Dutch Cricket Team

The Dutch Cricket Team is a national cricket team which represents the Netherlands. Administered by the Koninklijke Netherlands Cricket Bond based in Nieuwefein, this club is older than many cricket clubs in Australia, New Zealand and West Indies. The Captain of the team is Jeroen Smits with Peter Drinnen being the coach. The first recorded match of this team was in 1881 against Uxbridge CC at the Hague.

Records

Statistics show that the Dutch Cricket Team played 34 ODI’s of which they won 9 and lost 22 matches. With right to First Class Cricket, the team played in 8 matches and won only 2 of them. List A cricket matches played by this team was 74, of which they won 25 of them. The Dutch Cricket Team was the ICC World Cup Qualifier in 979 and appeared in 8 matches. They won the match in 2001.

History

During the 19th century the British soldiers introduced cricket sport in Netherlands during the Napoleonic Wars. By 1870s, there were many clubs which strived to introduce cricket in Netherlands. In 1881, the first cricket team got developed and had 22 players losing to Uxbridge Cricket Club XI by an inning. In 1883, the Dutch Cricket Union got formed and had 18 member clubs, of which four are still in existence. In 1884, the first national tournament was held and was won by the Haagsche CC team. From 1900 onwards various country teams visited Netherlands to play cricket games during their tours. These countries included England, Holland, Australia, West Indies and such countries.

The future of the Dutch cricket team

The Netherlands even played in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier and won a spot to participate in 2009 ICC World Twenty20. This was the first foot set into the new Twenty20 format of the game by the Netherlands. They will also play in the 2011 Cricket World Cup after they got qualified in 2009.

Popular players

Some of the popular players of the Dutch Cricket Team are Paul-Jan Bakker, Dirk Nannes, Daan van Bunge, Bas Zuiderent, Andre van Troost and even Carst Posthuma.