The Netherlands will be returning to the Cricket World Cup after a gap of nearly twelve years, having surprisingly qualified for the quadrennial extravaganza ahead of the likes of Ireland, Zimbabwe and the West Indies.
Interestingly, the Dutch team’s last appearance in this CWC was back in 2011, when the World Cup was held in the Indian sub-continent- this 2023 one will be held in India too. They missed out on the 2015 (Australia & NZ) and 2019 (England hosted) editions but will travel to India as one of the ten best teams in 50 over cricket- not a small feat by any stretch of imagination.
What makes things even more impressive was the Dutch qualifying without the services of some of their key players. The likes of Tom Cooper, Colin Ackermann, Fred Klaasen, Roelof van der Merwe and Paul van Meekeren, to name a few, were all unavailable because their counties refused to release them for the qualifying tournament.
Despite being continental Europe’s only representative at the tournament, many cricket betting sites in France don’t really expect the Dutch to be a threat to the big nations at the World Cup. But if they play the same brand of fearless cricket that they did in the qualifiers, where they upset West Indies and Scotland and very nearly toppled Sri Lanka, they could definitely pick up a surprise scalp or two in India.
The Dutch actually started their qualifying campaign with a loss, going down to hosts Zimbabwe despite scoring more than 300 while batting first. Relatively easier games against the United States and Nepal followed, and wins in them boosted their confidence ahead of the crunch final group game against the West Indies.
The Windies scored a massive 374/6 batting first, but the Dutch were not to be cowed, and kept pace with the asking rate in their chase. Young Teja Nidamanaru scored a fine 111 (76), effectively matching Nicholas Pooran’s whirlwind effort from the WI innings. Skipper Scott Edwards made 67 (47) and Logan van Beek’s cameo saw the game taken to a Super Over.
Van Beek then produced one of the great individual performances in Super Over history, smashing Jason Holder for 30 runs, and then defending it himself by giving away only eight runs.
The win over the Windies also allowed the Dutch to carry forward four points to the Super Six stage, and this was instrumental in them finishing second behind Sri Lanka eventually.
In their great final Super Six victory over the Scots, the Dutch had a new hero- Bas de Leede, son of the legendary Tim who played the 1996 WC tournament for them. All-rounder De Leede took 5/52 with the ball and then scored 123 to ensure they got home and with plenty to spare, thus pipping Scotland on net run rate to qualify along with the Lankans.
Netherlands schedule at the WC
Pakistan v Netherlands (Hyderabad)
New Zealand v Netherlands (Hyderabad)
South Africa v Netherlands (Dharamshala)
Netherlands v Sri Lanka (Lucknow)
Australia v Netherlands (Delhi)
Bangladesh v Netherlands (Kolkata)
Afghanistan v Netherlands (Lucknow)
England v Netherlands (Pune)
India v Netherlands (Bangalore)