Dutch skipper proud despite exit

Netherlands captain Jeroen Smits has praised his side after bowing out of the tournament against Pakistan.

The Dutch needed to avoid defeat by less than 25 runs to progress to the Super Eights, at the expense of their opponent, but a fine display of spin bowling from the Pakistani duo of Shahid Afridi (4-11) and Saeed Ajmal (3-20) destroyed the Dutch hopes as they slipped to an 82-run loss.

Nevertheless, Smits is hoping his side can build on a memorable campaign, which started off with victory against England, in the next ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies.

"First of all we have to qualify in November for the next tournament," said Smits, "which will be tough - but we are all looking forward to it. We've done really well and can be proud of ourselves. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't make it through to the Super Eights but that's the way it is."

The Dutch required 151 to reach the Super Eights after Pakistan made 175-5. Smits revealed he was confident of making the score needed but his batsmen were unable to repeat their form of Friday against England.

"We were confident at half-time but we needed a big innings from someone and we had a lot of 15s and that's not good enough," admitted Smits. "You need one who goes big. We would have loved to have seen Darron Reekers (13 off six balls) for some extra overs and that would have helped but that didn't happen. They bowled really well and it improved a lot after [their performance on] Sunday [against England]."

The Netherlands batsmen never got to grips with Pakistan's slow bowlers - who accounted for eight of the wickets to fall - most notably Afridi who turned in the fourth-best figures in Twenty20 International cricket.

"We spoke about Afridi this morning because he doesn't spin the ball," explained Smits "but drifts it in and I think on this kind of wicket where it skids a bit he worked us out today. He bowled a special game and I think that's maybe the difference between Associate and professional level."

Smits and his team-mates now return to the reality of their day-jobs again but take with them memories that will last them a lifetime.