Team Netherlands’ dream of making it into the 2023 ICC Cricket Men’s World Cup went down to the wire, as it battled seven other national teams, each vying for a single place among the ten teams that take part in the World Cup, scheduled to be held in the next couple of months in India. Following a loss to Sri Lanka, the ‘Flying Dutchmen’ beat Scotland by four wickets at a nail-biting Super Sixes Stage fixture to secure a spot at the 2023 World Cup.
Currently in Bengaluru, undergoing intense training in preparation for the prestigious tournament, the team is preparing for their first warm-up match against Australia on September 30. Delighted about the team having qualified for the World Cup, Netherlands coach Ryan Cook and captain Scott Edwards, are now pushing the team to perform their best. “It was a fantastic achievement from the guys to get us here in the first place. We just want to go ahead and put our best foot forward,” says Cook, with Edwards adding, “We probably should have won against Sri Lanka but obviously we won the game against Scotland. It was an emotional tournament and I am immensely proud of how the boys went about it.”
As part of their preparations for the World Cup, the Dutchmen have been playing against local teams, most notably Team Karnataka. Cook believes given some of the players in the Karnataka team also play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the experience of playing against them would come in handy. “Given all the fixtures that have been taking place around the world and various teams playing against each other, we have had to make space for ourselves to fit into the schedules. So, we got our own fixtures, playing against some of the local teams here. The Karnataka team is obviously a really strong team, so playing against them is really great for our preparation ahead of the four major warm-up matches. We hope to take the lessons we’ve learned from those games and take them to the World Cup,” explains the 51-year-old, who also serves as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s assistant coach in the IPL.
With hopes of making it into the semi-finals, Team Netherlands is optimistic about their chances, especially since they get to play some of the toughest teams in the tournament during the practice stage, thereby helping set a baseline in performance.
“We’re probably the luckiest team in the World Cup in terms of our practice schedules. We are playing probably two of the favourites going into the tournament – India and Australia. It’ll be some tough fixtures, but it’ll give us a good opportunity to set ourselves a standard for the tournament,” says Edwards, who also expresses his love for Bengaluru. “I come here a bit more often because the facilities are amazing, and the people everywhere are so friendly and welcoming. So I’ve loved my time here and all the boys have as well. Hopefully, we’ll have more tours here in the future,” he adds.
As the definite underdogs going up against some of the greatest teams in cricketing history, Cook hopes that the Indian public adopts Team Netherlands as their second team and cheers them on. “Coming to India is always amazing because the people here love cricket and it’s almost a religion. We hope that the Indian public will maybe get behind us as their second team and they can support us throughout the tournament,” he concludes.