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Follow UsThe World Cup was set to be a tournament that should have cemented Bas de Leede among the best all-rounders in the world. It certainly started off that way. De Leede snaffled four wickets against Pakistan and then, later on with the bat, slammed a near run-a-ball 67.
That wink when he pulled Haris Rauf over square leg for a six exuberated the youngster’s confidence and set the platform from where he could potentially go from strength to strength.
However, what followed was a bitterly disappointing tournament.
“Bas de Leede is someone who is a talented guy, can change a match, can go through all the teams,” Logan van Beek had told Cricket.com ahead of the tournament.
Opening batter Max O’Dowd echoed similar thoughts when he said, “Bas is one of those players who can do everything - he can bat, he can bowl, he can field. So, having someone like that coming in is massive for us.”
Since that 67 in the first game against Pakistan in Hyderabad, de Leede has scored a total of 60 runs in the next seven innings and, as a result, has found himself batting lower. With the ball, he never really ran through the opposition but instead was a decent wicket-taking option. However, he conceded plenty of runs, including a world record 115 runs against Australia in Delhi.
Contributing just 127 at 15.87 with the bat and picking up 14 wickets at an economy rate of over seven is not something you expect from your premier all-rounder. If anything, it goes on to show the gulf between playing fellow associate teams and some of the best teams in the world.
While there’s no denying that the Netherlands are a tough cookie when it comes to the associate world – perhaps the most consistent teams outside the traditional 10 sides, but this World Cup has certainly exposed the gap.
The Dutch, though, did exceedingly well against South Africa and Bangladesh to eke out comfortable wins, but they were found wanting against the rest.
De Leede, a second-generation international cricketer, was the architect behind the Netherlands making it to the World Cup in the first place. His five-for-and-a-century against Scotland in the Qualifiers earlier this year was one of the best ODI performances of all time.
He proved to be the ultimate clutch-master.
The World Cup could have been a platform from where de Leede could have potentially kicked on from being a talented all-rounder to a talisman who could reach unprecedented heights. He can draw inspiration from someone like Ryan ten Doeschate, who, with somewhat similar skillset, kicked on to etch his name as the greatest associate cricketer.
So much so that he became an integral part of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for five seasons and also ended up winning the title in 2012 and 2014.
The direction could have been similar for de Leede, but all is not lost for him. He may have equalled his father Tim’s tally of 14 wickets in a World Cup, but that is no longer the benchmark anymore. The good news for de Leede is that he has plenty of years ahead of him. Plenty of games, plenty of World Cups and plenty of chances to shine at the highest level.
For many on the side, like Teja Nidamanuru, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Saqib Zulfiqar and others, the end of the World Cup would mean that they get back to their 9-5 jobs. That is not the case for de Leede, though.
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Earlier this year, the 23-year-old signed a two-year deal with Durham, following his former Netherlands coach Ryan Campbell there. In his first-ever season, de Leede scored 279 runs at 93 and chipped in with 17 wickets at 29.05 as Durham went on to win the Division Two title.
Not many in the associate world are lucky enough to pursue their passion beyond a few big tournaments. De Leede, who qualifies as a local in the UK, was allowed to travel to Zimbabwe for the Qualifiers earlier, which was not the case with his other teammates who are contracted to their counties.
With 15 wickets at 22.13 in the Qualifiers and 285 runs at 47.50 in the tournament, de Leede had given the world a glimpse of his true potential. Before that, he finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in the T20 World Cup 2022, with 13 scalps to further show off his talent.
This World Cup, de Leede has often found himself in the middle with two wickets down for not many on the board. It is indeed a tricky situation for de Leede – a natural stroke-maker to curb his instincts and absorb the pressure initially before playing his natural game. He has often been caught in the “in-between” situation, where he wants to play his shots, but the fear of getting out and thereby putting more pressure on the team occurs to him. At the same time, he quickly becomes conscious of the balls he is consuming and looks to break the shackles by playing a big shot.
It might come off on a few occasions, but in this World Cup, it most certainly has not. Against Sri Lanka, he mistimed a ramp shot straight to third-man – a match where he scored six off 21. Even against New Zealand, he had gone through a period where he had managed just five runs in the previous 14 balls before he played a rash shot against Rachin Ravindra and holed out.
Dropping him to No. 5 and 6, too, did not help as he was suddenly asked to perform a role in the middle of the World Cup that he is not accustomed to.
The current crop of Netherlands players have found out what it takes to play in a tournament of the best teams in the world. Instead of looking back at it as a failure, they could look for ways to bridge the gap between them and top teams. It remains a fact that they will not get opportunities to take on big teams on a consistent basis. That opportunity will further go down with the scrapping of the ODI Super League, which saw them go toe-to-toe with West Indies, England and Pakistan.
Instead, they need to find a way to work around it. The upcoming season of ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 gives them an opportunity to rub shoulders with fellow associate teams, which, in O’Dowd’s words, “it's not the same playing the biggest countries in the world, play in front of big crowds, big pressures, big expectations and so on.”
For de Leede, though, he has a crack at playing at the highest level with Durham. He made just one appearance for MI Emirates in the International League T20 (ILT20) in the inaugural season and will now hopefully get more opportunities in the following season with Desert Vipers, which gives him more opportunities to hone his skills further. Similar franchise gigs elsewhere, too, will help his and the team’s cause.
The sky is the limit for de Leede, who, like his father, certainly has the potential to inspire the next generation of Dutch cricketers.
