Dutch strive to avoid Oranje crush

“Poor cousins” of world cricket are the one Associate in the elite ODI league, and reveal they are hoping to rejoin county cricket

^{The Netherlands are now the most prominent Associate nation}

The Netherlands have gone from utter dejection to delighted interlopers at the top table of one-day international cricket – all in the space of six years.

In June 2011, the Oranje sent a below-strength side to Scotland for a pair of ODIs, which they assumed were just bilateral games, and lost both.

That was until the ICC retrospectively bundled them in to the qualifying process for the 2015 World Cup, and those defeats made all the difference when Afghanistan pipped the Dutch to automatic qualification by a single point.

Further down the line, a poor display in the World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand meant the Netherlands did not qualify at all, and lost their ODI and T20I status in the bargain. They suffered a resultant cut in funding from 2014 to 2015, and still don't have ODI status going into their World Cup qualifiers in March.

That experience focused minds in the Netherlands, who have since won 14 out of 20 List A games.

With Afghanistan and Ireland promoted to the main ODI rankings, the Dutch beat the other Associates to win the 2015–17 World Cricket League Championship, meaning they will be the sole Associate representative in the ICC’s new ODI league for the top 13 teams from 2020 to 2022.

They stand to play 24 ODIs against Full Member nations – the kind of top-level competition that the Associates have been crying out for.

Netherlands head coach Ryan Campbell, who took on the job at the start of 2017, told The Cricketer that “the hard work starts now”.

^{They will be the sole Associate representative in the ICC’s new ODI league 2020 to 2022}

“We have a responsibility to the Associate world to put up a decent showing,” said the former wicketkeeper, who played for Australia, Western Australia and Hong Kong.

“We don’t want our board, or other people, turning round in a few years and saying: ‘Well, that was a waste of time’. We want to do well enough so that next time there might be a 14th team in the ODI league.”

The ICC governance shake-up last June promoted Ireland and Afghanistan to Full Members, but the Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond will likely have to share just US$160m with the other 91 Associates over the next eight-year rights cycle.

Campbell says they will be asking the ICC for top-up money to compete at this higher level in ODIs.

“It was a big kick in the butt when our guys lost in New Zealand,” said Campbell. “Over the last few years we’ve been making do with the smell of the oily rag. It’s harder to attract big teams here when you don’t have ODI status, because they wonder if it’s worth the bother. So we have to hope the ICC get it together now and help us out with a decent wedge.”

With such an intense schedule, accessing elite players will be Campbell’s top priority. At present, the KNCB contract just five players, though others are on the books of English counties – such as Roelof van der Merwe and Paul van Meekeren (both Somerset) and Ryan ten Doeschate (Essex) – and Australia and New Zealand state sides.

“That will be part of my dealings with the board,” says Campbell. “We’re going to have to contract blokes 12 months of the year. We have to set down 10–15 players, otherwise we could find ourselves battling against counties for them.

^{The Netherlands will likely have to share just US$160m with the other 91 Associates over the next eight years} 

“And, as an EU country which is an ODI nation, I’d be very surprised if counties aren’t coming for our players. Vivian Kingma, what a talent he is. We’ve got Shane Snater playing for Essex 2s.

“We do have very good relationships with the county coaches. That will be key. I don’t call players back here for no reason. But sometimes we do have the situation where I ask for a player, and the county coach will say: ‘But if he goes, he might not get picked for our next game…’

“Let’s face it, the Associate countries are the poor cousins, and always have been. Hopefully, though, if we’re going to be in this ODI league there will have to be rules put in place so we can call up our players in the same way Full Members can.”

Campbell said the Dutch would “love to play in a county comp again... we’ll be knocking down the door of the ECB to ask how we can play counties in some form”.

Cricket Scotland chief executive Malcolm Cannon also told The Cricketer that they were “discussing all options regarding future tournament involvement” with ECB chief executive Tom Harrison. In December an ECB spokesman said they have received no formal applications.

Scotland and the Netherlands played in the old 40-over competition from 2010 to 2013. The Dutch did well, winning 13 games, while the Saltires – not always fielding their strongest XI – won five. Ireland pulled out of county cricket unilaterally in 2009, but the Scots and Dutch were both keen to continue.