Northamptonshire 2nd XI made the best of tough conditions to prove too strong for the Dutch national side in a 50 over friendly at Dunstable Town Cricket Club on Bank Holiday Monday.

Conditions were far from ideal with rain and bad light causing a two-hour delay to the start of the fixture.

With the game being reduced from 50 overs to 35, the Netherlands won the toss and elected to bowl first, bringing trialists William Masojada and Justin Broad to the crease.

The pair made a strong start in difficult conditions, putting on a partnership of 121 in 23 overs before Masojada was dismissed one run short of his half century.

As Northamptonshire aimed to build on their total, Gus Miller joined Broad at the crease in the 27th over as the pair began to attack the Netherlands bowling outfit with just eight overs remaining.

Both made quick work of the Netherlands bowlers, with Miller unfurling a quick-fire 48 from 28 deliveries, including 2 fours and 3 sixes.

Broad continued to build on his innings after Miller was removed but he was dismissed for a clinical 98 to the penultimate delivery of the innings, falling to a brilliant yorker from Kyle Klein.

A strong end to the Northamptonshire innings left them with a total of 223/6 from their 35 over innings.

The Northamptonshire bowlers picked up where the batsmen left off, reducing the Netherlands to 75-5 before the rain hit again. Ramon Bailey was the dangerman, removing three of the Netherlands top four in the first eight overs.

After the rain had stopped, the Netherlands found themselves chasing down a DLS figure of 207 to win the match from 30 overs.

Aryan Dutt and Arnav Jain gave Northamptonshire some problems, forming a partnership of 63 from 60 deliveries.

Alex Russell ended the partnership however, continually rattling the stumps to take three quick wickets, but bad light halted proceedings for the last time. The bad light meant that no more play was possible, resulting in Northamptonshire winning by 55 runs thanks to DLS.

Huge thank you to the ground and support staff at Dunstable for all their hard work in getting the ground fit to play on.