World T20 Minnows Guide: Netherlands

Quick Single: Netherlands not cheats: ICC

ICC T20 World Ranking: 12th

The Inside Word

Hailing from the land of tulips, the Dutch are no team of shrinking violets; their hit-out or get-out mentality proving both a saving grace and a downfall during the qualifying tournament in the UAE.

Look for the Netherlands to contain in the field with tight-line medium pacers and flatter spin options, before throwing caution to the wind with the bat. Clearing fences is the Dutch game and opposition bowlers would be wise to keep things tight early in the innings.

The Schedule

March 18th v United Arab Emirates

March 19th v Zimbabwe

March 21st v Ireland

Quick Single: Dutch start off strong against UAE

Quick Single: Zimbabwe beat Netherlands in a thriller

The Trivia

– In 1881, the Dutch lost their first recorded match to England’s Uxbridge CC by an innings margin… despite having 22 players in the field.

– During the thirties and forties, their national representative team was known as ‘The Flamingos’.

– The Netherlands’ last, and only other, Twenty20 World Cup in 2009 saw them cause the upset of the tournament when they beat England in a last-ball thriller at Lord’s.

The Road to Bangladesh

The Netherlands finished fifth in the qualifier tournament, beating Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Nepal on their way to a top-six finish.

They did however lose to group-mates UAE and Ireland, which will be of concern to the Dutch hierarchy.

The Squad

Peter Borren (captain), Wesley Barresi, Logan van Beek, Mudassar Bukhari, Ben Cooper, Tom Cooper, Timm van der Gugten, Tom Heggelman, Vivian Kingma, Ahsan Malik, Stephan Myburgh, Michael Rippon, Pieter Seelaar, Michael Swart, Eric Szwarczynski

The Key Man

Michael ‘Get’ Swart – The former Western Australian Shield batsman was the second highest run-scorer for the Netherlands in the qualifying tournament, averaging 48 with the bat. He also picked up four handy right-arm-orthodox wickets, at the outstanding economy rate of less than four an over.

The Wild Card

Wesley ‘The Bear’ Barresi – The Dutch keeper-batsman epitomises the Dutch approach to batting; go hard or go hard. He managed just 44 runs in nine previous T20Is before exploding in the UAE, leaving as the tournament’s second-highest run-scorer with an average of 86. Unfortunately for Barresi, Scotland, the team he struck 145 of those runs against, didn’t make it across to Bangladesh.

The Aussie Connection

The Coopers – South Australia’s Tom Cooper, as well as his brother Ben,  feature in the Dutch line-up for the tournament in Bangladesh. Tom was called into the squad following an injury to Tim Gruijtens, and comes on the back of an impressive season of domestic cricket with the Redbacks. Ben is proving a valuable addition to the Netherlands outfit, scoring back-to-back 40s in his side’s last two matches.

The Prediction

First round exit – Even if the Netherlands can pick up wins against the UAE and Zimbabwe (which wouldn’t be too much of a stretch), the experienced Irish quicks will ultimately prove too much for a hit and miss Dutch top order.