NETHERLANDS CRICKET TEAM
Netherlands has not established itself as a test side yet. It is still in its early days in international cricket. Many of the players of Netherlands like Andre van Troost, Dan van Bunge and Bas Zuiderent have played county cricket in England.
As cricket’s popularity grows in Netherlands, it hopes to have many more Dutchs taking up professional cricket as a career. As of now, it is gleaning all the experiences that come its way and lay a foundation for the future.
History
Netherlands first qualified for the World Cup in 1996. It did not qualify for the World Cup that followed in 1999 but participated in the 2003 World Cup. In June 2006, Sri Lanka toured Netherlands for two ODIs. The matches, as expected, were totally one-sided but Netherlands impressed with its batting abilities. Netherlands has been actively participating in the other tournaments involving non-test playing countries. It won the ICC trophy in 2001. It also won the European
Championship in 1998.
Netherlands secured a third place in the ICC trophy in 1994. This automatically earned Netherlands the ticket to the World Cup cricket in 1996. Netherlands finished last on the Group Table and could not proceed to the next round.
Netherlands did not qualify for the World Cup in 1999. Following its triumph in ICC trophy in 2001, Netherlands entered the World Cup in 2003. Here too its appearance was restricted to the first round. In a way, the 2003 World Cup was a memorable one for Netherlands since it registered its first victory in the World Cup. The win came against Namibia in the league matches.
Performance
As a part of ICC’s efforts to condition the non-test playing nations to the rigors of international cricket, test-playing teams are making tour of these countries. Sri Lanka visited Netherlands in July 2006 to play two one-day internationals. As expected, both the matches went in favor of the Sri Lankans by a considerable margin, but nonetheless, Netherlands put up a brave fight. Save for Muralitharan and Atapattu, who were missing from action, Sri Lanka fielded its regular team. Sri Lanka scored 443 for 9 in the first ODI thus surpassing the world record for the highest one day total. In reply, Netherlands was all out for 248 runs. Tim Leede top scored for his team with 51 runs coming from 42 balls.
The second ODI was an equally high scoring one with Sri Lanka setting a target of 313 runs, the Dutch made a fighting 248 in response. In the 2006 European Championship, Netherlands secured a third place.
Chances in the 2007 World Cup
Netherlands goes to the 2007 World Cup with limited experience of one-day cricket. The exposure that awaits them in the tournament will be invaluable to them. If not more, Netherlands should be looking to win at least a match against Scotland, which is in same group.