by Tim Wigmore
He tried to change things but there was resistance. He tried to explain that you needed to use the skill of the players that you had available to make the most of the resources that you had. He attempted to instil this approach. He said that this more laid-back way of letting the game unfold is still prevalent in Dutch cricket. It has improved with the addition of overseas players, but for Clarke there is still a way to go before the cricketers at Dutch clubs have the same instinctive feel for tactics that he grew up with in Barbados.
The professionalism that has started to take root at the highest level will certainly help. There are now five centrally contracted Dutch players including Seelaar and Borren. They spend their time running clinics in schools, working with the A side and age group teams. And training. Lots of training. With that level of commitment comes improvement.
However, for Dutch cricket to continue to do well in the ever more competitive world of associate cricket, they need to expand the playing base, especially among Dutch nationals. The KNCB has done a fantastic job finding and integrating players from overseas who have embraced the Dutch set-up. Nurturing Peter Borren from an 18-year-old prospect to a fine cricketer and excellent captain has been a real achievement. Making the most of Ryan ten Doeschate while he was available did plenty to raise the standard of the cricket that the Dutch play, even after he had moved on to the Indian Premier League and all its associated riches.
The longevity of cricket as a sport in the Netherlands is about expanding its footprint among locals. There are more than 20 sports that have a greater level of popularity than cricket. How cricket moves up that list is a difficult question. Most cricket clubs in the Netherlands are also football or hockey clubs. As those seasons get longer the time that cricket can be played gets shorter. It is hard enough to convince players to give up the time needed to play the game without the opportunities to take part becoming less frequent.
One reason for the erosion of cricket from the Dutch public consciousness is that it is a lot harder to watch it. It is not on terrestrial TV. It is not going to be stumbled across while you channel-surf. You would need to watch it through a pirate stream or by having a United Kingdom TV package, something that is also on the wrong side of the law. There are a few Indian or Pakistani channels that might show the odd bit of the sport but it is unlikely that a Dutch subscriber would have access to these channels. If you want to watch cricket you have to go looking for it; it won’t find you.
Overcoming these challenges to get more people from outside the immigrant community and existing cricket families involved in the game is the biggest issue that the KNCB faces. It says its goal is to have the vast majority of players homegrown by 2018. There is work to be done.
At the World Cup qualifier in New Zealand in January of 2014 it all went wrong for the Dutch. They were entered in to the tournament as they failed to finish in the top two in the World Cricket League and therefore needed to compete with other associates for the final two World Cup spots. They were one of the favourites to qualify from this event. They had already made it to the World Twenty20 in a tournament in the UAE just three months earlier, and with the big guns of Ireland and Afghanistan already certain of a place in the World Cup the chance was there for the taking.
The news that World Cup qualification was on the line did not filter through until two matches into the World Cricket League. The ICC hadn’t told the nations that were competing. Peter Borren said that had they known that was the prize, the team they put out in those first two games would have been a lot stronger. As it was they lost both of those matches to Scotland and were playing catch-up for the rest of the tournament. Afghanistan finished just one point ahead of them to seal a trip to Australia and New Zealand. If they had beaten Scotland in both those games they could have got automatic qualification. Instead, the Netherlands were condemned to the qualifying event.
Borren is keen to point out that he doesn’t feel hard done by, and he doesn’t sound like a man who feels the world is against him. Rather, he attempts to give an honest assessment of where things went wrong for his side. Several times he said, ‘I am not trying to make excuses.’ And he isn’t. He feels that his side should have been at the World Cup and he wants to explain why that didn’t happen.
The Netherlands finished fourth in the World Cricket League, level on points and with a higher run rate than the UAE, but the Emirati side finished above them as they had more wins. The Dutch would have finished above the UAE but for a tied game with Ireland where a last-ball six saw them draw level with, but not pass, the opposition. They could have made it, they fell just short.
So to the World Cup qualifier. To make it to the World Cup the Dutch needed to finish in the top two; they needed to be in the top four to keep their ODI status. They failed to do both, a massive blow for all concerned. That this status was taken away by them losing just two matches, and failing to reach the next stage by a run rate difference of just 0.03, made it even harder to take.
The loss of ODI status was described by captain Borren as ‘pretty crucial’. Even having to go to the qualifier was disappointing for Borren. ‘In the end when you have three years of playing pretty consistent cricket and only just miss out on the top two, you then have to go to a tournament where not only is your ODI status riding on it, qualification for the World Cup is riding on it. You lose two games and you are in Division Two of the World Cricket League, I can’t help but feel a little aggrieved about it.’
Again, Borren was clear that he was not trying to make excuses. They should have played better but it is clearly still something that hurts. Many would say the Dutch side is better than the status they now have – and they have a point. The issue is the amount of time it will take them to regain that status. Many of the players in the Dutch set-up could well be at the end of their careers by the time that ODI status has returned to them.
This hierarchy of cricket formats and status is at the heart of the life of associate nations. They are playing at the behest of those who are full members of the ICC. No matter how low the standards of the teams from full member nations fall, they will not lose that status. Bangladesh have lost match after match in the last few years, being defeated by full and associate members alike. They have ODI and Test status in perpetuity. The Dutch have two bad days and they have it taken away from them despite consistently competing throughout the preceding three years.
