Team Nederlands was the last of four clubs to work out at Dolphin Stadium on Friday in advance on second-round play in the World Baseball — Honkbal in Dutch — Classic. While the others — Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Team USA — came and went in a hurry, Team Orange sandwiched team meetings around a two-hour practice.

"The element of surprise is out the window,'' said righthander Sidney Ponson, who will start for the Dutch Saturday against Venezuela.

Netherlands took care of that by beating the powerful Dominican Republic twice in the first round of the WBC. The wins were a long time coming. The Dutch pattern has been to play well against European competition but falter on the world-wide stage.

"We had a long struggle to develop a good team,'' said first baseman Sharnol Adriana, the team veteran at age 38. "Back in the days, we couldn't compete with the baseball countries. But in the last couple of years, we've been getting better and better and better. This is the pinnacle.''

So who are these guys?

The major-leaguers on the Dominican roster are scheduled to earn about $83 million this season. Only two players on the Dutch roster have a major-league contract for this season: Florida righthander Rick Vanden Hurk and Seattle outfielder Gregory Hallman. Both will be paid at the minimum rate of $400,000 for time spent in the majors.

A few of the Dutch faces are familiar.