A rare good start in this World Cup for the Dutch batting order went to waste as they were beaten compreneisvely by Afghanistan, keeping their hopes of a semi-final place alive.

Choosing to bat first, the Dutch lost Wesley Barresi in the first over but a 70 run partnership between Max O'Dowd and Colin Ackermann got them back on track. The partnership ended when O'Dowd was out for 42, with Ackerman following seven overs - and 19 runs - later.

Ackerman's dismissal sparked a collapse though as the Dutch went from 92-2 to 113-6 in a seven over spell. Number four Sybrand Engelbrecht held on for a while, putting on 21 for the seventh wicket with Logan van Beek and 18 for the eighth with Roelof van der Merwe before he finally fell for 58.

The final total for the Dutch was 179 with the last wicket falling in the 47th over. Four wickets were run outs whilst Mohammad Nabi was the pick of the bowlers with 3-28.

Rahmat Shah scored 52 in the early stages of the Afghan run chase, but Hashmatullah Shahidi's unbeaten 56 was their top score. The runs were chased down in 31.3 overs with the Afghans winning by seven wickets.

The Netherlands will next be in action on Wednesday when they play England, no doubt hoping to record a famous win in the 50-over World Cup to go with their two wins in T20 World Cups.

Afghanistan's next game is scheduled to be against Australia on Tuesday, though Australia refused to play Afghanistan in a Super League series back in March in protest at the Afghan government's position on women's rights. Considering that situation hasn't changed, there is every possibility that Australia would refuse to play against them again, in which case Afghanistan's next onfield action will be against South Africa in a week's time.