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WORLD CUP, GROUP B, VIDARBHA CRICKET ASSOCIATION GROUND, NAGPUR, FEBRUARY 22, 2011Follow live text commentary of England v Netherlands here
Andrew Strauss feels it would be wrong for the ICC to limit the opportunities of Associate Members to play in the World Cup finals.
He wants a shorter time-frame for the finals, but is not in favour of reducing the participants to ten teams, rather than the 14 who are taking part in the sub-continent.
Heavy defeats for Kenya and Canada have already added weight to Haroon Lorgat's argument for change and Strauss will be looking to further underline the ICC Chief Executive's redevelopment plans with another convincing victory.
The England captain has made it clear he feels his side have what it takes to win the tournament and back-up the 2010 Twenty20 title they won in the West Indies and the Ashes success they enjoyed in Australia.
As far as he is concerned the team is refreshed and raring to go, despite their heavy schedule of the last three months, but this is a fixture which could go wrong.
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England's World Cup record in the last four events has been disappointing and Holland love to spring a surprise and already have England as one of their victims.
Their T20 win over England at Lords in the opening fixture of the 2009 event will be a motivational tool for coach Peter Drinnen and his entire squad.
This will be the fourth time Holland are competing in the finals, but they have yet to beat an ICC full member side.
TWO TO WATCH:
Kevin Pietersen (England): He believes it is a "positive move" by team director Andy Flower to push him into an opening role alongside Strauss. The idea is to make use of the first 15 overs when it is easiest to bat in the sub-continent. Pietersen has full clearance to play his shots and give England a flying start. Watch out for the fireworks.
Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands): The Essex all-rounder always seems to save his best performances for the bigger events. He is capable of mixing up his seam bowling and will be a difficult customer on slower wickets. He is also handy with the bat and will need to have a big game for Holland to cause an upset.
FORM GUIDE:
England LWLLL
Netherlands LLWLL
After the way so many players succumbed to injuries in the final weeks of the Australia tour, England will be happy to have a clean bill of health to start their campaign.
Ajmal Shahzad, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan are fit again and Jonathan Trott's finger injury is nothing more than bruising, so he will play through the discomfort as England look to banish the miseries of their 6-1 ODI series defeat in Australia.
England will make a late decision on whether to play Graeme Swann, who only arrived 24 hours before the game, after spending time with his family, after the birth of his first child.
Flower appears to have settled on the way he wants his team to go in terms of the batting order, after abandoning the experiment with Matt Prior as an opener, preferring to use the wicket-keeper lower down the order.
Strauss is short on runs and could do with a big innings to get his tournament up and running from ball one, but most of the others in the top order have managed runs of some description in the two warm-up matches and the bowling of Broad has been highly impressive.
Holland have just three players who ply their trade professionally with Worcestershire batsman Alexei Kervezee and South Australia's Tom Cooper joining ten Doeschate.
There is a feeling they have others in their ranks who could join that list and the opportunity to showcase their talents at the World Cup will be an added incentive.
Their form has not been too encouraging of late. They lost twice to Ireland in Dublin, by 70 runs and by nine wickets in their last two matches and have also lost to Afghanistan twice recently.
KEY STAT: Paul Collingwood is looking to avoid a hat-trick of defeats against Holland. As well as the 2009 Lords embarrassment, Collingwood was part of the Durham team that lost a NatWest Trophy game to Holland in 1999.
KEY QUOTE: "The Netherlands are 2-0 up on me and I'm sick of the sight of those blokes in orange celebrating!" Collingwood said.
THE LOWDOWN:
England:
Broad has come back from the stomach muscle injury that curtailed his Ashes participation in magnificent form, with 10 wickets in the warm-up games against Canada and Pakistan.
The question marks over whether he would be able to recover in time for the World Cup has been answered and he wants to make up for not being able to play a full part of the Ashes winning side.
"I feel very refreshed and the bowling has gone well since I came back into the side and I want that to continue," said Broad.
"It is fantastic being part of a global event and despite the hard work and the injuries we suffered in Australia, a lot of our players have had a break with little niggles and we have come back rested and ready to play."
Broad does not believe any side will be able to use their fast bowlers to just blow away opponents on the flat, sub-continent pitches and it will be the seamers who can vary their deliveries that perform the best.
"For me the important thing is to bowl straight and to vary your pace with pretty much every delivery. No one is going to blast sides out on these pitches," he said.
Netherlands:
Bas Zuiderent would love to put one over his old Sussex team mates Michael Yardy and Prior - after admitting he failed to adapt to the demands of full-time cricket.
He was part of the Sussex staff from 1999 and helped the county win its first County Championship title in 2003, but the pressure of "constantly having to perform" was too much.
Zuiderent runs a physio clinic in Rotterdam and plays cricket for fun these days and the man who launched his World Cup career with 54 against England in 1996 and was part of the Twenty20 side that defeated England, believes Holland can produce another shock.
"The England game is massive for us. We really feel, not just because of the Twenty20 win, that we can beat England," he said.
"We're going to play very positive cricket, stick to our game plan and make it tough for them. If you go in there thinking you've got no chance, what are you doing there?"
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