Ireland completed a week to forget at the World League in Kenya with a fourth defeat in five matches - and this time the batsmen, obviously determined not to let the bowlers take all the blame, collapsed in spectacular style.

Set 261 to win in 46 overs, after overnight rain delayed the start by two hours, Ireland were coasting at 195 for one in the 37th over. The loss of four wickets in 13 balls, however, sent them careering out of control and even the depth of batting, which left Andre Botha again unused, could not rescue the latest Irish demise.

The last over started with 15 wanted, exactly the same scenario as in the first match on the Gymkhana ground except the roles were reversed, Kevin O'Brien was bowling to two Scottish batsmen. Inches separated O'Brien from glory that day, yesterday it was Peter Borren who was the Dutch hero, restricting John Mooney to a succession of twos from the first four balls and then, with precision which the Ireland bowlers were unable to match all week, put the last two in the block hole. The North County all rounder was rendered run-less, with his brother Paul watching helplessly at the other end.

It was almost too much for the batsmen to shake hands with the orange shirts on the way off, virtually crawling back to the pavilion to their sympathetic team-mates. It was an experience all too familiar to the players this week.

Trent Johnston, the Ireland captain, was there at the finish but after another night of sickness, he was still in the team hotel when the game got under way with Kyle McCallan tossing the coin. When his counterpart, Luuk van Troost called wrongly, there was almost a cheer of relief that Ireland, after three agonising losses when bowling second, were able to ask the Dutch to bat first. Boyd Rankin was the only other squad member not considered well enough to play and with both the Mooneys included for the first time in the tournament, Peter Gillespie, who has yet to bat, and Kenny Carroll were the two left out. The explanation before the toss was that 'we may need an extra bowler, we would not need the extra batsman.' It seemed sound logic.

However, when you give a batsman four lives - three of the them as easy as any club cricketer would want - it makes winning so much more difficult. Kevin O'Brien twice and Paul Mooney, on the mid-wicket boundary, were the guilty men and big Dutch opener Darron Reekers said thanks very much.

The first three chances were all squandered during the opening stand of 114, with the total on 24, 91 and 106 and even after Andre Botha made the breakthrough and Kyle McCallan took a wicket in the delayed third power play, Mooney put down his second chance with Reekers on 94. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, the opening batsman duly scored his first ODI century before William Porterfield - inevitably - showed a flash of inspiration in the field and Reekers was run out. McCallan was happy enough with his bowlers' efforts and apart from Paul Mooney it was a improvement on their previous performances in the tournament. Kevin O'Brien and Botha bowled the last five overs of the innings, and Dave Langford-Smith bowled the previous two and none of the seven cost more than nine runs. At least it is something to build on, although the test has still to come defending.

In spite of the loss of Jeremy Bray in the 10th over, the batting went according to plan for the next 27 overs. William Porterfield and Eoin Morgan, without giving a chance, worked the ball all round the wicket with the confidence you would expect from batsmen who have shared three centuries in the last three games.

Morgan gave his partner a 31 runs start - off just 29 balls - and was the first into the 80s but they complemented each other perfectly. The Middlesex batsman hit seven fours and four sixes and was just six short of his second century in two days when he holed out to long-off. Porterfield had never reached 50 for Ireland before without going onto a hundred but all good things must come to an end and, 16 short of his fourth century, he cleared the infield too well and was caught at deep mid-wicket.

In between these two wickets, Niall O'Brien was yorked and Kevin O'Brien, trying for a big hit much too early in his innings, was bowled fourth ball. That left Ireland needing 59 from the last seven overs but with only five wickets left. There was still no need to panic and for a while Kyle McCallan and Andrew White showed how it should be done.

But then White was caught at deep square leg and with still 22 wanted, McCallan was bowled behind his legs and for the second successive day Dave Langford-Smith was caught first ball. The Dutch sensed blood and Borren killed off the Irish and left them with much to reflect on before they get on the plane for Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

National coach Adrian Birrell admitted the Ireland team did not stick to their game plan as they slumped to a final World League group game defeat against the Netherlands yesterday. Only Bermuda finished below Ireland in the six-team tournament and even they had the same number of points as Ireland, who managed fifth because of a better nett run rate.

'It's been a very, very disappointing tournament for me and the team,' said Birrell.' We had high hopes of qualifying and thought we had the team to do it. I believe we should have qualified but we fell on the the wrong side of almost every result. Every game went to the last over . 'Today we again missed Trent Johnston. He would have been ideal with his clean hitting in the final overs but again that is no excuse for not winning the match.

'With 60 to win in nine overs it is just a case of running down the total but today there were guys being bowled trying to hit boundaries and others finding fielders with big shots. We forgot our game plan and paid another heavy price.

'We have many issues to address, where things went wrong, but I still believe this team is capable of big things."