FANTASY PREVIEW
Follow UsHistory is set to be made on Friday, June 17th, as England, for the first time ever, will be playing an ODI in Netherlands. The two sides have met thrice previously in the fifty-over format, with the last of those meetings coming way back in 2011, but Friday’s encounter will be the first instance of the Dutch hosting the Three Lions.
Thanks to the three-Test series against New Zealand still ongoing, England will have several key players such as Stokes, Root and Bairstow not featuring in the series, but the visitors will still be fielding a formidable lineup, with the likes of Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid all expected to feature in the starting XI.
The Dutch, led by Pieter Seelar, will enter the series having just been whitewashed at home by the Windies, but the hosts will be hoping to cause a very, very unlikely upset in at least one of the three matches. Keep in mind, Netherlands are in desperate need of Super League points; they are currently bottom of the table having won just 2 matches.
Ground Details
The VRA Cricket Ground in Amstelveen has hosted a total of 24 ODI matches, but we will be sticking to data from the three-match ODI series against the Windies; these stats are the most relevant.
The three matches in the Windies series saw the team batting first post scores of 240, 214 and 308, with West Indies posting the 300+ total the only time they batted first in the series. Both the 200+ totals posted by Netherlands were rather comfortably chased down by the Windies. Given Netherlands’ batting has its own limitations, it is fair to say that the entirety of the series was played on good batting wickets. Should England, for instance, bat first, we can definitely expect a score north of 300, particularly with the firepower the visitors possess.
On the bowling front, what was noticeable in the Windies series was that both pacers and spinners barely got any help. The spinners, at least, managed to keep the economy down (ER 4.7 across three games) but pacers across both sides struggled big time, with the quicker bowlers averaging 43.7 while conceding at 5.7 runs per over.
Expect the ball to not talk a lot.
Suggested Team
Captain and vice-captain suggestions
For small leagues: Max O'Dowd (captain), Sam Curran (vice captain)
For grand leagues: Jason Roy (captain), David Willey (vice captain)
Stats that matter
* Both the Netherlands openers, Max O’Dowd and Vikramjit Singh, are in red hot form, with their last six combined scores reading 54, 46, 47, 89, 51 and 39.
* Vikramjit Singh has only been dismissed under 25 once in his ODI career (six innings).
* In his ODI career, Logan van Beek has remarkably failed to pick up a wicket just once (in 11 innings). The right-armer is in fine form, having picked up 14 wickets in his last 7 ODIs. In the West Indies series, van Beek was the joint second-highest wicket-taker.
* Since the start of 2021, Jason Roy has been averaging 43.75 in ODIs while striking at 120.68. Roy, in his last four ODI innings, crossed the 45-run mark thrice.
* With 9 wickets to his name, David Willey is the joint-highest wicket-taker for England in ODIs since the start of 2021. Willey has been on fire in the 50-over format, having picked up a staggering 17 wickets in his last six ODI appearances.
Grand League punts
* Due to the package they bring (new ball swing bowlers, handy lower-order bats), David Willey and Sam Curran are must-haves in your fantasy XI. We’ve already spoken about Willey, but Curran, too, has been mighty impressive in ODIs of late: since the start of 2021, Curran has averaged 116.00 with the bat whilst having taken 7 wickets with the ball.
* Both Vikramjit and O’Dowd need to be picked from the Netherlands, but you could also take a gamble on Tom Cooper. The Australian domestic veteran is expected to feature in an ODI for the first time in 9 years, and the 35-year-old has an outstanding record in the 50-over format, averaging 48.80.
* Against the Windies, Netherlands struggled against spin big time, averaging just 23.7 (compared to 36.2 vs pace). Which is why it might not be a bad option to pick, in your XI, at least one of Moeen Ali or Adil Rashid.
Probable XIs
Netherlands: Vikramjit Singh, Max O’Dowd, Tom Cooper, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards (wk), Pieter Seelaar (c), Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Ryan Klein, Vivian Kingma
England: Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone, Eoin Morgan ©, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, David Willey, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid
