Holland v Yorkshire: Dutch in at double as White Rose men capitulate

AN afternoon spent watching cricket at a ground that sits under the main flight path into one of Europe’s busiest airports can, it has to be said, be an uncomfortable experience.

The ear-splitting noise of the jets that, at one stage yesterday, passed over the admittedly picturesque VRA en route to Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport at the rate of one every 90 seconds or so is enough to drive even the most patient cricket fan to distraction.

Just how the locals cope with the incessant din is anyone’s guess, though there must be a good chance that aspirin sales in the Dutch capital are up whenever the CB40 League comes to town.

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The Yorkshire supporters who followed their team to Holland will certainly know all about how irritating the overhead noise can be in Amstelveen.

Any lingering headaches among the Tykes this morning will, however, be as likely to have been caused by a truly abject performance from their team as the procession of planes making their way into land.

In becoming the first county that the Dutch have done the double over in a year, Carnegie’s season hit a new humiliating low.

Abject when batting, Andrew Gale’s men were little better in the field with wayward bowling and dropped chances allowing the hosts to claim a four-wicket win with a whopping 75 balls to spare.

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Director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon said: “That was not good enough. Our batting was unacceptable and, at times, embarrassing.

“I am deeply, deeply disappointed. Our performance was a catalogue of errors.

“We felt 180-190 would have been a competitive total but we were nowhere near good enough to get that.

“The bowlers tried hard but we had opportunities that we missed in the field. It has been the story of our season in one-day cricket.”

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An indication of how much the White Rose county struggled after winning the toss and opting to bat was that they took almost 20 overs to reach 50. In contrast, the Dutch had 100 runs on the board by the halfway stage of their own reply.

The reason for such a slow pace was simple, Yorkshire could muster just six boundaries all innings. And the first of those did not arrive until the 15th over when Gary Ballance smashed Netherlands captain Peter Borren through cover.

Adil Rashid did do his best to inject some urgency to proceedings with four fours in a knock of 43 but it did little to improve what has to go down as Carnegie’s worst one-day innings of the season.

The visitors’ struggles began early on with Joe Sayers becoming the first batsmen to perish in the fourth over after both he and captain Gale had played and missed at a host of deliveries.

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Shane Mott made the breakthrough by tempting Sayers into an edge that Tim Gruijters held at first slip.

Just four deliveries later, Carnegie were reduced to 12-2 when Adam Lyth lamely chipped Mudassar Bukhari into the hands of Pieter Seelaar at mid-off.

A bad start had got even worse before the end of the ninth over when Jonny Bairstow dragged a wideish delivery from Peter Borren on to his stumps to leave Gale’s men reeling.

The one consolation for the Yorkshire supporters who had headed across the North Sea was that most of them had not arrived, a possible explanation being that an 11am start was far too early after a night sampling Amsterdam’s legendary nightlife.

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White Rose numbers had been swelled by the time Gale perished courtesy of an edge off Borren to Gruijters after struggling through 49 balls to reach just 16.

A senseless run out then accounted for Ballance and Shahzad holed out to Tom de Grooth on the cover boundary before Rashid did, at least, ensure some semblance of respectability before drilling a Tom Heggelman full toss straight to Eric Szwarczynski.

Yorkshire, who lost Rich Pyrah and Ben Sanderson to Bukhari in quick succession, were finally put out of their misery when an almighty mix-up saw Iain Wardlaw run out – a fittingly chaotic end to a desperate couple of hours for the county.

Defending such a paltry total as 123, Yorkshire needed a bright start – something that Shahzad did provide with a delivery that darted off the pitch to entice an edge from Eric Szwarczynski to Bairstow.

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With just three runs on the board and four deliveries bowled, Carnegie sensed an improbable way back into the game.

That was, however, until Bukhari and Wesley Barresi put on a 52-partnership courtesy of some decent strokeplay and a couple of dropped chances.

Both were by Gale, the first being a straightforward skied chance off Bukari on seven that left the Yorkshire captain punching the turf in frustration. Bukhari was also the beneficiary when a second, more difficult opportunity, was spurned by Gale in the tenth over.

The partnership was eventually broken when Barresi was run out after a mix-up before Bukhari’s luck finally ran out when he found Ben Sanderson at long-on after charging down the pitch to Rashid.

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Michael Swart and Wilfred Diepeveen did perish to David Wainwright before the end before Shahzad sent Borren packing but there was to be no denying the home side a fully deserved win.

*Surrey clinched a nerve-tingling two-wicket LV County Championship victory over Gloucestershire despite Mark Ramprakash being given out for obstructing the field during their Division Two clash at Cheltenham.

The veteran batsman, who scored 141 in the first innings, was on 35 when he was judged to have impeded Ian Saxelby as the Gloucestershire player went to gather Kane Williamson’s throw at the bowler’s end as Jason Roy went for a risky second run.

Surrey were cruising at 137-4, chasing 184 to win, at the time. When Zafar Ansari fell lbw to Jon Lewis for a duck two balls later it was 138-6 with 46 still required.

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But after Roy (45) and Gareth Batty (eight) had also fallen, Yasir Arafat (five not out) and Tim Linley (six not out) saw the visitors home to end a superb match.

Surrey cricket manager Chris Adams described Ramprakash’s dismissal as “bizarre”.

Saxelby said: “Ramprakash waved his bat in the air as if he were going to block the ball.

“He didn’t, but the action distracted me and that is why we appealed.”