Netherlands: Ron De Leeuw reports on the start of the Dutch season
13 May 2001
Sunday May 6th saw the start of the Dutch 2001 cricket season. The season, running till the end of August, will be for the highest Dutch klas "hoofdklasse" interrupted for the ICC Trophy in Canada.
Not interrupted by the ICC Trophy the teams direct under "hoofdklasse" will
be engaged in a struggle for survival. Due to a restructuring of the league
system half the teams of the "eerste" klasse will be relegated.
VRA (champions in in 1998, 1990) VOC and Excelsior'20 (champions 20000) are
the hot candidates for the championship.
VRA coach Craig Cumming had a good (one day) season in New Zealand. Former
South African Test player Meyrick Pringle is the coach at VOC while
Excelsior'20 has Michael Dighton, captain of the second eleven of Western
Australia as their coach. All three teams won the opening matches without to
many problems.
The Dutch team had a good preparation for the ICC Trophy so far. the team
played 4 matches in South Africa an March. They won two out of the four
matches while one match was washed out.
Before going to Canada the Dutch team will prepare in Barbados, coach
Emerson Trotman's home country. From their they fly to Canada to face the
first match of the tournament against the UAE. The Dutch party, to be
announced next week, will leave Holland on June 20th.
Not only the national team has international contacts. The national youth
teams are taking part in several European Championships in their age
category. And for the women selection the European championship in England
will be held in August.
It will be a long but very important season for the Dutch cricketers. Lets
hope that the rain stays away this year !
© 2001 CricInfo Ltd