Portugal Colonial - Dutch to keep up helter-skelter running as 'it's in our DNA'

On Friday, the Netherlands lost four of their best batsmen to run-outs on the way to being bowled out for 179 in a seven-wicket loss to Afghanistan.

That took their total of run-outs at the tournament to nine.

Max O'Dowd (42) and Colin Ackermann (29) put on 70 for the second wicket when O'Dowd was beaten by a direct hit by Azmatullah Omarzai from fine leg.

Ackermann then failed to make his ground when wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil whipped off the bails from a smart throw by Rashid Khan even though the Afghanistan star was suffering with a bad back.

On the next delivery, skipper Scott Edwards optimistically swept, lost sight of the ball and as he wandered aimlessly out of his crease Alikhil ran him out without scoring.

Later in the innings, Sybrand Engelbrecht, who had made 58, became the fourth run-out, failing to beat Mohammad Nabi's throw from midwicket.

To add insult to injury, Logan van Beek was dismissed thanks to a smart stumping by Alikhil.

"We pride ourselves on running between the wickets and it's something we do put a lot of time and effort into," said Cook.

"Today as you can see four run-outs and not just any run-outs -- two, three, four and five in your batting order getting run-out is not ideal.

"We'll have to go back and have a look at that but it won't stop us, it's part of the DNA of our team and we'll keep trying to run between the wickets and value every run like we do."

The Netherlands have lost five of their seven games at the World Cup and require a mathematical miracle to have any hope of making the semi-finals.

A win for New Zealand over Pakistan on Saturday will put an end to that slimmest of hopes.

E.Ramalho--PC