All's well that ends well.

Australia overcame losing the toss, a butter-fingered groundsman, two rain delays, a slow and unfriendly pitch and the Duckworth-Lewis system to beat Holland by 75 runs in the World Cup match at North West Stadium.

Set 198 runs to win from 36 overs under the wet-weather formula, following Australia's total of 2-170, Holland's ten amateurs and one professional were never in the hunt, bundled out for 122 in 30.2 overs.

Jason Gillespie only needed half a run-up to take care of Holland's best two batsmen before Australian captain Ricky Ponting decided to give part-time spinners Darren Lehmann and Andrew Symonds a bowl.

Gillespie, coming off just ten paces to get through his overs quickly as rain hovered above the cosy ground, dismissed Daan van Bunge (one) and Bas Zuiderent (five) in an opening three-over spell of 2-7 that left the Dutch 2-18.

With the skies clearing, the game meandered along while Lehmann (2-27) and Symonds (0-36) operated in tandem. Australia's reserve fast bowler Andy Bichel came on later in the innings to net 3-13 from five overs.

Everything went wrong for Ponting at the start of the day.

He lost the toss and was told to bat and then, as forecast, ran ruined proceedings, cutting short Australia's innings and giving Holland a glimmer of a chance to perhaps sneak in a win with the help of Duckworth and Lewis.

Damien Martyn made 67 from 76 balls on a pitch made damp by a gaffe from groundsman Louis Kruger and his assistants. The start of play was delayed by an hour because water was spilled on the pitch when the covers were being lifted. Kruger threw his mobile telephone down in disgust and the Australians were only marginally less peeved.

They couldn't afford to waste time with inclement weather about.

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