A promising start came to nothing at the Kensington Oval on Friday as a Netherlands innings which had begun where the batsmen left off against the Combined Campuses and Colleges ended in a dramatic collapse, and Jamaica went on to a comfortable eight-wicket victory.

Hero of the game for Jamaica was left-arm pace man Krishmar Santokie, who returned to the attack to claim four wickets in five deliveries as the Dutch crashed from 110 for four to 116 all out, his hat-trick comprising Eric Szwarczynski, Mudassar Bukhari and Timm van der Gugten.

Szwarczynski, brought into the side for the final group game, had started quietly as the junior partner in a second-wicket stand with Stephan Myburgh, whose enterprising 27-ball 31 included two splendid sixes.

But once Myburgh had gone, followed by Alexei Kervezee and Peter Borren, both of whom hit a six before departing, Szwarczynski’s innings gathered momentum, and his 44 eventually came at a run a ball.

Even so, the Jamaican bowlers were containing the Dutch batsmen more effectively than the Combined Colleges had been able to do, and at 110 for four with less than four overs left it was clear that something spectacular would need to happen if the Netherlands were to set Jamaica a really challenging target, and give themselves a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals on net run rate.

Spectacular it was, but not in the way that Borren and his men would have hoped.

Wicketless in his initial two-over spell, Santokie came back to produce a succession of yorkers, removing first Atse Buurman and then Szwarczynski, caught trying to hit over the top, in his third over.

Wesley Barresi fell to Sheldon Cotterrell in the next over, and then Santokie completed his hat-trick by bowling Bukhari and Van der Gugten. Two balls later Ashan Malik Jamil ran himself out, and the Dutch had lost six wickets in the space of twelve deliveries for the addition of just six runs.

It never seemed likely to be enough against a powerful Jamaican batting line-up, and the Dutch again contributed to their own downfall with some poor fielding, putting down a couple of catches when they needed to hold on to absolutely everything.

Nkrumah Bonner and Danza Hyatt put on 49 for the first wicket before Borren took a good, low catch to dismiss the latter off Pieter Seelaar’s bowling, and three overs later Jamil had Bonner caught by Szwarczynski when the opener had made a 34-ball 35.

But the Jamaicans did not need to take any risks, and Marlon Samuels and Shawn Findlay saw them safely home with sixteen deliveries to spare. Seelaar was again the pick of the bowlers, conceding just 15 in his four-over spell, but even that was not enough to create any real pressure.

So in the end, the Orange Lions will leave the Caribbean knowing that there is plenty of work to be done if they are to have a realistic chance of qualifying for the World Twenty20 tournament.

The batsmen have shown flashes of the sort of form they will need if they are to set winning totals, and the bowlers have evidently done pretty well, Van der Gugten proving a real acquisition as the spearhead. But dropped catches cost them dear in the last qualifying tournament in Dubai, and the fielding in this competition will have given coach Peter Drinnen some real cause for concern.