Dutch skipper Borren eyes new shock

Amsterdam, February 4, 2011

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Netherlands skipper Peter Borren, who started his cricket career in his native New Zealand, leads the Dutch into their fourth World Cup campaign.

 

The 27-year-old all-rounder, who p© AFPlayed for New Zealand at under-19 level alongside the likes of Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor, made his one-day international debut for the Dutch in 2006 against Sri Lanka.

 

It was an inauspicious start for Borren, pummelled by the Sri Lankan bowlers as he went for 1-94 from his 10 overs against the 1996 World Cup winners.

 

But a good showing in the World Cricket League in Kenya helped him earn a place in the team for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

 

In January 2010 he was part of the first group of Netherlands players to be awarded central contracts and was appointed skipper later that year.

 

The Christchurch-born Borren has played 39 one-day internationals, averaging 14.90 with the bat, including two 50s. He has taken 35 wickets at an average of 33.25.

 

Since taking over the captaincy, Borren has won five of 12 matches played, a win percentage of just over 41 percent. One of those wins was a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in Glasgow in July last year, when the Dutch tasted victory for the first time over an International Cricket Council (ICC) full-member nation.

 

Borren, whose highest score is 96 against Canada in Toronto in 2007, played a part in the Netherlands’ thrilling last-ball win over England in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009, hitting a quickfire 30.

 

© AFP