The Netherlands took less than three hours to finish off the Bermudian innings in Amstelveen on Wednesday and move to the top of the Intercontinental Cup table. Bermuda achieved exactly the same total as in the first innings – 183 – giving the Dutch victory by an innings and 44 runs.

The ground was ready for the restart on schedule despite heavy overnight rain, and Bermudians resumed on 51 for three, knowing that they would need to bat all day and then some if they were to have any chance of saving the match.

But that is not their style, and the first Dutch success of the morning came in the third over when James Celestine, backing up so far he could almost touch his partner, was run out by an accurate throw from midwicket by Adeel Raja. It was a suicidal moment, and the worst possible start for Bermuda.

Captain Irving Romaine came to the wicket, and played as if he were already taking part in Saturday’s first ODI. Helped by some wayward bowling from Edgar Schiferli and Mudassar Bukhari he smacked a succession of five boundaries in going to 23 off 15 balls, but Schiferli eventually had his revenge when Romaine edged a good ball to keeper Jeroen Smits.

That made it 78 for five, and four runs later Roderick Masters, who had played another patient innings, gave Smits a second catch off Bukhari’s bowling. It had been a very good first half-hour for The Netherlands.

Lionel Cann and Dwayne Leverock now dug in, however, and made it clear that they were not going to surrender their wickets easily.

Schiferli was still operating from Mulder’s End, and at the end of his seventh over of the morning, the 29th of the innings, words were exchanged between batsman Cann and the bowler. The umpires conferred, spoke to Dutch captain Smits, and brought the players together to shake hands. It was an unfortunate moment in a match which had hitherto been played in a good spirit, and it will be the subject of a report to match referee David Jukes.

Four overs later Mangesh Panchal came on in place of Schiferli, and Cann almost immediately swept him high over midwicket and straight into the hands of Alexei Kervezee on the boundary.

Leverock, who had made a half-century against the Dutch in the drawn game in Pretoria last November, was batting with great determination, and he and Arthur Pitcher stayed together until lunch, when the score was 152 for seven.

Panchal and Maurits Jonkman had been operating in tandem before the interval, and they continued immediately afterwards. Panchal finally broke the stubborn partnership in the second over of the session, when Pitcher edged to slip and Bas Zuiderent accepted the catch.

George O’Brien lasted just six balls, bowled by Panchal in his next over, and last man Ryan Steede joined Leverock, who by this time had reached 35. Steede gave his senior partner excellent support, playing impeccably straight while Leverock gradually moved towards his fifty.

Raja replaced Jonkman, and it was off his bowling that the Bermuda spinner finally reached that milestone. Two overs later, he lashed out, top-edged high in the air, and Smits took the catch which brought the game to a close.

It had been a reasonably efficient performance by the Dutch side, and it will remove any sour taste left by their own innings defeat in Aberdeen two weeks ago. There were some fine individual efforts on both sides: Irving Romaine’s century on the first day; the bowling of Mangesh Panchal, who took eight wickets in the match, and of Bermuda fast man George O’Brien; and of course the marathon knock by Tom de Grooth which won him the Man of the Match award.

The two sides will now play two ODIs, in Rotterdam on Saturday and Monday, after which the Bermudians, reinforced by three leading younger players, will move on to Ireland, where they will resume their Intercontinental Cup campaign.