A 206-run defeat is, by anyone's standards, a thrashing. Patronising comments for the Dutch cricket team are readily available after their trouncing by the Sri Lankans, but it's not all bad for the boys in bright orange. Thrashed yes, but not humiliated, here are five positive aspects which they can take away from the game. Experience
As Bangladesh are fast finding out, the only way to improve at international level is to play against the top sides; this match showed Holland the standard they need to reach and might give them a helping hand before the World Cup. Twenty-five years ago, it was Sri Lanka who were the whipping boys. It doesn't take that long for things to change.

Fielding
One or two dropped catches aside, the Dutchmen threw themselves around the field with zealous abandon. Bas Zuiderent's run-out of Mahela Jayawardene was out of the top drawer, and then there was Tim de Leede's once-in-a-lifetime catch. When the inevitable TV montage of great catches of the tournament is produced, that astonishing grab by de Leede on the boundary will be right at the top of the list. Better still it will ensure that Holland, although long since having vacated the party, will be remembered.

Bowling
They conceded less than 300 runs - something of an achievement given that they were up against a full-strength Sri Lankan top six, with almost 30,000 ODI runs between them. When Sri Lanka first played Kenya, they creamed them all round Kandy to reach 398, so this was a courageous effort from the Dutch.

Batting
They played their shots. It would have been easy for the Dutchmen to shut up shop and defend their way through their innings in the hope of batting out 50 overs to reach 125 for 7, but it was better that they played positively. Not many people dump Muttiah Muralitharan over cow corner for six as Edgar Schiferli did.

The future
Judging by most of the names in the squad (the pronunciation of which by some commentators was an experience in itself) a healthy portion of the Dutch team is made up of home-grown players - three vans out of 11 is a good start - which bodes well for the future. This in a country, let's not forget, which has only three turf pitches and where 99% of the population are unaware of the existence of the game. Both this tournament and the forthcoming World Cup might go some way towards rectifying that. The Dutch produced Total Football 25 years ago; why, in time, couldn't they be the forefathers of Total Cricket?

Er is er geen schaamte, jongens. Jullie hebben goed gespeeld!
(Don't be ashamed lads. You played well.)

Catherine Hanley is a university lecturer, a keen cricketer and a regular contributor to Wisden.com. She was born in Tasmania and now lives in Sheffield, England.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd