It was the second edition of ICC World T20 organized in the UK. England played the first match of the tournament against the Netherlands on 5th June 2009. Everyone expected England to start their campaign with a win and even the players and team management were confident. Their star player Kevin Pietersen was recovering from an injury and was rested hoping for an easy game. Also in place of Graeme Swann, they included a young Adil Rashid.
For the Netherlands many of the players were amateurs. Ryan ten Doeschate, a professional with Essex was their biggest name and lots of hopes were on Dirk Nannes who joined them from Victoria.
The Netherlands won the toss and elected to field first. For England, Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright opened the innings and formed a partnership of 102 runs in 11 overs. Till then things were going according to the plan for England and even 200 looked possible. But once Bopara was gone, no one from the middle order could contribute significantly. Wright was out in the 18th over after a 49-ball 71 and England could record only 162/5 in their 20 overs.
10 years back, 162 was a respectable total, especially for non-test playing teams like the Netherlands. They lost their first wicket in the first over and the second wicket in the 4th and looked like it would become an easy victory for England. But then Tom de Grooth was sent up in the order and from the very beginning, he found his touch. Boundaries were coming at regular intervals and Bas Zuiderent’s departure in the 9th over even increased the tempo. The new batsman Peter Borren gave good company to Grooth as they added 50 runs in less than five overs.
Ten Doeschate came to bat with 47 required from seven overs and added handy runs with Borren and van Bunge. Finally, the equation came down to seven required off the last six balls which were to be bowled by Stuart Broad. Broad dropped a catch and missed few chances of dismissals and with two to win off the last ball Broad’s throw went wide of the stumps and Netherlands batsmen completed their famous win with the overthrow.
It was one of the greatest moments for Netherlands cricket and the players became overnight stars. They repeated the performance in 2014 World T20 with another win over England.
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