ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

Highest individual total 259* R.N.ten Doeschate v Canada Pretoria 2006 Best bowling analysis 6-20 R.N.ten Doeschate v Canada Pretoria 2006 Best wicketkeeping 3 c 1st J.Smits v Scotland Utrecht 2005 4 c A.F.Buurman v Scotland Aberdeen 2007 4 c A.F.Buurman v Kenya Nairobi 2010 The record of The Netherlands in the competition is disappointing with only four wins out of 20 matches played. In the first two years, when the competition was organised in geographical groups, the Dutch had the disadvantage of playing in the Europe group, arguably the strongest of the four, along with Ireland and Scotland. In the later tournaments, The Netherlands have been disadvantaged by rarely being able to field their best side. Commitments by Ryan ten Doeschate and Alexei Kervezee to English counties, difficulties of obtaining leave from work and, when leave was obtained, players prioritising it for one-day rather than four-day matches, all severely hampered selection. Broadly, when ten Doeschate played the Dutch were extremely strong. His record of 1,285 runs at an average of 142.77 and a strike rate of 73.01, supported by 24 wickets at an average of 23.16 and a strike rate of 38.08, is outstanding. He is clearly a class above virtually all other Associate and Affiliate cricketers and certainly above all his Dutch compatriots. Only one other Dutch player, Luuk van Troost, had a batting average over 40 and no other Dutchman scored 1,000 runs. Dutch batting also has a weakness against top-class spin bowling. This was noticed as long ago as the 1930s in matches against the MCC and Free Foresters and there appears to have been little improvement since. Of more concern than the batting, however, is the bowling. Edgar Schiferli is the only player to have taken over 40 wickets. With the exception of ten Doeschate, the only bowler to take ten or more wickets and have a strike rate under 40 is the leg spinner, Mangesh Panchal. A surprise selection for three matches in 2007, he bowled extremely well in two but was not chosen again. To their credit, the response of the selectors in the last three years to the unavailability of the leading players has been to give experience to younger cricketers. A highlight of the Dutch performance, setting aside ten Doeschate, has been the wicketkeeping. Jeroen Smits has an outstanding record in the tournament and confirmed his position as one of the most accomplished keepers in Associate/Affiliate cricket of all time. Since his retirement, Atse Buurman has performed to a high standard and when he has not been available, all the wicketkeepers chosen have been more than competent. The Dutch may lack depth in their domestic cricket in batting and bowling but their wicketkeeping has always been strong. An oddity of the players used in the Intercontinental Cup is that 20% of them were born in The Hague. SCOTLAND Played Won Drawn Lost Won on first inns Lost on first inns No result 23 10† 5 1 3‡ 4 † Match forfeited by Zimbabwe in 2010 ‡ Match against Kenya in 2008 abandoned without a ball being bowled Highest team total 452 v Netherlands Aberdeen 2007 Lowest team total 82 v Afghanistan Dubai 2010 Highest individual total 181 N.F.I.McCallum v Netherlands Aberdeen 2007 Best bowling analysis 5-5 P.J.C.Hoffmann v Kenya Abu Dhabi 2004 Best wicketkeeping 6 c D.R.Lockhart v United Arab Emirates Sharjah 2007 Scotland won the competition in 2004 but had to wait until 2010 before again doing much of note, when they finished runners-up to Afghanistan. The intervening period was spent largely changing from a well-established side of older players to one of younger personnel with promise for the future. Having won the first tournament through good batting performances from Fraser Watts, Gavin Hamilton and Kyle Coetzer and excellent bowling from John Blain, Asim Butt and Paul Hoffmann, Scotland suffered from three problems. First was the increasing inconsistency of the older players, particularly Watts and Ryan Watson who have the two highest aggregate runs 277 Countries