Ireland seemed to suffer a reaction from their opening day win in the European Championships and were soundly beaten by Holland yesterday as the Dutch passed a meagre total of 134 with five wickets and 9.5 overs to spare at The Hague.

Maybe the Irish were over-confident after a thrilling two-run defeat of the England Amateurs on Saturday, or it could have been they were drained emotionally. Either way there was very little spirit about a batting performance that owed its early impetus to wayward bowling. Ed Joyce was bowled by the 11th delivery of an Asim Khan over and three wickets fell for two runs to leave Ireland 42 for four. It was a situation that called out for a captain's innings and for a while Angus Dunlop looked up to the task.

But the class and composure that brought him a century against South Africa last week took flight along with an airy loft into the covers in only the 25th over. It needed Ryan Eagleson to give the total some respectability with a top score of 27.

Eagleson then produced a fiery opening spell that gave him two wickets for 18 and, for good measure, he held a fine running catch at long leg as the Dutch briefly wobbled at 28 for three. Veteran Matt Dwyer removed opener Ahmed Zulfiqar in a tidy seven overs, and the fragility of the Dutch batting suggested a score of 180 might have been beyond them. Eagleson returned to bowl successive maidens but Holland could afford to block him out, with Klaus-Jan van Noortwyk taking his side to victory with a boundary over mid-off at the start of the 41st over.