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Captain Andrew Strauss kept his cool to help England scrape an opening World Cup win over the Netherlands after enduring a "shemozzle" of a performance in the field.

Strauss resisted the temptation to vent his frustration as England verged on the shambolic with a series of mis-fields, dropped catches and comical mis-communications

to allow the Netherlands to pile up 292 for six.

Ryan ten Doeschate took advantage with a career-best 119, before England responded to a largely self-inflicted mini-crisis with a well-drilled run chase, sealing victory with six wickets and eight balls to spare.

Strauss (88), who shared a century stand with his new opening partner Kevin Pietersen at their first attempt, and Jonathan Trott (62) scored the bulk of the runs.

But an unbroken half-century stand in under six overs between Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara was needed to complete the job and ensure there would be no repeat of the defeat to the Dutch at the start of the 2009 ICC World Twenty20.

Asked if it amounted to an acceptable performance in their first match of the tournament, Strauss said: "Certainly not with the ball and certainly not in the field.

"The first 50 overs was a very poor performance, and certainly the last 10 overs was exceptionally poor."

England's worst moments were a reprieve for Ten Doeschate on 47 - when James Anderson and Pietersen let an outfield catch drop between them - and then a needless no-ball for deploying too many men outside the fielding circle which meant Peter Borren was recalled after being bowled by Stuart Broad.

Strauss could hardly believe his eyes at times, but did not lay into his team-mates or start throwing the crockery between innings.

"We were a little bit shellshocked by what happened in those last 10 overs," he said. "But it wasn't a time to be dwelling on it, it was time to move on.

"There were a few teacups on the field, but not in the dressing room. You can't afford to drop that many catches and we were pretty untidy on the ground as well.

"That meant Holland probably got 30 or 40 more than they should have done. We were way off where we want to be in the field.

"We came in very determined to start the tournament well. But it was one of those days in the field where everything seemed to go wrong.

"There were balls bouncing everywhere, shies at the stumps taking deflections and going for four, mis-communications between fielders going for catches, and certainly the last 10 overs was very frustrating."

As for Borren's no-ball escape, Strauss admitted a breakdown in communication between himself and Collingwood was to blame.

"It doesn't often happen but it did and, needless to say, when things are going against you, you happen to take a wicket off that ball," Strauss added.

"It was a bit of a shemozzle on the field and we need to improve pretty quickly."

Even so, Strauss stressed that Essex all-rounder Ten Doeschate deserved the plaudits.

"I think you've got to give a lot of credit to Ryan ten Doeschate for the way he played," he added. "We've seen him do that for Essex, but on the big stage it's a hard thing to do and he played exceptionally well."

Strauss was also heartened by England's successful run chase.

"We needed to get back on the horse pretty quickly with the bat and make sure we put in a good, solid, professional performance," he added.

"It was a little bit tighter than we wanted it at the end, we probably didn't use the powerplay as we would have liked, but I think we always had the batting under control.

"We can take some confidence out of that."

Ten Doeschate, who also took two wickets, gave his side a great chance of a shock win.

He said: "It's a massive disappointment. You could see it when we came off the field there.

"We genuinely thought we had a chance of defending 290 and at a lot of stages in the game we looked like doing that."I don't think it was our best bowling performance and I think if we'd bowled well we would have won that game.

"I didn't strike it all that well for the first 20 balls or so. But then, as does happen in cricket, I got into that zone and felt like I could hit every ball.

"I guess those are the days where you've got to cash in and score some heavy runs."

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