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After all the hype and hoopla of the Indian Premier League, one almost fell sorry for the T20 World Cup akin to a Conan O'Brien having to follow a Jay Leno on stage. With minnows like Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands thrown into the mix for the early rounds, the chatter around bars and offices across the cricketing world was the same - "Yeah, will probably watch it when the Super 8s start."

Throw in the loss of the host's star attractions - Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen - to injury, rain to ruin an opening ceremony, and one wondered if the World Cup was doomed even before a ball was bowled.

Well, the Netherlands changed all that by putting in a performance and a half, winning the game thanks to an overthrow from bowler Stuart Broad off the last ball of the match to record a stunning upset over the hosts England at the home of cricket, Lord's.

Netherlands won the toss and decided to field first a decision they would have regretted early on as Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright made merry out there in the middle. The pair seemed in excellent touch together, continuing from right where they left off against the West Indies in their last practice game. They scampered between the wickets like on skates, and put the bad balls away whenever the bowlers erred in line or length.

The duo put on a massive 102 for the opening wicket in a little over 11 overs and at that stage, it looked like the Netherlands were in for a hammering, with a score in the range of 180-200 looking on the cards.

The Netherlands clawed their way back into the contest conceding just 60 runs from 52 balls after Bopara's dismissal at the hands of Ryan ten Doeschate. With no partnerships to speak off, it wasn't one man who did it for the Dutch with the ball, all their bowlers chipped in with some useful overs, as the England batsmen that followed completely lost their way.

Owais Shah made 5 from 8 balls before flicking a legside ball from Schiferli straight to square leg. New recruit Eoin Morgan (6 from 8) was the next to follow, as he hit an attempted reverse sweep straight to the fielder at point.

Luke Wright finally fell in the 18th over, having made a useful 71 from 49 balls. Wright had been deprived of the strike since Bopara's dismissal and Captain Collingwood joined him back in the hut in the very next over, as England crawled their way to 162 for 5 from their 20 overs.

Only 56 of those runs had come off boundaries, and without Flintoff and Pietersen their innings not surprisingly included no hits over the rope. Despite the tepid finish, no one in their right minds at this stage could have predicted what was to follow.

The Netherlands innings was off to the worst possible start, as they lost opener Alexei Kervezee in the very first over to James Anderson.

Darron Reekers kickstarted the Netherlands innings, clubbing Ryan Sidebottom for the first six of the night over midwicket. Reekers then went after Anderson at the other end, hitting his first delivery for a boundary, and then hitting the third ball of the over for another six.

Collingwood brought Stuard Broad into the attack, and the medium pacer delivered straight away, getting the crucial wicket of Reekers, pulling once too often.

Tom de Grooth and Bas Zuiderent continued to make the most of the powerplay overs, adding 43 for the third wicket including 16 from Broad's second over. Zuiderent fell stumped to leg spinner Adil Rashid, and with Netherlands at 66 for 3 after 8 overs, England still looked favourites by a long way.

All that changed in the space of five overs, as De Grooth and Peter Borren got stuck into the bowling, putting on 50 runs off just 29 balls, before De Grooth was dismissed one shy of what would have been an excellent half century by a slower delivery from Paul Collingwood.

With Netherlands needing only a further 47 from their last 7 overs, it was their match to lose. England fought back picking up the wickets of Borren (30 from 25 balls) and Daan van Bunge (8 from 8). However Essex batsman Ryan ten Doeschate and all-rounder Edgar Schiferli held their nerve to keep knocking off the singles and racing madly between the wickets.

Over by over Netherlands chipped away at the target - 35 from 30, 30 from 24, 21 from 18, 17 from 12. Eoin Morgan dropped a hot chance flying to his right at the cover boundary as the Dutch picked up 10 from the penultimate over to bring their task to just 7 off the last over.

Stuart Broad bowling around the wicket was given the task of keeping the batsmen to 6 or less. Broad missed run out opportunities off the first two deliveries as the batsmen scampered between the wickets desperately, unable to pierce the field. The second of the attempted run outs saw an excellent decision from the third umpire as replays from a fourth camera angle indicated that the bowler's hand and not the ball had knocked the bails off.

Broad missed a caught and bowled off the third delivery, and the luck just seemed to be with the Netherlands at this stage. The batsmen need I say scampered through for single while the ball trickled in the direction of mid-on.

A couple more singles off the next two deliveries, including a bye through to the keeper (who missed another run-out) brought the equation to 2 of the last ball to win.

Schiferli on strike could only bludgeon the ball back to the bowler, and for the third time in the over Broad attempted to run the batsman out at the non-stiker's end. His throw however missed again, and as luck would have it missed the fielders backing up handing Netherlands an incredibly famous win!

The result means that the game against Pakistan on Sunday becomes a virtual knockout for England. It would be really disappointing for the entire nation if the hosts are the first side to get knocked out of the tournament. Should Pakistan win however, the match between Pakistan and Netherlands on Tuesday could see net run rate decide the qualifiers from Group B.

Not an ideal start to the tournament for the hosts, but it was truly a thrilling game of cricket. The result once again proves that in T20 cricket, any side can win on any given day. This sort of a match was exactly what the tournament needed, and for the Dutch side a win at Lord's over England will be remembered forever.

Mini Scorecard:
England 162/5 (20 overs)
Wright 71                ten Doeschate 2-35

Netherlands 163/6 (20 overs)
De Grooth 49         Anderson 3-23

Photograph Copyright: ICC

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