In Malaga, the Netherlands beat Italy XI on the final day, but lost the final against a fairly strong English team.

For Italy, the eyes were on the dangerous Methnara Rathnayake and Emilia Bartram, who, however, were both caught for little.

Iris Zwilling, not very fortunate with the ball this week until now, took 3-14 and thanks to ultra-economical overs by Caroline de Lange and Robine Rijke, Italy, which had previously provided the biggest surprise of the tournament by beating England, only reached 68/7.

Final

Given the earlier results of the week, it would have been nice to win the toss and bat first. That honour was for England, but 20/2 was a promising score for the Dutch.

However, Meg Austin (42) and Bethan Gammon (26) raced to 89/4 and an expensive 24-run close set the target at 123 for the tournament win.

Thanks to an unleashed Robine Rijke (69 not out off 33 balls), the Netherlands came a long way, but it was eighteen runs short of a victory.

All in all, it was a wonderful tournament week in which it was proven that the power hitting lessons of former national coach Shane Deitz were seamlessly taken over by Jeremy Bray. Bowling and fielding also gives hope for the Global Qualifier in April and the Dutch league.