History
The popularity of cricket in the Netherlands has also influenced the sport's development in former Dutch colonies, including current members of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Suriname is an associate member of the ICC, and Sint Maarten is a member of the West Indies Cricket Board, which has full membership.
In 2005 the Dutch team beat the UAE to finish fifth in the ICC Trophy, a slightly disappointing result but one which qualified them for the 2007 World Cup; they enjoyed full One Day International status from 1 January 2006 until the 2009 ICC Trophy.
2001 finally saw the Netherlands win the ICC Trophy, beating Namibia in the final in Toronto. They thus qualified for the 2003 World Cup. They again failed to progress beyond the first round in the tournament, but recorded their first one-day international win over Namibia during the tournament. Feiko Kloppenburg (with 121) and Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk (134 not out) scored the first two One Day International centuries in the side's history. [1]
In the 2005 ICC Trophy, the Netherlands finished 5th, qualifying for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, and gaining one-day International status until the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier. Their first one-day international with this new status was scheduled to be against Kenya in March 2006; however this match was cancelled due to a Kenyan tour of Bangladesh. Instead their first ODI with this status (and their twelfth overall) came against Sri Lanka; this was their first ODI at home. Sri Lanka won the two-match series 2–0, scoring a record ODI score of 443–9 in one of the two matches. [1]
The Dutch played their first Intercontinental Cup match of 2006 against Kenya in Nairobi in March. The game was drawn, but the Netherlands gained six points for a first innings lead. [2] In August, the Netherlands competed in Division One of the European Championship. They beat Denmark and Italy, but lost to Scotland and their game 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 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. This was their debut playing Twenty20 International matches. [14] They finished in first place in Group B, based on their run-rate. [15] After beating Scotland in the Semi-Finals, [16] the final was abandoned due to rain and the trophy was shared between The Netherlands and Ireland. [17]
The Netherlands caused a sensation in the cricketing world by beating England [18] in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 2009, [19] whilst being 500/1 outsiders. [20] They lost their second match to the eventual winners Pakistan [21] 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 2011 Cricket World Cup. Ryan Ten Doeschate 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 Kenya in a short two-match ODI series held at home. [25]
In January 2014, World Cup Qualifier saw Netherlands failed to qualify for the World Cup and lose their ODI status till 2018 although the Netherlands did qualify for 2014 ICC World Twenty20 instead of Scotland. It gained their ODI status back after winning the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship.
In the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, Netherlands had one win and one loss before their final game. In order to go through on net run rate against Zimbabwe and 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 2014 ICC World Twenty20 Super 10s. Although they lost their first three games in the group, including a 39 all out against Sri Lanka, they pulled off an upset against England in their last game.
