Look for a blond Dutch if Windies fall

It is not as hot as the Paraguan model Larissa Riquelme's strip act in honour of her national team's performance at last year's soccer World Cup; neither does it come close to Deigo Maradona's promise to run naked if Argentina had won the title. And Netherlands would definitely have grabbed more eyeballs and readers in the soccer mix than at the cricket World Cup.

After they ran England close in their World Cup opener, there is a spring in the steps of the friendly Dutch players; now in the capital, as the Associate nation gears up to take on a misfiring West Indies on Monday.

Even team manager Ed van Nierop, who has an unusual promise to keep if his team wins a match, is hoping a win will come. Told by a journalist he resembled Shane Warne, he smiled. "Nobody has told me that, but if we win one match, then I will have to dye my hair blond. That's going to be interesting."

Look at us
The Dutch should be ready to go to any extent to grab attention in their soccer and hockey mad nation. "We get just 10 minutes television time in a year for cricket. So all the media attention here is quite unique."

Back home, Pakistan's spot-fixing scandal, and the death of their English coach Bob Woolmer at the 2007 World Cup found mention on Dutch TV.

But Dutch bowler Dan van Bunge's dubious distinction of being hit for six sixes in one over by South African Herschelle Gibbs didn't!