Know Your Opponents: The Netherlands

The Netherlands have the bragging rights to be tagged ‘Giant Killers’ in global ICC events.

They are still fresh from their stunning victory over South Africa during the 2023 ODI World Cup in India having already beaten the Proteas during the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup in Australia.

They had headed into the 2023 ODI World Cup by beating West Indies. Despite finishing at the bottom of the 10-team ODI World Cup in India, Netherlands had also got the better of Bangladesh.

The Twenty20 World Cups have been even special as the Dutch had recorded two victories over England, in 2009 and 2014.

Nepal will play Netherlands in their first Group D match on June 4th in Dallas as the two sides renew their rivalry in cricket’s biggest stage.

The two teams recently met in the final of a Triangular Series held in Nepal, where the Netherlands emerged victorious in the final by four wickets.

Despite this recent loss, Nepal holds a strong head-to-head record historically, having won 5 out of their 12 encounters against the Netherlands in T20 cricket.

Not depleted at all

Although the Dutch side will be without the experienced duo of Roelof van der Merwe and Colin Ackerman, owing to County commitments, Netherlands are still going to be one of the favourites to qualify from the group.

Ackermann was the player of the match when the Netherlands registered a historic win over South Africa in the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup.

Captain Edwards the key

As a captain, Scott Edwards is into his second Twenty20 World Cup. It was Edwards’ exemplary leadership that the Netherlands managed to qualify for the Super 12 stage during the last Twenty20 World Cup down under.

Young Michael Levitt will be another important player to watch with an ability to destroy bowlers on his day.

Levitt had shone brightly during the Nepal series, recording the highest individual score ever for the Netherlands in a T20I match (135 runs against Namibia).

The young opener scored 247 runs in four innings, averaging over 60 in his debut T20I series.

Bas de Leede and Fred Klaassen are also added to the squad despite being part of Durham and Kent in the County Championship, as both players were released by their team for the T20 World Cup.

The Netherlands have strengthened their squad with the inclusion of Logan van Beek, Danel Doram and Tim Pringle.

Netherlands Squad

Scott Edwards (captain/wicketkeeper), Aryan Dutt, Bas de Leede, Daniel Doram, Fred Klaassen, Logan van Beek, Max O’Dowd, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, Tim Pringle, Vikram Singh, Vivian Kingma, Wesley Barresi.

Traveling reserve: Kyle Klein.