Graphic: Mike Atherton's ultimate guide to the World Twenty20

It wasn’t quite the butcher, baker and candlestick-maker, but it was the repo man, the restaurateur and the insurance broker who embarrassed England in an astonishing start to the World Twenty20. This was the greatest night in Dutch cricketing history — and one of England’s worst. England must beat Pakistan to have any chance of staying in the tournament and on this evidence, you wouldn’t back them to do it.

The Dutch victory, which came as England’s fielding completely disintegrated under pressure, was one of the biggest upsets in one-day cricketing history. It ranks alongside Kenya’s victory over West Indies at the 1996 World Cup, and the victories of Zimbabwe over Australia in 1975 and in the 2007 World Twenty20 and Bangladesh over the same opponents in 2005. None though were beaten on home turf and at the headquarters of their cricket.

Where did it all go wrong for England last night? Questions must be asked initially about team selection. With Kevin Pietersen unavailable through injury, the selectors had the perfect opportunity to stiffen an already thin bowling line-up and substitute Pietersen’s firepower by bringing in Graham Napier or Dimitri Mascarenhas. They did neither, replacing Pietersen with Robert Key, who after England’s bright start was demoted in the order and came in late on precisely when a big hitter was needed.

Mascarenhas should have played.

Sympathy for England is scarce, although, they came into this game without their two star players, Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff. No doubt there are those who will say that injuries are part and parcel of sport but the whole point of central contracts is to have your best players primed and fit for the biggest occasions.

Flintoff was allowed to go to the Indian Premier League, where he got injured, as was Pietersen, despite the fact that his Achilles tendon injury first flared up in the Caribbean. Hugh Morris, the England managing director, needs to take a long hard look at England’s teamsheet this morning and ask himself whether everything was done to ensure that England played their strongest side.

Even so, England should expect to beat a nation that has just 6,000 amateur players and a handful of grass pitches, with or without their biggest names. Great credit, therefore, should go to the Dutch who, although they bowled nervously, fielded impressively and kept their nerve until the final over when they needed some help from England’s fielders to get over the line. The final scoreline of four sixes for the Dutch to none for the home side, just about sums up the relative ambition of the two sides.

It was a terrible night for English cricket all-round, even if it was a corker for the tournament, at least once the action started. Before that, the spectators were forced to sit through miserable weather and an opening ceremony that was cancelled because of low pressure over NW8.

But Twenty20 is all about action not words and if last night’s match was anything to go by this could be a cracker of a tournament. Certainly there is a debate to be had about Twenty20’s place in the grand scheme of things, but it has earned its place at the top table because it gives us a daily reminder that cricket is fun.

The next three weeks will give great entertainment, and once the group stages are done, England’s players can settle down in front of the television and watch how Twenty20 should be played.