Tom Cooper returns to Netherlands’ ODI squad after nine years

Veteran batter Tom Cooper is all set to play his first one day international in nine years after being named in Netherlands’ ODI squad for the three-match series at home against England, starting next week. Cooper, a veteran in the Australian domestic circuit, last played an ODI for Netherlands back in 2013, post which he’s played only T20Is. In fact, Cooper last played an international match more than six years ago.

But the 35-year-old, who represented Brisbane Heat in the 2021/22 edition of the Big Bash League, is now all set to resume his international career after a long hiatus. 

"We are very pleased with the arrival of Tom Cooper, who brings with him a huge amount of experience," Roland Lefebvre, the Netherlands' high-performance manager, said. 

"In recent years, some important players of the Dutch national team have stopped. The availability of Dutch players employed by English counties is also limited.

"The knowledge and experience, but also the mentoring role that Tom will have within the young Dutch national team, is of great value. Tom is available for the rest of the international fixtures."

Date-clash with Vitality T20 Blast matches might see the Dutch being unable to field select individuals, but they have, nevertheless, named a strong squad, with both Shane Snater (Essex) and Fred Klaassen (Kent) making the cut. There has also been a call-up for 19-year-old Tim Pringle, who as recently as March represented a ‘New Zealand XI’ that took on Netherlands. He is the son of former pacer Chris Pringle, who played 14 Tests for the Kiwis.

Speaking ahead of the series, skipper Pieter Seelar said that there are areas his side will need to improve in order to be competitive against England, who have named a strong squad for the series.

"After a very competitive series against the West Indies, we take on the reigning world champions England, taking a lot of positives from the matches against the West Indies into the upcoming series. In saying that, there are also areas we need to improve in order to be as competitive against England."

The three-match ODI series will kick-off at the VRA Cricket Ground in Amstelveen on Friday, June 17.

Netherlands squad vs England

Pieter Seelaar (captain), Scott Edwards (wicketkeeper), Musa Ahmed, Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek, Philippe Boissevain, Tom Cooper, Aryan Dutt, Clayton Floyd, Vivian Kingma, Fred Klaassen, Ryan Klein, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O'Dowd, Tim Pringle, Vikramjit Singh, Shane Snater