2023 ODI World Cup: The Dutch dare to dream

Netherlands men will be making their fifth ODI WC appearance, their first since 2011, in India this October.

Everyone loves a fairytale ending. Even more so in sports. The recent 2023 ODI World Cup Qualifiers potential for so many of them. However, as it is reality at this point, there were only places for two, with the Netherlands and Sri Lanka fulfilling their dream. The Dutch didn’t have several key players nor do they have an ODI scheduled for the foreseeable future and yet, they achieved something special in Zimbabwe, finishing second in the qualifiers and their head coach Ryan Cook is immensely proud of it.

Cohesion, team bonding, diversity, celebrating each other keeps coming back as he reflected on the journey, the obstacles, challenges, mentality to get to this point and what they would need to grow strength to strength from hereon before the global event in a conversation with this daily.

Excerpts.

On World Cup qualification & its impact

We had some ups and downs along the way and to achieve something like that was a massive achievement that just shows what the Netherlands cricket is capable of doing. Hopefully, it has set a great perception back home. And it has some lasting impact going forward in the game. Not only in the belief of the players and the support staff but also obviously from the administration and what can be achieved with the team.

On being a part of ODI WC after 12 years

To be involved in a World Cup in India is a fantastic thing. Obviously, we took part in the event in 2011. And now to be back there in 2023, to go and compete with the other nine best teams in the world is a real privilege for us and something that we're really looking forward to. We'll look to try and obviously put a good account of ourselves out there.

We know we're going to be playing against some of the best teams in the world. And being in those conditions we're going to need to upskill in some ways, but I think it's a great challenge and the guys really do show learning as part of the main value sets as the Netherlands team. Hopefully we can learn in the next couple of months and really put up some good performances out there.

On non-availability of players for Qualifiers

The players that were selected for this particular tournament mostly trained together and played together pretty much all year round. They work really hard, and they deserve their place at the World Cup qualifiers on their own. So we do encourage the guys to be able to play, those county players and those in the southern hemisphere who weren't available. But in this particular equation, we obviously picked the best team that we could select and as I mentioned, we do focus on what we do have rather than what we don't have.

If those players are available, they are seen as additions to the squad and obviously make a difference to us. But you know without them, it just shows what we are able to do if we train towards the right intensity and work towards an alignment of how we want to play our cricket. I don't think it was an extra motivating factor for the guys so they just went out there and gave the best that they could and trained the hardest that they could in preparation for that. And we saw that cohesion can bring some great results as well.

On building cohesion and team bonding

Came up with the rowing concept a little while ago while I was at IPL. Just looked at what we need to do in order to be successful at the qualifiers. Being in the Netherlands and the canals are part of everything. The guys are to row the boats and that means pulling your all as hard as you can. The best experiential experience that we could think of was to go out there into the canals and do some rowing.Monica Visser (Netherlands Cricket CEO), who was previously the CEO of Royal Dutch Rowing Union as well. So we had some good connections there and were able to set up a day out on the canals rowing whilst a few people taught us how to do it. It gave us a great experience about what it's like to work in a team.

When I was with the Hobart Hurricanes, the high-performance director was Drew Ginn, who was part of the Awesome Foursome who won gold medals for Australia in the Olympics. We actually got him in to talk to the guys as well in the lead up to the tournament, and just explain what it takes to be part of a successful boat and that also inspired the guys. The feedback from the players was that they loved it and got a couple of calluses on their hands. That got us to understand what it means to row together which I think was a fantastic thing.

On the diversity in the team and significance of it

We obviously have great diversity in the team and each person brings specific gifts and characteristics to the team. We really don’t feel like we are much different although we do celebrate the uniqueness of each individual. We made some ores which were really nicely done by the assistant coaches. Players had to put their name on it and what they brought to the team and present it to the team throughout the tournament.

It was a great thing for the guys to build some camaraderie and some culture around. We celebrated what those guys bring to the team and we will remind those guys throughout the tournament in different ways to be able to inspire them on specific moments or in specific games to be able to continue to keep bringing that special gift to the team.

