Jason Roy hit a 10th one-day international hundred as England romped to a 3-0 series whitewash of the Netherlands, chasing down 245 in just 30.1 overs to win the third and final ODI at Amstelveen.
Roy cracked 15 boundaries in his unbeaten 101 off 86 deliveries, and Jo Butler smashed seven fours and five sixes in his 86 not out from 64 balls as the tourists made light work of their modest target.
One particularly remarkable passage saw Butler score 13 off two balls as Paul van Meekeren bowled a double-bounce no-ball that Butler dispatched into the stands, before then striking the resulting free hit for six more.
David Willy was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4-36 to help dismiss the Dutch for 244, while fellow left-hander David Payne (1-38) sent back Netherlands captain and top-scorer Scott Edwards for 64 to claim his maiden ODI wicket on debut.
Butler, standing in as captain for the absent Eon Morgan, out with a groin injury, opted to insert the Netherlands at the toss and was quickly rewarded for his foresight, with Willy dismissing Viral Singh (6) in the fifth over.
Payne too should have had an early breakthrough, with Tom Cooper - on fought - top-edging him high into the air in the next over, only for Liam Livingstone to lose the ball in the sun and bail out of the catch. The Gloucestershire streamer would have to wait to the penultimate over of the innings to finally grab his first wicket in ODI cricket.
Edwards was one of three batters to pass fifty for the hosts, Max O'Dow (50) and Ba de Leeds (56), the others, but all three were guilty of failing to kick on further and catapult their side up to a more challenging score.
After England came racing out of the blocks in their reply - Roy and Phil Salt (49 off 30) putting on 85 in less than 10 overs - Van (2-59) briefly derailed the innings with two wickets in three balls.
Salt and Malay were both bowled, the latter round his legs for a second-ball duck, but it only succeeded in bringing the supremely in-form Butler to the crease - and he and Roy swiftly reeled in their target with minimal fuss.
Cooper cashed in on the error, putting on 72 for the second wicket with O'Dow, before Livingstone (1-40) went some way to atoning for his error by eventually claiming Cooper (33) on the deep-square boundary and picking up O'Dow caught behind with the ball.
De Leeds and Edwards rebuilt, another sizeable stand of 84, but the Netherlands' scoring badly slowed and once the former perished to Bryon Case (2-49), a flurry of wickets followed as the lower order desperately tried to up the rate in the final 10 overs.
Adil Rashid (1-41) picked up Tea Nidamanuru for four, courtesy of a crisp stumping from Butler behind the stumps, Tim Pringles was run out after a dreadful mix-up with Edwards, and Wiley mopped up the tail.
Roy and Butler blast England to victory
England's reply got off to a blistering start, with Roy and Salt responsible for as many as 15 boundaries in the opening nine and a half overs, compared to the 17 scored by the Netherlands in their entire innings.
The home attack was guilty on multiple occasions of bowling too short, with the England openers feasting on anything banged in, before Van finally found the right length to bowl Salt - one shy of a third score of fifty or more in the series - and then pick up Malay two balls later.
You must be logged in to post a comment.