Dutch cricket

[Steulen]

This has been done beofre by other sportrs teams from The Netherlands. Most famous example is the Dutch ice hockey team which did fairly well in the 80's, making it to the winter Olympics. That team was based around a number of Canadiands with Dutch parents. Even in soccer, there's a guy from Ivory Coast (salomon Kalou of Feyenoord Rotterdam) who's trying to change his nationality so he becomes eligible for the national squad.

I distinctly recall Colin Miller playing for The Netherlands. Wade Seccombe played in the Dutch league last year. And of course there are a number of South Africans who could walk into the team based on surname alone: Van Jaarsveld, Dippenaar, Van Wijck, Steyn, Langeveldt.

I would applaud it if we went this way. It would make the national team stronger, creating exposure, and it would probably make players like Van Bunge and Zuiderent better.

 

[Kweek]

that i havnt seen your reaction earlier
Peter Cantrell is dutch coach at the moment
your parents are dutch Queenslander how cool guess you can speak some dutch then .
also i have to agree with Steulen if those players would join the dutch team, it will boast the dutch team and dutch cricket itself! wouldnt that be great.
wonder if there is a way to find out who in Australia(in grade cricket ) has a dutch background i think that itself will boast it too

 

[Queenslander]

Parents (now deceased) moved to Australia many years ago - my dutch is VERY scratchy.

No doubt Peter Cantrell still has some contacts in Australia and South Africa. Wouldn't take much to access a current list of club players from each State/Province and have a look at the names for starters. Dutch names are usually pretty easy to identify (anything starting with van !). I doubt whether the likes of Dippenaar, Steyn etc would be available as already contracted to Sth Africa. Need to find those eligible players on the next level who would still be a great asset to an emerging cricket nation like Holland. The strength of world cricket is important to Australia also - we like to win but not much satisfaction winning against struggling sides. John Davison was a perfect example of an Australian player (although born in Canada) who represented Canada (with distinction) in the 2003 World Cup.

Obviously there would need to be an incentive to play overseas. Most (club) players would be satisfied with "the basics", particularly if the opportunity to represent (eg Holland) at the next World Cup was on offer.