England suffered their biggest humiliation in limited-overs history as they were defeated by minnows Holland in the opening match of the World Twenty20.
Expected to progress comfortably past the Dutch, who only have 5,000 players in their country, the hosts instead slumped to a four-wicket defeat in steady rain under the lights atLord's.
It is one of their most shocking defeats since losing by nine runs to Zimbabwe, who were then still an Associate nation, at Albury during the 1992 World Cup, although England had already qualified for the semi-finals by then.
Friday's defeat, which was sealed off the last ball when Edgar Schiferli scrambled a two off the last ball after Stuart Broad's throw missed the stumps at the non-striker's end, means England must beat Pakistan at the Oval on Sunday to prevent being knocked out of the tournament just three days into the event.
The tournament had threatened to get off to a damp start with steady rain forcing the organisers to cancel the opening ceremony and delay the start by 20 minutes.
Even England's innings rarely threatened to provide the thrills and spills promised in the brochure after they failed to hit a single six in their innings and added only 22 runs in the final three overs.
But after recording a respectable 162 for six despite their late stutter, England quickly realised the scale of their task and the tournament sprang to life with Holland's stunning triumph.
They celebrated by running to the corner of Lord's where their fans were most populated and slid on the turf in a football-style celebration while England's shattered players made their way to the Lord's dressing rooms.
There was no hint of the drama to come when England, put into bat, began their innings and Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright once again laid the foundations for a far bigger total with a 102-run stand off 73 balls.
It was England's highest ever opening stand in a Twenty20 international from the 12th pair they have tried in just 16 matches and seemed to hint at a comfortable victory for the hosts.
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Instead of build on that foundation, though, England stuttered and struggled to overcome the absence of Kevin Pietersen with a recurrence of his Achilles problems.
Having forged a stunning 119-run stand in the warm-up match against West Indies, England's openers took that form into this match and at the halfway stage they were looking at a massive total on 89 without loss.
But Bopara holed out to long on to begin a collapse of five wickets for 51 runs in 7.3 overs including Wright in identical fashion for a superb 71 off 49 balls in the 18th over, prompting a sluggish finale when England were only able to score one four in the final three overs and were unable to hit a boundary off the final 17 balls.
It was a scrappy finish which backfired badly on England later in the evening when the Dutch completed one of the greatest shocks in recent years to leave the hosts scrambling to maintain an interest in their own tournament.
Straight away, Holland made their mark with opener and part-time debt collectorDarron Reekers achieving what no England player had done by launching two sixes in the first three overs of the innings.
England had begun brightly with James Anderson striking with the fifth ball of the innings to remove Alexei
Kervezee and Broad having Reekers caught in the deep in the fourth over.
But it was the innings of middle order batsman Tom de Grooth which gave Holland the self-belief that they could spring a surprise in the opening match, who particularly took a liking to young leg spinner Adil Rashid after he was surprisingly preferred to Graeme Swann.
He lashed 49 off 30 balls, adding 50 off just 30 balls with Bas Zuiderent, to leave Holland needing an achievable 47 from the final seven overs after driving Paul Collingwood to mid off.
Peter Borren picked up the mantle and hammered 30 off 25 balls, including a slog sweep for six off Collingwood, to take Holland even closer to their dramatic victory when he was also caught in the deep to become the second of three victims for Anderson.
Perhaps the moment which turned the match in Holland's favour, though, was in the penultimate over when Essex all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate was dropped by Anderson at full stretch on the cover boundary and allowed the ball to trickle for four.
It left Holland needing 12 runs off nine balls to finish and when Broad began the final over, the target was seven to complete a stunning triumph.
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England thought the game had turned back in their favour when Schiferli seemed to have been run out attempting a quick single when Broad collected and threw down the stumps, but television evidence proved he had broken them with his hand before the ball.
It was the reprieve which Holland wanted and, needing two for victory, Schiferli pushed the final ball back down the pitch and Broad collected again but his throw missed the stumps and allowed Holland to seal victory from an overthrow.
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