After a couple of hectic weeks, culminating in the two ODIs against Sri Lanka, this is a good moment to reflect on where the Dutch national side now finds itself, eight months away from the World Cup.

Although the two defeats by Sri Lanka – like Ireland’s performance against England and Scotland’s against Pakistan – confirmed that there remains a sizeable gap between the Test countries and the leading Associates, they also indicated that the gap is narrowing, at least in some areas. If the Dutch were never quite able to push the tourists into top gear, the batsmen in particular demonstrated that they can compete for a time on more or less equal terms, and national coach Peter Cantrell will have been encouraged by the way his side twice achieved their highest total against Test opposition.

The 258 they made in the second match, indeed, is the fifth-highest score ever registered by an Associate against a Test side, surpassed only by Zimbabwe’s 312 for four against Sri Lanka in New Plymouth in 1991-92 (they lost by three wickets), Kenya’s 284 for seven against a very weak Zimbabwe at Bulawayo earlier this year, 265 for five by Kenya against India in Gwalior in 1997-98, and Ireland’s 263 for nine against England in Belfast. It’s only the eighth time any Associate has passed 250 against such opponents.

The big problems, obviously, lie in the bowling, and to a degree in the fielding, which was often cumbersome. Some credit for the high scoring this week must go to the wicket produced by VRA groundsman Paul Polak, which – especially on Tuesday – was a batsman’s dream and a bowler’s worst nightmare. But the Dutch bowlers were generally helpless to stem the relentless flow of runs, and their wickets mostly came from occasional mistakes by the Sri Lankans.

The absence of a genuine strike bowler is without doubt a major disability at this level. The loss of Edgar Schiferli is a serious setback, but even he has only managed four wickets in eight ODIs, and there’s no-one in the Dutch squad who has the pace or the movement to trouble the world’s leading batsmen. Scotland’s Paul Hoffmann demonstrated against Pakistan that having such a weapon in the armoury can unsettle Test sides, but The Netherlands simply lacks anyone of his calibre.

Nor did containment work very well against Sri Lankan batsmen in top form and holiday mood. The best spells came from Peter Borren and Tim de Leede in the second match, but both had been hammered on Tuesday when Jayasuriya was in the side and the world record was on the agenda. There’s nobody at present who can fill the gap left by the retirement of Roland Lefebvre, and with Billy Stelling (right), Darron Reekers and Tim de Leede leading the attack there’s something of an age issue as well.

Cantrell must be looking to the younger seamers in his squad to develop fast under the guidance of bowling coach Ian Pont, and Mark Jonkman performed well enough against Denmark and the MCC to suggest that he may in due course claim a place in the full side. Victor Grandia was again unable to reproduce his excellent club form when playing for a national side, although there is no doubt that at his best he is sharp enough to command respect.

The spin department is another cause for concern: Mohammad Kashif bowled pretty well on Tuesday, but still went for eight an over, and Pieter Seelaar caused the batsmen few problems on Thursday. Adeel Raja surely remains in the frame for one of the spinning slots, having bowled well against Chris Cairns during the MCC tour, and he has a comparatively good record in ODIs. One notable feature of the games against Sri Lanka was that skipper Luuk van Troost never felt himself in a position to call on Daan van Bunge’s occasional leg-spin.

If the bowling gives rise to a series of headaches, the batting did well enough to suggest that the Dutch are nobody’s pushovers. Darron Reekers (right) twice did well in his pinch-hitter role, while de Leede, Bas Zuiderent, Ryan ten Doeschate, Alexei Kervezee, van Troost and Borren all got themselves established in one of the two innings.

But the difference is that nobody proved themselves capable of converting a good start into a match-winning innings: the chase on Tuesday was, admittedly, always a somewhat forlorn effort, but on Thursday there was a real, if outside, chance of victory. It needed someone to make a hundred, and none of the Dutch batsmen proved capable of doing that against an attack that was lively, tight and persistent, but which clearly missed its two world-class performers in Vaas and Muralitharan.

There were five half-century partnerships in the two games, but the highest of them was only 68, between Reekers and ten Doeschate, and that’s a clear measure of the side’s inability to take control against good bowling. It’s partly a question of belief: there’s a huge psychological barrier to be overcome before the Associates start beating their more illustrious, fulltime opponents.

So perhaps it’s fortunate, in some respects at least, that The Netherlands’ next matches will be against fellow-Associates, in the European Championships in Scotland next month and then during a winter tour to South Africa where they will take on Canada and Bermuda. These fixtures will give them an opportunity to compete on equal terms, and they will need to do well in order to prove that the progress they seem to be making is indeed real.