Tom Cooper and Brad Kruger may be set to make their ODI debut for The Netherlands against Scotland in Rotterdam on 15 June, having been included in the selectors’ 13-man squad for the one-off game.
Cooper has played in all six Clydesdale Bank 40 League matches this season, while Kruger came into the side for the games against Derbyshire and Northamptonshire last weekend.
The team to play Scotland will also be strengthened by the availability of Ryan ten Doeschate and Alexei Kervezee, since neither player’s county is involved in a game that day. The result is that the Dutch will be at virtually full strength for the Rotterdam match.
Neither is available, however, for the four-day Intercontinental Cup fixture in Deventer, which starts on 10 June. And with Cooper and Kruger ineligible for the Cup match under ICC regulations and Atse Buurman and Bas Zuiderent also unavailable, it will be significantly different side which takes the field at Het Schootsveld.
Bart Schilperoord comes in as wicketkeeper, while Wesley Barresi will slot into the top order; both made their first-class debuts against Canada last season. Tim Gruijters has also be named, and is likely to play as a specialist batsman, given that the only others are Barresi, Tom de Grooth and Eric Szwarczynski.
The seam attack will be reinforced by the addition of Maurits Jonkman and Ruud Nijman – this may well be the match in which the Jonkman twins make their long-awaited first appearance in the senior national side for the first time. Whether Nijman also plays, along with Mudassar Bukhari, may depend on whether the Dutch decide to go into the game with the two spinners, Seelaar and Kashif.
The unavailability of senior players has been a major factor in the disappointing Dutch record in the Intercontinental Cup, and with just 15 points from three matches in the current campaign they are effectively out of the running for a place in the final. This might have given the selectors an opportunity for experimentation, but in all honesty there are precious few players staking a claim for a run in the side.
The ODI record is much better, and with Kervezee, Ten Doeschate and Cooper all in the team The Netherlands will go into the Rotterdam game with confidence.
The full squads are:
Intercontinental Cup (Deventer, 10-13 June): Peter Borren (captain), Wesley Barresi (both VRA), Mudassar Bukhari (ACC), Tom de Grooth, Mark Jonkman, Maurits Jonkman (all HCC), Muhammad Kashif (West of Scotland), Ruud Nijman, Bart Schilperoord, Pieter Seelaar (all Hermes-DVS), Tim Gruijters (Warwickshire Academy) and Eric Szwarczynski (VRA).
ODI (Rotterdam, 15 June): Borren (captain), Bukhari, Atse Buurman, Tom Cooper (both VRA), Ryan ten Doeschate (Essex), De Grooth, Mark Jonkman, Kashif, Alexei Kervezee (Worcestershire), Bradley Kruger (Bradford/Leeds UCCE), Seelaar, Szwarczynski, and Bas Zuiderent (VOC).