After that epic onslaught against Ireland in the opening round, the Netherlands have experienced a rollercoaster ride in the World T20 Cup Super 10s. After the humilation of being bowled out for 39 by Sri Lanka, Peter Borren's side came agonisingly close to defeating South Africa and then pushed New Zealand all the way to the penultimate over before Anderson and Neesham saw the Black Caps home by six wickets.
It's been a mixed bag for England, too. Coming into the competition on a run of defeats, the recovering Stuart Broad's side were unfortunate to come off worst at the hands of a Chittagong thunderstorm. They looked like losing to Sri Lanka, too, until Alex Hales reminded us all what he is capable of, striking England's first ever T20 century in spectacular style. Today, England simply had to win to remain in the competition but the main difference between the two sides was the incomparable AB De Villiers. I'm no fan of Dale Steyn's stupid footballer haircut and for once he wasn't the star man in the Proteas' attack. Instead Wayne Parnell and Imran Tahir were the most successful bowlers but AB was everywhere. First he thumped 69 in 28 balls, then marshalled his field, dived to cut off boundaries and ultimately prevented England from reaching their target of 197.
The outcome in Group One is now that South Africa are through to the semis, and the England-Netherlands clash is a dead rubber. On a more positive note, the Sri Lanka-New Zealand contest becomes a knockout tie; the loser goes home. It's impossible to predict the result, of course. This is T20, after all. Nevertheless, I fancy Brendon McCullum's men to spring a surprise, unless Mahela Jayawardene pulls out one of those magical innings from his repertoire.
India are the only unbeaten side in the whole tournament so far. Mishra, Ashwin and Kohli have been wonderfully consistent and the team have yet to be tested to the full. That could prove their undoing in the knockout stages, but their spinners have mastered the conditions better than anyone. The West Indies, too, have two T20 specialist slowies in their ranks, Narine and Badree, while left-arm medium-pacer Krishmar Santokie, yet to play first-class cricket, has been a revelation. With the bat, Chris Gayle has been fairly subdued by his standards and it was his skipper Darren Sammy whose late-innings blitz saw the Windies home against Australia.
The highly-fancied Aussies' future in this year's Cup are hanging by a thread. They must beat India and Bangladesh, hope West Indies also slip up against Pakistan and then trust their run rate is superior to Pakistan's. That's a complex set of results which they will be fortunate to see transpire.
I must admit I thought the successes of England and the West Indies in the previous two tournaments came out of left field. Surely Sammy et al couldn't possibly be champions once more? However, with Gayle, Smith, Samuels, Bravo and those spinners, they can't be ruled out.