On beating West Indies in Super Over

To be able to score 370 in a must-win run chase was something quite extraordinary and not only mentally do the players need to prepare for that but physically to be able to prepare for something like that also makes a huge difference. So I must take my head off to the strength and conditioning coach and the physios. In the previous game against Nepal, we chased down 168 in 28 overs. I had said to the guys that if we continued on that trajectory, we probably would have got to about 180 by 30 overs. If we doubled our score at 30 overs, we would have been somewhere around 360.

I did not know that in the next game we would need to chase over 360. So in the break at half-time, I just reminded the guys that we would have been on course to score like this before when we were chasing and so now that this opportunity presents itself we just need to go and do it exactly like we’ve been trained to do. It really was an all round thing. But technically, mentally, tactically and physically to be able to chase those 370 runs down was an unprecedented achievement for the team and the batting group.

On skipper Scott Edwards and his leadership

Scott Edwards has been immense for our team. He's a very authentic, believable and incredible leader. He leads by example, as you mentioned, and he brings a lot of tactical nous to the team, which is really well received by the guys. He's been able to walk the talk and talk the walk in his own way of how he wants to play the game and obviously that's backed up by the players who genuinely believe in him and get right in behind him. He wears his heart and his sleeve. And he's just a very humble and genuine guy. I think everyone sort of sees in him what the team stands for, which is humility. And I think that's what he leads with. So his influence and impact on the team has been fantastic since taking over and he really has allowed other people to flourish in their roles, whether that be support staff, or sort of players within the team both older and younger. Everyone has sort of got right behind Scotty and really been very supportive of him and in leadership and captaincy.

On the rise of Bas de Leede, Vikramjit and Teja

Look, obviously there's been a rise of a lot of players within the team and some of them younger, some of them older. The ones you mentioned here, which is Bas de Leede, Vikramjit Singh and Teja Nidamanuru scored centuries in the last World Cup qualifiers, which is something that we've been really priding ourselves on as a group over the last little while and trying to push the guys towards the same. Bas and I go back quite a long way when he came and joined the Gary Kirsten Academy cup about five or six years ago, and then obviously joining up with him last year, he already had significant growth in his game since then. I think obviously the environment has allowed them to flourish and really become the best version of himself. He's got a lot of exposure in different places now playing county cricket, as well as some of the leagues around the world. So I think there's been a big contribution from all of those factors that allowed Bas to sort of become the best version of himself and obviously he showed how good any he can actually be.

Vikram is a very talented cricketer all-round with the bat, ball and in the field. He's been really good for us up front, throughout the whole Super League in partnership with Max O'Dowd, and he's just keeping on from strength to strength with both bat and ball. One of the previous things that he's struggled with is keeping on from good starts to make bigger scores and hopefully, this is the start of something special for him. Being able to score those three figure scores and go and mix and match winning performances for the team. He's obviously showing some good contributions with the ball. And we'll be looking to try and get some more out of him in that space, as he sort of gets older and grows into himself. 

Teja scored two hundreds in the last year, which had been really significant you know, being number seven to start with, now moving up the order but a bit more expectation around what he can achieve with the bat. He showed that with that 100 off 70 balls against the West Indies, and he really can do some special things out on the field with the bat. And he's constantly improving and trying to test himself in terms of how good he can be, but all of them have really grown over the last cycle. Whether that is because of playing against some of the major nations in the world or just because they're taking a lot of care and dedication to their training. I think that's sort of the one thing that has stood out for me is the effort that the guys have put into their games over the last little while and that's coming out, obviously on the world stage. Now, it's been developing for quite some time.

On challenges for cricket in the Netherlands

Obviously, cricket is not a huge sport out in the Netherlands. It's a small community but a very passionate and loving one and one that’s very intimate. So, competing with the other sports is not something that we really focus a lot on. We do have our own challenges in terms of training and preparing, availability of players. We do have some facilities which are very good out in the Netherlands, but there are not many of them. 

