THE HAGUE, Feb 19: The Netherlands and Scotland head to the World Cup as rank outsiders and will have to dig deep to avoid utter humiliation after being drawn with the top seeds, Australia and South Africa, in the group stages.

The Dutch are quoted at a massive 1,000-1 to win the 16-team tournament, and their long odds are truly justified.

Ten Doeschate, who has Dutch ancestry and was playing for Western Province when picked up by Essex, lends a genuine solidity to the batting line-up and can also at times have a 'golden arm' with his medium-fast right-arm bowling.

He has played 11 One-day Internationals for his adopted country, an unbeaten knock of 109 not out against Bermuda this month boosting his current ODI batting average to an impressive 55.12.

In that same game, he also snagged 3-27 to boost his wicket haul to 20 ODI wickets at 22.10.

With 21 Twenty20 games also under his belt, the Port Elizabeth-born all-rounder positively oozes experience of big game time in a team that is sorely lacking just that.

They open their World Cup campaign against South Africa on March 16 in St Kitts, followed by Australia on March 18 and finally Scotland four days later.

As regards Scotland, a victory over more experienced 'minnows' the Netherlands in their final Group A match in St Kitts would represent a successful World Cup, making only their second appearance in cricket's showpiece tournament.

Barring the kind of freak upset which one-day cricket can produce, it is hard to see Scotland emerging from their first two matches with anything other than large defeats albeit with the chance of individual glory along the way.

What cannot be denied is that Scotland, backed by an International Cricket Council initiative, have had as good a preparation for the World Cup as could be expected.—AFP