Sport should be about meritocracy. This is rarely the case with cricket.
‘To have all of that fall apart from under us in one afternoon, I see that as a poor investment from the ICC with the Netherlands being a high performance country,’ Borren said.
Seelaar can’t hide his disappointment when you ask him about it. The first word that he uses is ‘devastating’. He follows that up with saying that things didn’t go their way. That can happen in sport, and just like his captain he is very clear that no one was to blame but themselves. Again the frustration is one of men who have worked hard and come so close, only to see the prize slip away at the very last moment. A slip that caused a catastrophic tumble.
The loss of status was not only one that impacted on fixtures and statistics in the record books. In the four years after you have qualified for a World Cup the ICC gives associate nations a $1m grant. The Dutch are no longer entitled to this.
While in recent years ODIs have been a source of disappointment and frustration, in Twenty20 cricket the Dutch have had some stellar successes. There was the last-ball victory over England at Lord’s at the 2009 World Twenty20, when a Stuart Broad overthrow gave them the win, but perhaps the biggest rollercoaster they had to endure was at the same event in 2014. They finished with yet another success against England but that wasn’t the most remarkable thing they achieved in that tournament.
For the 2014 event, the ICC had made it even harder for associates to reach the biggest stage. Those who had already qualified for the World Twenty20 were expected to qualify again in another round that was jammed on to the
beginning of the tournament. In this ‘qualifying round for qualifiers’, the associate nations that had fought hard to get to the tournament then had to re-qualify by facing each other and Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. As ever when the top associates faced the bottom full members it was pretty close. Ireland beat Zimbabwe, Hong Kong defeated Bangladesh, but the fireworks came in the last game of Group B.
Ireland needed a win to get through to the next round. The Netherlands needed to win big to go through due to a poor net run rate. A close win for the Netherlands would see Zimbabwe qualify to the next round. For supporters of associate cricket a poor and undercooked Zimbabwe making it through would be a disaster. Bangladesh had already qualified so if neither of these two teams made it the event became a full member only affair and further ammunition for the anti-expansion lobby. Why bother having qualifiers if none of them make it through to the main event anyway, they would cry.
Ireland batted first, and a flat pitch, some poor bowling and short boundaries saw them motor to 189/4 off their 20 overs. Ashan Malik had managed to keep things tight but other than that all the Dutch bowlers were given some serious tap by the Irish batsmen. It was the end of the Netherlands’ involvement for sure. They would need to chase down 190 off 14.2 overs, a rate of well in excess of 13 runs an over. Even on the flat Sylhet pitch that seemed ludicrous. Thirteen an over is achievable but not for that length of time, and not from the very start of the innings.
What happened next is an excellent allegory of what you can achieve when you have nothing to lose. Self-belief becomes more important the higher you go in sport. Everyone at the top level has talent; they wouldn’t be there without it. It is those who have the most belief in themselves that are able to harness that talent when the pressure is on.
At the halfway stage the feeling in the dressing room was one of disappointment. The Netherlands had not bowled well. Peter Borren, captain that day, was frustrated with the performance his side had put in. ‘I could sit here and say I was full of confidence and really bullish about going out there and chasing those runs. But I was pretty disappointed with the execution with the ball. It really was a case that we had nothing to lose.’
Pieter Seelaar said he was ‘gutted’ as they left the field at the close of the Ireland innings. The plan had been to win the toss, bowl, restrict them to as low a total as possible and see where they ended up. Chasing 140 or 150 was the target they had in mind off 14 overs but 190 was too many to even dream.
They decided to push Borren up to open, a brave move that was the coach’s call. The thinking was that the Irish would open the bowling with two spinners and that would suit the way that Borren plays, especially slog-sweeping over the leg side. It was as he was walking down the steps to open the innings that the talk of winning was brought up. Borren’s opening partner, Stephan Myburgh, told his captain that they were going to win the game. Borren said he didn’t believe it but he knew that his team would go down swinging.
The next 14 overs produced some of the most remarkable cricket that you will ever see. The Dutch were 91/1 off the first six overs. Myburgh reached his half-century off just 17 balls. It was the joint second fastest fifty in Twenty20 internationals. Only Yuvraj Singh’s effort against England, where he hit 36 off a Stuart Broad over, has been faster.
Seelaar was next to Michael Swart in the dressing room and neither of them could quite believe what was happening. They weren’t laughing at Ireland but they couldn’t stop smiling at what they were watching. In the second over of the Dutch innings Myburgh hit Andy McBrine for 25 runs. Seelaar mentioned he was joking about it with Swart. ‘Imagine we do this for 13 more overs,’ they said to each other.
‘After the Powerplay you start to think, “Wow, could we?”’ Seelaar said. ‘But we still needed to go for eight overs at 12 an over. It is just sort of ridiculous. But the moment I knew we were actually going to do it, where I started believing it was going to happen, was when Cooper hit Dockrell for four sixes in the 11th over. It was the sense of belief from the guys that we could do it.’ It could have been different. Cooper was dropped by Ed Joyce when he had scored just one run. For this to happen, everything had to go the Netherlands’ way.
