Dutch Skipper Staying Positive

NETHERLANDS NEWS

E-mail this Article

Print this Article

Subscribe to RSS Feed

Van Troost - faces South Africa on Friday.

By David Clough, PA Sport, Basseterre

Dutch captain Luuk van Troost believes his side can shine in their World Cup opener against South Africa - despite their preparations being hit by rain on Thursday.

Wet weather washed out their scheduled final practice session in St Kitts on Thursday but the skipper was still in confident mood.

Holland will play Australia too, before they face Scotland in a match both associate member countries are labelling their own 'World Cup final'.

Van Troost is adamant, though, that Holland must believe they stand a chance against their first two opponents too.

"Our first goal is to win against Scotland. That is very important to us," he concedes.

"But against South Africa and Australia, we've got a chance; if you don't give yourself a chance, there is no use coming to this tournament. You have to back yourself."

If Holland are to cause an upset, van Troost suggests they will do so by playing to their strengths in the field.

"There's no pressure at all for us - we are the underdogs," he said.

"The pressure is on South Africa. We saw what Ireland did [in a warm-up match last week] - they bowled them out for 190.

"We beat Ireland in Kenya in our last game, so there's no reason why we can't do that. The pressure is on them, not on us.

"Our strengths are bowling and fielding. In the last World Cup, we bowled India out for 200 - we can do that with any team."

Making a competitive total or chasing a tough one may present more of a problem.

"We might struggle with the batting, especially against real pace and world-class spinners - because we don't have that experience," van Troost explains.

"But we want to show the international cricket world that we can play cricket.

"If we do that, we can play a good match tomorrow."

Teams:

South Africa: G Smith (captain), H Gibbs, J Kallis, AB de Villiers, A Prince, M Boucher (wkt), A Hall, S Pollock, J Kemp, C Langeveldt, A Nel.

Holland (from): L van Troost (captain), D Reekers, B Zuiderent, A Kervezee, R ten Doeschate, P Borren, M Kashif, T de Leede, D van Bunge, B Stelling, J Smits (wkt), M Jonkman, A Raja, E Shiferli, E Szwarczynski.