But we don’t really focus on things that we don’t have. We think we focus on things that we do have, things that we can do and things that we are willing to do as well. So, I think from that perspective, the attitude of the players and the support staff and administrators as well, is one of gratitude and ones that we try and make the most out of what we have resources-wise.

On central contracts and taking care of the players

I think in each country, it's very different in terms of how they contract and how they put different things into the system. I can only speak from the Netherlands point of view, but as you mentioned, there are obviously very few people who are on central contracts and not all of those are full year contracts, which allows each of the players to sort of explore different parts of their lifestyle, personality and interests in things. 

Sometimes it can be a good thing in terms of not having all your eggs in one basket, but certainly from our perspective of trying to show it to the professionals and towards the players. We want those guys to be able to train as professionals and be able to give a good account of themselves out on the cricket field. So having a bit more resources in that space would probably lead to a lot more guys being able to take it a bit more seriously without having to have a side hustle or obviously a lot of the guys do have some main jobs outside of that or play cricket in other places in the world. 

I don't know what can be done to make it at home and easier for them. Obviously, resources would be one thing which would allow the playing field to be a little bit more level. Being able to have availability of all the players would make a big difference in that space. So hopefully this sort of sheds light on the fact that the players will be able to go and perform at an international level on a consistent basis as we have done over the last year. Therefore they need to be rewarded in that space to be able to do that. 

But it goes so much deeper than that. Not only just for the players but also the administration, the coaching staff, everything that sits behind the scenes on a more level playing field. We wouldn't have to do too much of the other stuff and we'll be able to concentrate more on trying to get ourselves the best team cohesion that we want and obviously the skills to be up there. So that'll be something that we will be able to aim towards but all good things come in time and hopefully this sends a message that the associate nations can do some amazing things and can compete on the world stage.
 

On the impact of the ODI Super League on players’ growth

I think what the ODI Super League did for the players was to improve them and make sure that they learn from each game and learn from some of the best in the world. I think the extraction of learning that they’ve been able to take from those games has been immense. I just look at some examples from last year and how the guys improved throughout the summer playing 11 international matches within a summer which is unprecedented in Dutch cricket, and very significant for the guys to be able to compete with guys at the highest level. From that perspective, it’s also showing us what we are capable of doing, but also allows us to learn the ways in which other teams are playing and what kind of things we can incorporate into our own game.

On the way forward for associate nations

In terms of the ICC, I’m not sure if that's probably because of my paygrade in terms of what can be done or what can’t be done. What I do know though, is that obviously our players have got better by playing against the best teams in the world on a consistent basis. I’ve heard that any of the teams who are upcoming do get that opportunity as well. That will definitely raise the tide and flick all the boats in terms of getting teams up to speed and getting teams in the associate countries to build the infrastructure around how they become competitive. 

Although I understand that they are some of the intricacies around finance etc. I do think that there probably needs to be a growth of the game in mind as well when it comes to putting future tour programs together, or leagues of sorts, which will be able to contribute to more teams getting more exposure and more resources to be able to grow the game globally.

On the lack of ODI matches in lead up to the World Cup

There are three months to go until the World Cup and we don't have any ODI scheduled on the calendar up until then.  And obviously some of the other countries that didn’t qualify sit in the same boat as us. We’ll be looking out to try and see if we can reach out to some of the countries particularly in the subcontinent to be willing to play against us prior to the World Cup. Even if those are A-side fixtures we’d be open to those as well. And hopefully we will be able to go play some of those fixtures and be able to gain some exposure and experience in that space.

If we can manage to secure a few fixtures, that will be really good for us in terms of trying to be competitive at the World Cup as well. So, not so much a message out there, just try to make sure that we try and get some really competitive fixtures. So the guys can be able to play together and sort of get to learn the conditions and obviously play against quality opposition.