwell 10-0-37-2 (w1) (one spell).

Progress: Score after 15 overs: 28 for 2. 50: 95 min, 123 balls. 100: 146 min, 204 balls.

De Leede's 50: 102 min, 72 balls, 5 fours.

ENGLAND
M E Trescothick b Schiferli 12
N V Knight c Zuiderent b Van Bunge 51
M P Vaughan c de Leede b Van Bunge 51
A Flintoff c Lefebvre b Van Bunge 0
I D Blackwell not out 22
P D Collingwood not out 5
Extras (w3) 3
Total (for 4, 95 min, 23.2 overs) 144

Fall: 1-18 (Trescothick) 2-107 (Vaughan) 3-107 (Flintoff) 4-126 (Knight).

Did not bat: *N Hussain, ÝA J Stewart, C White, A R Caddick, J M Anderson.

Bowling: Schiferli 5-0-33-1 (w2); Lefebvre 5-0-18-0 (w1); De Leede 4-0-29-0; Adeel Raja 5-0-34-0; Van Bunge 3-0-16-3; Kloppenburg 1.2-0-14-0 (one spell each).

Progress: 50: 36 min, 57 balls. Score after 15 overs: 86 for 1. 100: 65 min, 102 balls.

Knight's 50: 84 min, 56 balls, 8 fours. Vaughan's 50: 52 min, 43 balls, 8 fours.

Umpires: D B Hair (Aus) and R E Koertzen (SA).

ENGLAND WON BY SIX WICKETS

Man of the match: J M Anderson.