Follow UsThe Netherlands have performed well in all the matches they have played in the World Cup so far. They managed to stay in the contest up to a certain period in all their four games and also pipped the title contenders South Africa in Dharamsala.
Logan van Beek, who has brought his all-round prowess to the fore in the World Cup believes going after the Test status is not the way forward for the Dutch as it would hinder getting more players involved.
"Test cricket is something that I grew up watching. I still play four-day cricket in New Zealand and in county cricket. I firmly believe it's a great baseline to learn how to bat time, learn how to bowl long spells, but also learn how to play when you're tired," van Beek said ahead of the Australia clash.
"And for me the other day, in that Sri Lanka game, I betted for a couple of hours, and then I had to go open the bowling. But I knew that I could do it because I had done it in four-day cricket. So that was the benefit of longer-form cricket.
"I think in terms of for the Netherlands, I think chasing Test status could hamper getting more players involved in the Netherlands. I think the beauty is, for me personally - like if the Netherlands had Test status, then I wouldn't be able to go back and play in New Zealand or Colin Ackermann they can't go play County cricket or anything like that.
So I think the more we can, I guess at this stage, focus on the T20 and one-day cricket and give guys the opportunity to play in other leagues and around the world and give people in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh doesn't matter if they've got Dutch passports or if they want to play international cricket to come to the Netherlands do the qualifications like Teja Nidamanuru and Sybrand Engelbrecht have."
Van Beek also believes that the Netherlands could also go the New Zealand way and move up the ladder in professional cricket.
"I look at how New Zealand were 20 years ago. I was only about 10 years old in New Zealand. But I remember that period, professional cricket actually started 2000. And see where New Zealand are right now, and the way they play and the way they go about it. You know, we've got in the Netherlands just as many players, and I can't see why in the next 5 to 10 years we can start being more consistent on the world stage," he explained.
At the same time, van Beek, who was born in Christchurch, hopes that his Dutch teammates get an opportunity to play in a few franchise leagues, which would further add to their experience.
"I've played GT20 this year. I played at Worcester, played the qualifiers and I also played in Wellington. So even on a kind of smaller scale, I've played in four different leagues and just that experience from all those different leagues playing with different players and learning off them and then bringing it back to the Netherlands side only strengthens the team," van Beek said.
"So, I hope that there's a number of players from this tournament that they'll be able to play three or four leagues a year. They have a Dutch contract. And that's probably where we're heading."
While the Netherlands' aim is to make the semis, not making it there would not be a failure, according to van Beek, as long as they do their preparation right.
"No matter who we're going up against, we consistently prepare exactly the same every time, whether it be Australia, whether it be Oman, that we go through the same process in terms of preparation," van Beek said.
"We don't leave out anything in terms of how hard we train or the analyst work that we do or the preparation we do in our recovery, everything. It's all consistent. That stems from Ryan Cook, the way he goes about it. He's very professional, very organized and also, he's got this positive belief.
"So the feeling of you feeling backed and I think the fact that he's so consistent in his preparation, his hard work that it's he's very believable and you want to follow him and so people coming into this culture quickly buy into how we how we go about it and it's yeah -new guys, for example, Sybrand Engelbrecht has come freshly into the environment and straight away has just kind of bought into the style of play and his performance the last few matches have shown that if you buy into it, you know, it's this kind of goes from there."
For the Dutch to stay alive in the contest, they have to win a series of games, starting with the game against Australia on Wednesday (October 25) in Delhi. They have just one win from four right now. Being two wins from five by the end of the day tomorrow would certainly keep them on course.