The Netherlands have made long strides in world cricket. They beat two-time World Champions West Indies to qualify for World Cup 2023 and then stunned red-hot South Africa to register a historic win in Dharamsala. After impressing the legends of the game, the Dutch team is yet to get the respect they deserve from the press back home. Ahead of their clash against five-time World Champions Australia, fast-bowling all-rounder Logan van Beek was not happy with a Dutch sports show that mocked them.
"I watched a Dutch sports show this morning and they were talking about cricket and laughing how it's pretty similar to a nine to five job, how long it takes, and they're making a few other jokes," he said during the pre-match press conference.
"I hope that another of couple wins, they can almost stop joking about cricket in the Netherlands and they start talking seriously about how this is actually one of our best sports teams in the country.
"So that's - One to inspire the next generation but also to change the narrative within the Netherlands, we're actually one of the better Netherlands sporting outfits."
The Netherlands players had made it clear that their goal in this edition is to reach the semi-finals. Despite three losses, the Dutch team has not lost sight of their goal as they look to pull off another upset.
"Why not? We've come here to reach the semifinals. That's our goal. It's been pretty clear throughout the whole preparation phase. The South African win just gave us that extra belief that on our day we can beat a good team," he said.
"...If we can manage to put on a great performance (against Australia) and create a memory for a lifetime then happy days.."
Last month, the Netherlands faced Australia in a warm-up game in Thiruvananthapuram which was washed out after overs were reduced. They were on the verge of losing the match after Mitchell Starc’s wicket but rain played spoilsport again as the match was abandoned.
"The warm-up game, the other day, was the first time that a lot of the guys have played against Australia and a lot of those guys I grew up watching and I admired," he said.
"But we're very much in the now and what's going to happen in the future. Fingers crossed the way we're playing, we're showing that we deserve to be having more series at home and teams are wanting to come over to the Netherlands to play as well.
"So hopefully, Australia will be one of those teams that on the way to England can play a series against the Netherlands, something along those lines will be pretty cool in the future," he said.
Not long ago, the players in the Netherlands squad were doing other jobs to make ends meet. Fast bowler Paul van Meekeren worked for UberEats when COVID-19 brought cricketing action to a halt around the around. Van Beek is hopeful that the game will grow in the Netherlands.
"It is how do we ride this momentum and actually put structures in place so that this run that we're having can be sustainable and that we can look at the long term and not let this time just be a flash in the pan.
"Hopefully, there's more investment into the game from a local point of view, but also international sponsors want to get behind the Netherlands team. That's all going to have a flow on effect, come into more contracts, better facilities, more resources, more coaching."
Van Beek gave the example of New Zealand and how the game has shaped up in the country in past few decades.
"I look at how New Zealand were 20 years ago and see where New Zealand are right now. We've got in the Netherlands just as many players, and I can't see why in the next 5 to 10 years we can start being more consistent on the world stage."
Meanwhile, the Christchurch-born pacer also believes that Test cricket is not for them yet as the game needs to grow first.
"If the Netherlands had Test status, then I wouldn't be able to go back and play in New Zealand or Colin Ackerman can't go play County cricket or anything like that," said the 33-year-old.
"The more we can focus on the T20 and one-day cricket and give guys opportunity to play in other leagues and give people in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh ...to come to the Netherlands do the qualifications and play international cricket, I think that's more positive in the short term for us.
"If we gain momentum and we've got a pool of players that can compete in Test match cricket in the future, then yeah, we'll definitely push for that."
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