On December 19th the Dutch Association of Cricket Scorers or in Dutch the Nederlandse Vereniging van Cricket Scorers (NVCS) was officially founded.

After a long period of preparation the official signing of the statutes of the NVCS was a small but significant step in the development and professionalization of cricket in the Netherlands.

Until recently, scorers were not officially represented on the Dutch governing body (KNCB) or the umpires committee (SRC). Together with a group of other prominent scorers Rod Lyall, well known as a former scorer for the Topklasse club VRA and as journalist for CricketEurope, and now vice-chairman of the KNCB, took the initial steps last year towards the establishment of this association, and was elected by the scorers as their first chairman.

Other committee members are: Hetty Reijmer (vice-chairman), Jaap Krulder (secretary) and Judith van der Wenden (treasurer).

The association aims to be a platform for all active scorers in the Netherlands by representing them in the KNCB, SRC and European fora as well as contributing to the advancement of the art of scoring in general. An important part of this will be by promoting and facilitating courses leading to Level 1 and higher according to the programme of ICC Europe and the ECB ACO (England and Wales Cricket Board Association of Cricket Officials).

Other goals are to improve the working conditions for scorers at club grounds as well as financial compensation for scorers officiating at matches. Since last year the Dutch umpires committee has welcomed the scorers at its meetings and has been prepared to consult them on such matters as the nomination of scorers for the European Scorers Panel and for important international and other representative matches.

At the recent KNCB general meeting it was announced that it will be compulsory from season 2013 for clubs in the top two divisions to have a fully qualified scorer, another welcome step in the professionalization of the game in the Netherlands.