Cricket in the Netherlands

Cricket in the Netherlands
Country	Netherlands
Governing body	Royal Dutch Cricket Association
National team(s)	Netherlands
Nickname(s)	Dutch
First played	1881
Registered players	6,400 (approx)
National competitions
Topklasse Hoofdklasse Dutch Twenty20 Cup
Club competitions
Euro T20 Slam
International competitions
ICC World Twenty20 ICC Champions Trophy

Cricket has been played in the Netherlands since at least the 19th century, and in the 1860s was considered a major sport in the country. The sport is governed by the Royal Dutch Cricket Association.

Other sports (notably

in 1966.

The Dutch national side has qualified for the World Cup on five occasions (1996, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2023) and the

title in 2017.

The popularity of cricket in the Netherlands has also influenced the sport's development in both former Dutch colonies and current members of the

is an associate member of the ICC.

History

The popularity of cricket in the Netherlands has also influenced the sport's development in former Dutch colonies, including current members of the

West Indies Cricket Board

, which has full membership.

In 2005 the Dutch team beat

status from 1 January 2006 until the 2009 ICC Trophy.

2001 finally saw the Netherlands win the ICC Trophy, beating

In the

The Dutch played their first Intercontinental Cup match of 2006 against

Ireland

was rained off. They finished third in the tournament.

In November, the Dutch travelled to South Africa. They first played an Intercontinental Cup match against Bermuda: David Hemp achieved what was then a competition record score of 247 not out in the drawn match.^[3] This was followed by a triangular series against Bermuda and Canada, which they won.^[4] Their final game of 2006, also in South Africa, was an Intercontinental Cup game against Canada. They won the match by 7 wickets, with Ryan ten Doeschate setting a new competition record individual score of 259 not out.^[5]

In early 2007, they travelled to Nairobi, Kenya to take part in Division One of the World Cricket League, finishing third out of six.^[6] This was followed by the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, where they were eliminated in the first round, though they did beat Scotland along the way.^[7]

Following the World Cup, they underwent a period of transformation. Captain Luuk van Troost retired, as did Tim de Leede and their coach Peter Cantrell. Daan van Bunge also opted to take a break from international cricket, and the new coach opted not to retain the services of bowling coach Ian Pont.

In June 2007, they visited Canada, first winning an Intercontinental Cup match against Canada in King City, Ontario.^[8] They then won the first ODI by 117 runs,^[9] with the second one being abandoned.^[10] They then played a quadrangular series in Ireland, losing by ten wickets to the West Indies,^[11] and by one run to Ireland,^[12] with the game against Scotland being abandoned due to rain.^[13]

In August 2008, The Netherlands participated in the

The Netherlands caused a sensation in the cricketing world by beating England

and did not qualify for the super 8 stage based on run rate.

In July 2010, The Netherlands beat a full-member nation for the first time in an ODI. In a one-off match shortened by rain to 30 overs a side, they beat Bangladesh by 6 wickets.^[22] The win in combination with their winning percentage against other associate and affiliate nations resulted in The Netherlands being included in ICC's official ODI-rankings.^[23][24]

In February 2011, The Netherlands posted their highest ever total against a full-member nation, scoring 292 against England, batting first at the

top scored with 119 from 110 balls. However, the Netherlands were unable to defend their strong total and failed to pull off a huge shock, England winning by 6 wickets with 2 overs to spare. They eventually failed to win any of their group matches and were last in their Group.

In September 2011, Netherlands whitewashed

In January 2014,

2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship

.

In the

Ireland

, they needed to chase down Ireland's score in 14.2 overs or less. As Ireland scored 189, this seemed unlikely.

However, strong and aggressive batting enabled them to score 193/4 in 13.5 overs, securing passage to the

England

in their last game.

Governing body

Main article:

Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond

The

in 1966.

