The Netherlands had the best of the first day of their Intercontinental Cup tie against Papua New Guinea, despite being bowled out in two sessions. The visiting Barramundis did well to capitalise on winning the toss, bowling their hosts out before tea for 209 in overcast conditions on a green-tinged pitch, but the Netherlands struck back with six wickets in the final session - all but one of the 16 wickets in the day claimed by seamers.

Dutch openers Stephan Myburgh and Michael Rippon looked comfortable enough initially, putting on 39 at a brisk pace, with Myburgh dominating the scoring. Myburgh's would be the first wicket to fall however, perhaps a little unfortunate to be adjudged LBW to Loa Nou for 26. Michael Swart soon followed him in similar fashion, caught behind off Willie Gavera, and thereafter PNG looked well on top. Rippon became the second of Nou's eventual five victims having made 28, and when Wesley Barresi offered a tame catch to Amini of Reva to leave the hosts on 68 for 4 things looked dire indeed for the hosts.

Debutant Max O'Down and skipper Peter Borren saw the Dutch to lunch without further loss, but little further. Nou returned after the break to claim three wickets in three successive overs as the Dutch slipped to 117-7. PNG found the next wicket harder to come by however, as Pieter Seelaar and Paul van Meekeren - both of whom are in remarkable form with the bat in domestic cricket - held them up for 15 overs during which they added a crucial 61 runs. The dutch numbers 7 and 9 would prove the only batsmen to pass 30 in the day, making 31 and 34 respectively. Last wicket pair Quirijn Gunning and Daniel Doram contribued a further 20 runs for the final wicket to take the hosts to a total of 209 all out as the teams went to tea.

If the total looked sub-par at the break, it didn't seem that way for long as the pace opening combination of Timm van der Gugten and Quirijn Gunning rapidly ran through the PNG top order. The visitors had lost their top four for just 36 inside the first ten overs. On a day where pace bowlers had already claimed 13 of 14 wickets a change in tactics seemed uncalled-for, and indeed when Borren switched to a combination of spin and his own medium pace the pressure on the Papuans seemed to ease.

Charles Amini and Mahuru Dai added 37 for the 5th wicket, and it took the reintroduction of pace in the form of Paul van Meekeren to break the partnership, finding Amini's edge to give Borren a regulation catch at first slip. Timm van der Gugten provided his captain with another of the same at the expense of Dai with the score on 91, claiming his fourth scalp of the day and leaving Borren just two catches short of matching Steve Tikolo's record of 30 in the competition.

JB Reva and skipper Jack Vare saw off the last five overs of the day and took PNG to triple figures, but with just four wickets in hand and a deficit of 106 runs still to make up the momentum has swung back against the tourists.