The Netherlands lit up the ongoing ICC ODI World Cup 2023 with an astounding win over South Africa last week. The Proteas were in red-hot form when they arrived at the picturesque HPCA stadium in Dharamsala, looking to extend their winning streak in the tournament. But they were undone by the Netherlands who were playing in the marquee event after missing out on the past two editions.
After choking the South Africans, the Dutch arrived in the ‘City of Nawabs’ – Lucknow – to take on a battered and bruised Sri Lanka. The men in orange do have some quality players in the side but the thing that bothers them the most is the lack of continuity in the sport which has eventually impacted the consistency of the team. A win in the World Cup is always sweet but it has to be convincing at the same time – something that the Netherlands are looking to have going forward in the tournament.
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Speaking at the press conference on the eve of the clash against Sri Lanka, Netherlands’ batter Teja Nidamanuru said the team hasn’t showcased their A-game yet, not even against South Africa.
“We’re very happy to obviously win against South Africa. I think we’ve been playing some good cricket, but we haven’t been playing it for long enough. We’ve been playing sort of in patches of the game where we’ve been really good, and then in patches of the game, we’ve been losing wickets or not bowling well. So, I don’t think we still put the perfect performance together against South Africa, but we’re happy to really win and move forward,” Teja told the reporters ahead of the match against Sri Lanka in Lucknow.
However, an imperfect game was enough for Scott Edwards and the boys to make the country proud. Cricket in the Netherlands isn’t as big as it is in India. It’s a sport that very few people take up professionally or follow. But the victory over South Africa has given them the stature of a ‘Superhero’. They are in the news, people back home are recognizing them, and importantly getting aware of the game; which according to Teja is quite pleasing.
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“A lot of people are proud of us within the cricketing community in the Netherlands. It is a very small community, it’s not a massive community. I’d say in total there won’t be any more than 5,000 odd people that play cricket in the Netherlands, if I’m really honest with you guys. So, we’re not talking about thousands or hundreds of thousands of people,” Teja told at the presser.
“The response has been very positive, and I’ve seen it being covered on the main national news, which is called NOS. There was an article done there. It was on live television. The awareness of the game is also growing in the Netherlands, from what I noticed as well, which is a really huge positive for us, because quite often when you say play cricket, not many people know what that is.
“So yeah, look, from that point of view, it’s positive. We’ve had some really good support. We received some very nice messages from our cricket board as well, which has been really cool,” he added.
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The Netherlands cricketers are passionate, hungry to win and leave a mark but the irony is that they don’t have a big backing. Once the World Cup is done, Dutch will be back into the same grind of fighting for another opportunity. But as is the say, “keep following the process”, the Dutch are also going to follow the same mantra.
“I think as many of you are aware that are sitting here, like the challenges of associate cricket, the word that we don’t like to use, actually – but the reality of it is that there is less funding and there is less sort of opportunity and there is less exposure.
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“There’s a difference between someone like Australia, India, England, whether that’s South Africa or even New Zealand, they’re always playing each other. And the exposure and sort of the know-how. It’s not a huge secret because they are competing against each other all the time.
“So, when obviously we’re doing it, we’re doing it in a way of – okay, we’ve really got to prepare really well. We’ve got to make sure we – in cricket, you’ve got to have a little bit of luck that goes your way and also be at the top of our game. But the way that we’re training and the squad is built in terms of where we are, I think we’re in a good place.
“Obviously after the World Cup, going back to obviously Cricket World League and sort of getting on that circuit for the next – obviously the next cycle, we just see it as an opportunity. Look, we’re here to compete and we have an aim, we have an aspiration to try and play in the semi-finals and that could change stuff and we could get more bilateral series that way. So, the better we perform here and obviously showcase our skills, it will stand us in good stead going forward is our belief,” said Nidamanuru.
“We’re not really thinking too far afterwards, but obviously everyone’s aware of the challenges in associate cricket regarding the funding or the facilities or the lack of exposure in terms of playing the bigger teams. So, when you do come up against them, you’re like, okay, well, we’ve really got to rise to the occasion. But if we were playing like the other teams do, I’m sure that would be up to par in terms of how it goes. So, if you say, hey, we play someone like New Zealand 10 times, I’m sure we’d be able to win at least four or five games out of that,” he added.
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