The KNCB has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council since 1966.^[26] There are a few cricket grounds in the Netherlands which are officially sanctioned by the ICC to host ODIs such as Amsterdam, Amstelveen and Voorburg. It hosted some of the matches of the 1999 Cricket World Cup, though the Dutch did not participate in that tournament.^[27]

The Dutch participated in the 1996 Cricket World Cup, 2003 Cricket World Cup, 2007 Cricket World Cup, and 2011 Cricket World Cup. In their debut campaign, they lost all of their matches badly barring a respectable performance against England. They qualified for the 2003 edition after winning the 2001 ICC Trophy,^[28] with their only win of the World Cup tournament coming against fellow qualifier Namibia. It was around this time that stars and excellent cricketers like Roland Lefebvre and Ryan ten Doeschate started emerging to make Dutch cricket much more strong.

Before 1958 it was known as the Nederlandse Cricket Bond or the Dutch Cricket Board. After receiving a Royal charter in 1958, a "Royal" was added before the board's name known simply as Koninklijke in Dutch. The following names have been for the board in their history:-

• Nederlandse Cricket Bond (Dutch Cricket Board)
• Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond (Royal Dutch Cricket Board)

Domestic competitions

The main cricket division is called Topklasse, in which eight teams compete for the national championships.
Other important competitions are: Hoofdklasse, Eerste Klasse, and the Twenty20 Cup.

• Topklasse,

Topklasse known before as Hoofdklasse is the highest domestic cricket competition in the Netherlands.
Eight teams are playing in the regular competition; the finalists being decided during a play-off stage.

Previous champions

1997 – Excelsior '20
1998 – VRA
1999 – VRA
2000 – Excelsior '20
2001 – VRA
2002 – VCC
2003 – VRA
2004 – Excelsior '20
2005 – VRA
2006 – VRA
2007 – VRA
2008 – HCC
2009 – Excelsior '20
2010 – VRA
2011 – VRA
2012 – Excelsior '20
2013 – Quick Haag

Teams

A total of 8 teams are taking part in the league

Club	Location	Venue
ACC	Amstelveen	Sportpark 't Loopveld
Dosti CC	Amsterdam	Sportpark Drieburg
HBS	The Hague	Sportpark Craeyenhout
HCC	The Hague	Sportpark De Diepput
Hermes D.V.S.	Schiedam	Sportpark Harga
H.V. & C.V. QUICK	The Hague	Sportpark Nieuw Hanenburg
Excelsior'20	Schiedam	Sportpark Thurlede
VRA	Amstelveen	Sportpark Amsterdamse Bos

Twenty20 cricket

The first season of the

Grounds

There are numerous club grounds throughout Netherlands. Over 14 grounds have been used for

.

Official name (known as)	City or town	Capacity	Notes	Ref
Hazelaarweg Stadion	Rotterdam	10,000	Has held ten South Africa Women in 2007, two first-class matches and fourteen List A matches	[30]
Sportpark Duivesteijn †	Voorburg	Unknown	Held a Women's One Day International in 2003 between Pakistan Women and West Indies Women. Now defunct and last used for cricket in 2005	[31]
Sportpark Harga	Schiedam	Unknown	Has held a single Women's One Day International between Netherlands Women and Japan Women in 2003	[32]
Sportpark Het Loopveld	Amstelveen	Unknown	Has held a single Women's One Day International between Ireland Women and West Indies Women in 2003	[33]
Sportpark Hofbrouckerlaan	Oegstgeest	Unknown	Has held a single Women's One Day International between Netherlands Women and Scotland Women in 2003	[34]
Sportpark Het Schootsveld	Deventer	Unknown	Has held four Women's One Day Internationals, three first-class matches and three List A matches	[35]
Sportpark Klein Zwitserland	The Hague	Unknown	Has held a single Women's One Day International between Japan Women and Scotland Women in 2003	[36]
Sportpark Koninklijke HFC	Haarlem	Unknown	Has held ten Women's One Day Internationals	[37]
Sportpark Laag Zestienhoven	Rotterdam	Unknown	Has held a single Women's One Day International between Ireland Women and Pakistan Women in 2003	[38]
Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd	Utrecht	Unknown	Has held six Women's One Day Internationals, five Women's Twenty20 Internationals and a single first-class match	[39]
Sportpark Nieuw Hanenburg	The Hague	Unknown	Has held a single Women's One Day International between Netherlands Women and Ireland Women in 2003	[40]
Sportpark Thurlede	Schiedam	Unknown	Has held two One Day Internationals, Women's One Day International and four List A matches	[41]
Sportpark Westvliet	Voorburg	Unknown	Has held four One Day Internationals, which includes the four List A matches held there	[42]
VRA Cricket Ground	Amstelveen	4,000	Has held sixteen One Day Internationals, five Women's One Day Internationals, four first-class matches and 25 List A matches	[43]

