The Netherlands hope to re-enter county cricket and play in the Twenty20 Blast for the first time.
The Netherlands pipped West Indies and Scotland to a berth in this year’s ODI World Cup, which is a 10-team event. The KNCB, the Dutch cricket board, now hope to enter a side in English domestic cricket to continue to develop their domestic game.
“We’d love to join county cricket again,” Roland Lefebvre, the high performance manager for KNCB told Telegraph Sport. “It did wonders for our development before.”
The T20 Blast currently comprises the 18 county sides. But with the future format for domestic competitions from 2025 onwards yet to be ratified – and additional teams possible – the Netherlands hope to be included in any restructuring and would also be keen on potential inclusion in the Metro Bank One Day Cup. Scotland have also previously declared their interest in rejoining white-ball county competitions.
The Netherlands previously appeared in English domestic one-day cricket, most recently in the 40-over tournament in 2013. But they have never played in the T20 Blast, which would have a much greater commercial appeal. The Dutch hosted England in Amsterdam in three one-day internationals last year and believe that county fans would travel to watch matches.
“Playing in the T20 competition, especially, would be a great way to boost interest in cricket in the Netherlands,” Lefebvre said. “We showed with the matches against England last year that we have the facilities to stage these matches – and travelling English fans had a great time.
“The Netherlands would welcome our inclusion in any white ball competition next year or in the years to come.”
The Netherlands featured in the World Cup Super League, which ran from 2020-23 and gave them 24 ODIs against Full Members during the period. The competition has since been scrapped.
Lefebvre said that playing in the English domestic system – potentially the one-day competition as well as the T20 Blast – would help to make up for the dearth of fixtures and continue to develop Dutch talent. “Playing regularly against full-time professionals in county cricket will help our next generation of international players to establish themselves.”
The Netherlands defeated West Indies in the World Cup qualifiers with a squad largely made-up of home-grown players, who had extensive experience in the Super League. The side also enjoyed an impressive T20 World Cup campaign last year, defeating Zimbabwe and South Africa.
“After the end of the World Cup Super League, we need a sustainable schedule to develop our team and the popularity of the game,” said Lefebvre, who also urged more Test nations to visit the country to help develop the game. “The recent successes of our national team in the T20 World Cup in Australia and qualification for the World Cup in India must be recognised by Full Members countries around the world by including them in their programs.”
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