The European Regional Qualifier gets underway at Voorburg on Saturday and the Netherlands are eyeing one of the two spots up for grabs at next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka as they take on Jersey, Scotland, Guernsey and Italy.
Last month, the Dutch warmed up with a four-match T20I tri-nation series in Glasgow, following their Cricket World Cup League 2 ODI leg in Dundee, with a win apiece over Scotland and Nepal.
It mattered little that there was no official silverware for the winning team, as is the usual norm for most white-ball tournaments around the world, and confirmed the status of the series as no more than a dress rehearsal for the teams involved. Nepal would have taken away key intel with an eye on the ten-team Asia-EAP Regional Qualifier in October.
Preparation and team news
Crucially, for the Dutch, it was their first T20I assignment since the Oman tour in November last year and while the core group of players has remained the same, there were plenty of roles trialled.
The Netherlands came out on top after the batters, and off-spinner Zach Lion-Cachet, held their own during the second T20I against Nepal saw a record three super overs.
With Viv Kingma walking off with a hamstring injury, and subsequently being ruled out for at least four more weeks, the Dutch cobbled up an impressive bowling attack against Scotland in their third T20I, sending down 16 overs of spin and successfully defending 198.
With the staging of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, where spin is expected to be crucial, Scott Edwards and head coach Ryan Cook would have been pleased with how spinners Aryan Dutt, Roelof van der Merwe, Daniel Doram, and part-time off-spinner, Teja Nidamanuru, stepped up.
Leg-spinner Saqib Zulfiqar, who only bowled two wicketless overs across three matches, remains an option.
Right-arm quick Paul van Meekeren was sent home midway through the series for scans after being hit on his ribcage and played no part in the two warm-up wins over Guernsey and Jersey earlier this week, more so as a precautionary measure to keep him fresh for the tournament proper.
Several first choice players were rested from the latest round of the Topklaasse before training together at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen. In between the two warm-up matches – a 59-run win over Guernsey and a nine-wicket shellacking of Jersey in Utrecht, the squad gathered at Voorburg for a team lunch, fielding drills and a light indoor batting session on Wednesday.
Lion-Cachet, the Sussex batting all-rounder, is likely to bat at No. 3 in the absence of Vikram Singh, who was dropped after scores of 30, 6 and 0. After an eight-ball six against Guernsey, he struck an unbeaten 49-ball 53 against Jersey on Thursday, opening alongside O’Dowd in a modest chase of 103.
Bas de Leede, fresh from his first Durham appearance of the season picking up four wickets and scoring an unbeaten 31 in a draw against Sussex, is set to bat at No. 5, a spot below Edwards.
Levitt on a hot streak
Opener Michael Levitt celebrated his 22nd birthday in Glasgow by reeling off back-to-back Player-of-the-Match performances, with scores of 86 and 90, and looked the part with the bat as others struggled to string together consistent scores. He also struck a 46-ball 70 against Guernsey on Tuesday before retiring out.
“He hits it harder than anyone I know and he’s someone who can hit all around the ground,” Max O’Dowd, Levitt’s opening partner, said.
Assistant coach Ryan van Niekerk, speaking to Dutch News on the sidelines in Glasgow, observed signs of maturity in Levitt’s knock: “Mike’s attention to detail to find a balance between hitting his boundaries and then also making sure that he keeps the scoreboard ticking in between has allowed him to bat up to 16-17 overs.”
On the evidence of his two knocks, dismissed in the 17th and the 15th over in the final two T20Is, it is working well, and helped mask twin top-order failures while setting up the platform for Van der Merwe, Ryan Klein, Nidamanuru, and Noah Croes to tee off.
Opponents
Pre-tournament favourites, alongside the Dutch, Scotland signalled their readiness for the Qualifier by winning the tri-nation series and have welcomed back the Sussex duo of Brad Currie, the left-arm seamer, batter Charlie Tear, and hard-hitting opener Oli Hairs, who will form a formidable opening partnership with George Munsey, who struck 191 – the highest ODI score by an Associate batter – against the Netherlands in Dundee last month.
Italy, captained by former Australian Test opener Joe Burns, will field, arguably, their strongest squad, bolstered by the likes of Durham opener Emilio Gay, Kent’s Grant Stewart and the Big Bash pair of Manenti brothers – Harry and Ben.
After finishing third in the previous edition hosted in Scotland, the Azzurri have prepared well with a week-long camp in Rome and warm-up games in Horsham in England.
Jersey, who have VRA’s overseas batter Patrick Gouge in their ranks and Glamorgan’s Asa Tribe, who has enjoyed a prolific county season with the bat, will look to provide another banana-peel encounter and are riding high on confidence after a 2-1 series win against their Inter-Insular rivals, Guernsey.
Guernsey punched their tickets for the Regional Qualifier with a strong showing in the Sub-Regional tournament, dropping only a game against Finland, and trumping Denmark on the final day.
Entry to all games at Voorburg Cricket Club is free with matches also live-streamed on ICC.tv.
Squads:
Netherlands: Noah Croes, Daniel Doram, Aryan Dutt, Scott Edwards (captain & wicketkeeper), Kyle Klein, Ryan Klein, Bas de Leede, Michael Levitt, Zach Lion-Cachet, Paul van Meekeren, Roelof van der Merwe, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O’Dowd, Hidde Overdijk, Saqib Zulfiqar.
Scotland: Richie Berrington (C), Matthew Cross (WK), Brad Currie, Jasper Davidson, Chris Greaves, Oli Hairs, Jack Jarvis, Michael Leask, Chris McBride, Finlay McCreath, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Charlie Tear, Mark Watt.
Italy: Joe Burns (C), Harry Manenti (VC), Zain Ali, Marcus Campopiano, Thomas Draca, Emilio Gay, Crishan Kalugamage, Anthony Mosca, Justin Mosca, Zain Naqvi, Jaspreet Singh, Grant Stewart, Bilal Khan, Ben Manenti, Gian-Piero Meade.
Jersey: Chuggy Perchard (C), Jake Dunford (WK), Dominic Blampied, Charlie Brennan, Harrison Carlyon, Patrick Gouge, Nick Greenwood, Jonty Jenner, Will Perchard, Theo Pullman, George Richardson, Julius Sumerauer, Asa Tribe, Zak Tribe, Ben Ward.
Guernsey: Ollie Nightingale (C), Martin-Dale Bradley, Luke Bichard, Charlie Birch, Alex Bushell, Josh Butler, Zak Damarell, Ben Ferbrache, Ben Fitchet, Charlie Forshaw, Harry Johnson, Adam Martel, Tom Nightingale, Ant Stokes, Matt Stokes.
Fixtures:
All matches will start at 11:00 (AM) and 16:00 (PM) local time
Saturday, 5 July
Netherlands v Jersey – Voorburg Cricket Ground (AM)
Italy v Guernsey – Voorburg Cricket Ground (PM)
Sunday, 6 July
Guernsey v Scotland – Voorburg Cricket Ground (AM)
Italy v Jersey – Voorburg Cricket Ground (PM)
Tuesday, 8 July
Guernsey v Jersey – Voorburg Cricket Ground (AM)
Scotland v Netherlands – Voorburg Cricket Ground (PM)
Wednesday, 9 July
Italy v Scotland – Voorburg Cricket Ground (AM)
Guernsey v Netherlands – Voorburg Cricket Ground (PM)
Friday, 11 July
Scotland v Jersey – Voorburg Cricket Ground (AM)
Netherlands v Italy – Voorburg Cricket Ground (PM)