PRE MATCH ANALYSIS
Follow UsA 118-day long halt in international cricket due to the Covid pandemic last year pushed cricket fans to the hilt. This year, it has only been eight days without cricket thus far but it feels as challenging as those 118 days. A part of it has to do with the sudden, yet not surprising, suspension of IPL 2021 due to the jolting second wave of Covid pandemic in India. Then, we saw Pakistan take on Zimbabwe in the second Test but competitiveness had gone for a toss from the three-day affair.
Trapped at home, cricket fans yearn for action more than ever. It will, however, return in the form of a modest but as you never know with associate cricket, potentially exciting two-match ODI series between Netherlands and Scotland.
For Scotland, the hiatus has stretched over 17 months. They last played cricket in December 2019, featuring in a tour to the UAE involving four Cricket World Cup League 2 fixtures. Their big games since then - white-ball games against Australia and New Zealand in June 2020 - were postponed due to the pandemic. It was only in April when the squad came together for training, thus one can’t really be confident about them putting up their best show on Wednesday. Adding insult to injury, Scotland will miss two of their key players in Josh Davey and Michael Jones due to their county commitments.
Head coach, Shane Burger is keen to focus on the positives. "After such a long period without any matches, it's really important for the guys to get out there and play again. They're absolutely raring to go. It's the start of an important six months for us and I know we would like to go out and perform to the expectations that we have set ourselves and also play a brand of cricket that will excite our fans”, he said.
Netherlands, on the other hand, last played ODIs in June 2019 when they defeated Zimbabwe 2-0. They had white-ball games against Pakistan and New Zealand in 2020 postponed because of the pandemic but a tri-nation T20I series in April this year helped them gain vital footing. In addition, Netherlands A played Ireland Wolves recently in three one-day games and the squad is composed majorly of players who were a part of that series. It is a no-brainer which team holds advantage in terms of match practice.
How the teams stack up?
In terms of team composition though Scotland’s batting carries a dominant look. They have some of the most prolific run-scorers of associate cricket, none better than their captain and the associate cricketer of the decade, Kyle Coetzer. There is Calum Macleod who has showcased his mettle as a world-class batsman with scores of 157* and 140* against Test playing nations - Afghanistan and England respectively - in 2018.
There is also Matt Cross, George Munsey and the vice-captain Richie Berrington, all of whom have done well for Scotland.
With the ball, they will miss Davey who is playing for Somerset in county cricket. However, the presence of all-rounders in Berrington and Michael Leask alongside Sayaan Sharif, Scotland’s all-time highest wicket-taker in ODIs provides balance to their XI.
Netherlands, in comparison, are thin on the experience department. Skipper Pieter Seelaar is their most experienced player with 41 ODI caps. From the 13-man squad announced, nine have played five ODIs or less while two are in line for a debut. As mentioned above, it is a squad picked heavily from the ‘A’ team setup.
Overall, it’s an inexperienced Netherlands side leveraged with match practice up against a more prominent Scotland squad which lacks game time. It is also the first ODI between the two teams in 10 years.
Probable XIs
Netherlands: Max O’Dowd, Stephan Myburgh, Ben Cooper, Bas de Leede, Scott Edwards (wk), Aryan Dutt, Pieter Seelaar (c), Logan van Beek, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma, Phillippe Boissevain
Scotland: Matt Cross (wk), Kyle Coetzer (c), George Munsey, Calum Macleod, Richie Berrington, Dylan Budge, Michael Leask, Safyaan Sharif, Mark Watt/Hamza Tahir, Alasdair Evans, Adrian Neill/Gavin Main
