da bwin： Plays of the day
Andrew Miller in St Kitts22-Mar-2007
Jeroen Smits got to make the call at the toss with Luuk van Troost dropping himself for the game against Scotland © Getty Images
Sacrificial lamb of the Day
Luuk van Troost, Holland’s amusingly outspoken captain, decided aftertwo barren outings that he hadn’t been putting his money where hismouth was, and dropped himself – Mike Denness-style – for this, thefinal World Cup outing of his career. It was an act of supremeselflessness that paved the way for one of the most memorable momentsin Dutch cricket history. Not that there’ve been a whole lot of those,of course.Unknown entity of the Day
At Graeme Smith’s press conference on Wednesday, and to much amusementfrom the assembled scribes, a question from the veteranIndependent correspondent, Stephen Brenkley, was interruptedwith an “excuse me, but who are you?” from the South African mediamanager, Gordon Templeton. Today, there very nearly wasn’t a pressconference. The “excuse me” question was this time addressed to RickyPonting, who was briefly refused admission to the briefing roombecause he wasn’t wearing the correct accreditation.Wrecker of the Day
The Netherlands’ opening bowler, Billy Stelling, missed their gameagainst Australia because of a back problem, but he looked none-the-worse for his lay-off today. He struck with the second ball of thematch, and then twice in two balls to dismiss two former Englandinternationals, Gavin Hamilton and Dougie Brown. By the start of hisseventh over he had conceded just four runs for three wickets, andScotland were down and out.Shot of the Day
Ryan ten Doeschate was described by his captain as “too important” torely on for runs, but he didn’t seem to be buckling under the burdenall the while he was giving Scotland’s bowlers the run-around. Hismatchwinning 70 not out included six fours in eight balls as the endcame swiftly, but the highlight was a wonderful straight slap offGlenn Rogers that landed on the roof of the pavilion and couldn’t beretrieved.Butterfingers of the Day
Daan van Bunge has had an eventful World Cup. There was thatover against Herschelle Gibbs, of course, followed by a bold 33against Australia on Friday, and he even picked up his first wicket ofthe day today, when Scotland’s No. 11, Paul Hoffmann, ballooned adrive to mid-off. But the one thing he couldn’t pick were his slipcatches. Two of them went down today – Majid Haq and Neil McCallum -which slightly undermined the claim made by his coach, Ian Pont, thatthe Netherlands’ fielding was in the top four for this tournament.