Bloemfontein (South Africa): Klaas van Noortwijk and Feiko Kloppenburg became the first Dutch players ever to make World Cup centuries as the Netherlands piled up 314 for four off 50 overs against Namibia in the battle of Group 'A' no-hopers on Monday.Van Noortwijk, 32, who had held the previous best Dutch score in a World Cup of 64 against England in 1996, went on to finish on 134 not out off 129 balls, hitting 11 fours and three sixes."I have had a pretty poor tournament so today was a question of taking out all of my frustrations," said van Noortwijk who put on 228 with Kloppenburg for the second wicket."I told myself I could do it and Feiko and I kept each other going by telling each other that we would never get such a great track like this to bat again."The 28-year-old Kloppenburg, opening the innings, was first to the milestone reaching his ton off 127 balls before van Noortwijk, in at number three, notched up his three figures off 111 balls.Kloppenburg hit six fours and four huge sixes before he was finally out for 121, caught by Melt van Schoor off Gerrie Snyman off the last ball of the 44th over.The run riot, in a match which was a re-run of the 2001 ICC Trophy final in Toronto, which the Dutch won off the last ball, also made up for the absence of veteran skipper Roland Lefebrve, who was ruled out of what would have been his last One-day match because of a hamstring injury.Opening bowler Rudi van Vuuren had given Namibia a promising start when he clean bowled Edgar Schiferli for 10 with the score at 25 in the sixth over, but from then on it was all one-way traffic.Van Vuuren, who was hit for 92 off his 10 overs against Australia last week, finished with one for 63, while Louis Burger picked up a couple of late wickets to end with two for 49 off 10 overs.Copyright AFP 2001

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Battle of minnows Holland opts to bat against Namibia

Tags: cricket, bloemfontein, south africa, klaas van noortwijk, feiko kloppenburg, dutch players, world cup centuries, the netherlands, namibia, group 'a', balls, fours, sixes, opening innings, milestone, icc trophy final, toronto, veteran skipper roland lefebrve, ruled out, hamstring injury, bowler.