Ground Reality and Pitch:
Named after its founder Thomas Lord, the Lord's cricket ground is owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is home of the ECB. Known as 'The Mecca of World Cricket', Lord's would play host to 8 matches during the World Twenty20. The pitch is expected to have a consistent bounce, assisting the batsmen and the bowlers in equal proportion. However, the cloudy conditions at the ground might provide assistance to the faster bowlers during the initial period.
Team Updates:
England: The hosts England open the ICC World Twenty20 against Netherlands at Lord's. England head into this tournament without star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff. However, Ravi Bopara's form and Kevin Pietersen's recent outings in the middle are encouraging signs for the English side. With home conditions on offer, the bowling line-up consisting the likes of Stuart Broad and James Anderson would hope to get amongst the wickets. Never having won a major ODI tournament, England would look for a convincing win to start their campaign.
Netherlands: The Dutch have the services of the talented all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate, who impressed all with his show during the Intercontinental cup. Another star in the line-up is the left-arm pacer Dirk Nannes who made his mark in the IPL 2009 with his impeccable line and length, forcing Delhi to leave out the experienced McGrath from the side. The minnows would hope for a good show from the duo as they attempt an upset against England.
Numbers game:
1: The number of wins for England during the first edition of the World T20.
0: The number of T20 games played by England against Netherlands.
42: Ryan ten Doeschate's batting average in T20 games.
4/11: Dirk Nannes' best figures in Twenty20.
Sound Bytes:
The belief and the freedom to go out there and express yourself is important in this form of the game so hopefully that gives the boys a bit more of a licence: Paul Collingwood
Twenty20 is a funny game, all it takes is for a couple of us to fire and we will be challenging the big boys: Dirk Nannes
Teams:
England (From): Ravinder Bopara, Luke Wright, Owais Shah, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood(c), Eoin Morgan, James Foster(w), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson, Robert Key, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Graham Napier, Adil Rashid
Netherlands (From): Darron Reekers, Alexei Kervezee, Bas Zuiderent, Ryan ten Doeschate, Jeroen Smits(w/c), Daan van Bunge, Tom de Grooth, Mudassar Bukhari, Dirk Nannes, Edgar Schiferli, Pieter Seelaar, Peter Borren, Maurits Jonkman, Eric Szwarczynski, Ruud Nijma