Nieuwegein, May 24 (IANS) Players like Colin Ackermann, Fred Klaassen, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren, Brandon Glover and Timm van der Gugten have emerged as prominent absentees in the 15-member Netherlands squad selected for the Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers.
The six players, who are integral part of the Netherlands team, will miss the qualifying tournament due to their participation in the ongoing County Championship season in England, though young all-rounder Bas de Leede will play for the Netherlands, who will be led by experienced wicket-keeper Scott Edwards.
Netherlands hopes of qualifying for the ODI World Cup, to be held in India in October-November, will rely hugely on the likes of Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Teja Nidamanuru and Edwards, as well as Logan van Beek, Viv Kingma, Aryan Dutt, Clayton Floyd and Saqib Zulfiqar.
“Coming off the back of a three game series in Zimbabwe a few months ago, we have been really intentional in our preparation for the qualifiers and we are confident the squad we have picked can play a brand of cricket that will be successful in these conditions.”
We have a good mixture of experienced players along with some exciting young players who have performed well in the domestic Pro Series and club season leading into this tournament,” said Edwards in a media release.
Netherlands will play against hosts Zimbabwe, USA, Nepal and two-time World Cup winners West Indies in Group A from June 20-26, while Group B comprises 1996 World Cup winners Sri Lanka, Ireland, Scotland, Oman and UAE.
“The Netherlands team selected for the World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe is a well-balanced team, coming off the back of a very successful T20 WC in Australia and two competitive Super League series against Zimbabwe and South Africa. The unavailability of several of our more experienced County players has allowed a number of young players to be included in the squad and we look forward to seeing them perform at the highest level,” said Roland Lefebvre, Netherlands High Performance Manager.
Each side will play the other teams in their group once with the top three from each group progressing to the Super Six stage. In the Super Six, they will play the sides they did not meet in the group stage.
All points won in the group stage will be carried over to the Super Six stage apart from those gained against the teams that fail to make it to the next stage. The two top teams after the Super Six stage will contest the final, and will progress to the ODI World Cup in India. For the first time in this tournament, DRS will be used for all matches from the Super Six stage onwards.
Netherlands squad: Scott Edwards (captain, wicketkeeper), Max O’Dowd, Logan van Beek, Vikram Singh, Aryan Dutt, Viv Kingma, Bas de Leede, Noah Croes, Ryan Klein, Teja Nidamanuru, Wesley Barresi, Shariz Ahmad, Clayton Floyd, Michael Levitt, Saqib Zulfiqar.
–IANS
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