Anton Roux, the coach, made it clear that he didn’t want to hear any negativity. They were going to go hard and go for qualification. Just getting a consolation win against the Irish was not good enough. Seelaar admitted it was not some big speech, the time between innings in a Twenty20 is short, but Roux made it clear that he wanted everyone ready to bat, both mentally and in terms of having their pads on.
They won the game and qualified for the main event with three balls to spare. The scene as the not-out batsmen, Wesley Barresi and Ben Cooper, were swamped by their team-mates was of pure joy. This was as close as cricket gets to a side doing the impossible. To do what the Dutch did with so much riding on it, to have the belief that they could even attempt it, was one of the defining moments of any World Twenty20. If those running the game have their way, teams like the Netherlands could be banished from further global events. The game would be poorer for that, spiritually if not financially.
The Irish team felt like they were just observers watching something that they didn’t have control over. Tim Murtagh, the man off whom the winning runs were hit, said he has tried not to even think about it. It was just one of those things. ‘I’ve tried to scrub that from my mind completely. I just remember the ball flying everywhere. They got off to such a good start I was struggling to see how we were going to claw back in. It was one of those days when everything they tried came off.’
For the Irish captain, William Porterfield, the fact that the Dutch had to achieve their target in 14 overs made the difference. Having to go hard from ball one meant that they didn’t have to build up to the target by setting a base. They had absolute freedom, which gave them a chance to achieve the near impossible. ‘They came out there and struck the ball very cleanly. The fact that it happened in 14 overs hurts, but it was a flat wicket and a small ground. If you gave them 20 overs to chase it, it might have been a different story. They just came out with a few lads who strike the ball very well and they did that.’
When the main draw came the performance of the team was tinged with disappointment. Yes they beat a hapless England, and they defeated them comprehensively. However the games against Sri Lanka and South Africa were heartbreaking. Against Sri Lanka they were bowled out for 39, and in the aftermath the overriding sentiment from Borren and his side was one of embarrassment and a feeling that they had let the other associates down. Those who are happy to see cricket remain a cabal were able to say that this performance was the reason to keep the game a closed shop.
For Borren and his team the frustration was that they lost so many wickets to the seamers first up. There is nothing in the bowling of Angelo Mathews and Nuwan Kulasekara that the Dutch players had not seen before. Despite this they were four wickets down for just nine runs. This left the middle and lower order exposed against the spin of Ajantha Mendis and the sling of Lasith Malinga. The rest of the innings was a sad procession of wickets as the Netherlands recorded the lowest total in Twenty20 internationals, all out for 39.
Despite this embarrassment, this is not the result that upsets those that were part of the squad. That real regret is reserved for the game against South Africa where the team were in a position to win comfortably and then threw it away. That hurts a lot more than losing a game that you were never close to competing in from the very beginning.
Against the South Africans the Dutch needed less than five an over at the halfway stage of their innings with the experienced pair of Borren and Tom Cooper at the crease. Here, self-belief was the enemy of the Dutch just as it had been their friend against Ireland. South Africa’s Dale Steyn seems capable of winning games of cricket just through strength of will, and this game was no different, but it was the leg spin of Imran Tahir that did the most damage. The game should have been won.
Borren sees the Sri Lanka game as a
n ‘anomaly’. ‘These things can happen, and it happened, and on that day we were really very poor. For me I didn’t even think about the Sri Lanka game after that evening. The next day it was gone. I didn’t think about being embarrassed, well only very briefly on that evening. But that South African game I will never forget.’
Being beaten is part of sport, and something that all those that have played any sport at any level are used to. The losses that really hurt are the games that should have been won. The Netherlands were not outplayed by South Africa. They lost the game; the South Africans didn’t win it.
‘It doesn’t even matter that we beat England, it was nice, but we obviously should have won two of those games,’ Borren said. ‘Even in the New Zealand game we had them in a bit of strife and we could have won that game too. If it wasn’t for Brendon McCullum we would have, and he admitted that too. To play that kind of cricket after the Sri Lankan game was pretty awesome. But to lose seven for 50 in ten overs against South Africa, and also the nature of the dismissals, that South Africa game was probably my most disappointing day in a Dutch shirt.’
The last game was against England, and the Dutch side were confident of beating them again, just as they had at Lord’s five years earlier. While the win at Lord’s was a massive surprise for most spectators, the Dutch were much more confident for the game in Chittagong. The English were on the back of a horror winter. They had been humiliated in the Ashes and the limited-overs games that followed. There were a few new faces, but there was uncertainty over the future of Ashley Giles as coach and the side was a mix of inexperience and those jaded by Australian failure.
Despite those challenges England had actually performed reasonably well leading up to the Dutch game. They were hampered by rain when well placed to challenge New Zealand. They lost that game by the Duckworth Lewis method. They beat Sri Lanka thanks to an Alex Hales century. Against South Africa it was a close defeat. England lost by just three runs while trying to chase 197 for victory.