The Dutch return to international cricket after World Cup success
The Dutch squad was in action last year. Photo: ICC
How are you building on your best year yet? Scott Edwards and his Dutch team-mates face that question as they return to international cricket next week with three one-day internationals against Zimbabwe and two against South Africa.
The Netherlands are coming off a memorable T20 World Cup, held in Australia last October, where they not only qualified for the Super 12 stage but also defeated Zimbabwe and South Africa. Finishing in the top four of their group also qualified them for the 2024 T20 World Championship hosted by the USA and West Indies.
On the ODI front, the Dutch hosted heavyweight opponents West Indies, England and Pakistan in a three-game series each in their biggest home summer in Amsterdam and Rotterdam last year, but have yet to contest an ODI.
Despite the recent history, this is the Netherlands’ first tour to Zimbabwe for a bilateral series made possible by the World Cup Super League. The two teams played their first-ever ODI series in Deventer in 2019, where the Dutch won 2-0 before the Zimbabweans prevailed in a super over against the T20I series in Rotterdam.
The side landed in Harare on Friday afternoon after an intense two-week training camp in Cape Town, where they also played county sides Northamptonshire and Yorkshire.
While both teams are out of contention to directly qualify for the ODI World Cup in India at the end of the year, the series is not entirely devoid of context. The three-game series promises both sides an opportunity to optimize their preparation for the World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe in June and July.
qualifiers
“We had T20 World Cup qualifiers here so we should know the conditions pretty well,” said veteran middle-order racquet Tom Cooper, who returned to the Dutch line-up last year after a seven-year hiatus after seizing opportunities in Australia.
“We’re coming back for qualification but as we saw last summer we’ll play games at this level, which has been rare for the Dutch over the years.”
“There’s not much to qualify at these games but it’s another chance for a fairly young team to grow as cricketers and believe that all the hard work they put in is paying off.”
While the hosts have called up a full-strength squad in Gary Ballance, Sikandar Raza, Blessing Muzarabani and Ryan Burl, the Dutch are without their top-flight all-rounder Bas de Leede, who suffered a heel injury during a pre-season game. Season training camp with Durham.
Trainer
However, they will be bolstered by the return of Roelof van Der Merwe, with the all-rounder set to play his first ODI since November 2021.
The series is being overseen by a new group of coaches as regular head coach Ryan Cook fulfills his Indian Premier League commitments at Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Ryan van Niekerk, his colleague at Gary Kirsten Cricket Academy, will step in with former Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo and former South Africa international Heino Kuhn as assistants.
The three ODIs will be played at Harare Sports Club on March 21st, 23rd and 25th.
Squad: Scott Edwards (Captain and Wicketkeeper), Colin Ackermann, Musa Nadeem Ahmad, Shariz Ahmad, Tom Cooper, Aryan Dutt, Brandon Glover, Vivian Kingma, Fred Klaassen, Ryan Klein, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O “Dowd, Vikram Singh.