National team

The

in 1999.

In February 2011, The Netherlands posted their highest ever total against a full-member nation, scoring 292 against England, batting first at the

top scored 119 from 110 balls. However, the Netherlands were unable to defend their strong total and failed to pull off a huge shock, England winning by 6 wickets with 2 overs to spare. They eventually failed to win any of their group matches and were last in their Group.

In September 2011, Netherlands whitewashed

In January 2014,

Scotland

.

National women's team

Main article:

Netherlands national women's cricket team

The Dutch women's cricket team represents the Netherlands in international women's cricket matches. Unlike their male counterparts, they currently have both Test and ODI status.

Under-19 cricket team

Main article:

Netherlands Under-19 cricket team

Netherlands Under-19 cricket team represents the Netherlands in Under-19 international cricket.

The team has been playing in international youth tournaments since 1979 but have only participated in one U-19 World Cup in 2000. They most recently participated in 2010 European U-19 Championship where they finished fourth, thus missing out on a chance for World Cup qualification.

Famous players

Several Dutch cricketers have also played at first-class level elsewhere, the most successful of these probably being

• Alexei Kervezee is the only current member of the Dutch team to be playing county cricket for Worcestershire
• Andre van Troost – who played for Somerset from 1991 to 1998, and for Griqualand West in the 1994/95 season in South Africa.
• Bas Zuiderent – who played for Sussex from 2001 to 2003.
• Carst Posthuma – who played five first class games for London County Cricket Club in 1903.
• Bill Glerum – who played one first class game for the Free Foresters in 1957.
• Dirk Nannes – who played for Victoria in Australia, for Delhi Daredevils in India and also for the Australian National Cricket Team.
• Daan van Bunge – who played for Middlesex in 2004 and was the unfortunate victim as Herschelle Gibbs set a new ODI record by scoring 36 runs (six sixes from six balls) from Van Bunge's fourth over in 2007 World Cup
• Feiko Kloppenburg – made 121 to become the first Dutch cricketer to score an ODI century, just ahead of teammate Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk who also passed three figures in the match and with whom he put on 228 for the second wicket, a Dutch record for any wicket any only the sixth player to score a hundred and take four wickets in the same ODI.
• Namibia at the 2003 World Cup. But he will also be remembered for his 64 runs against England during the 2003 World Cup
  .
• New Zealand
  .
• Michael Swart – formerly played for Western Australia in Australian domestic matches.
• Nolan Clarke – who played for Barbados from 1969/70 until 1976/77.
• Paul-Jan Bakker – who played for Hampshire from 1986 until 1992.
• Peter Borren – represented his native New Zealand in Under 19 World Cup in 2002 and former captain of the Netherlands cricket team
• Canterbury in New Zealand
• Stephan Myburgh – holds record of second fastest fifty in Twenty20 International with Paul Stirling of Ireland
• Otago Volts and Kolkata Knight Riders
• Timm van der Gugten – Playing for New South Wales.^[46]
• Tom Cooper – who currently plays first class cricket for South Australia
• Titans
  .

See also

• Sport in the Netherlands

References

External links

• KNCB Official Site