An ensemble team of immigrants and semi-professional cricketers, who have to juggle with odd jobs to meet ends, scripted one of the brightest underdog stories of the tournaments, when they beat South Africa and pushed them to the brink of exiting from the tournament. Batting first, they put on 158 for four before holding South Africa to 145/8. The upset means India have qualified for the semifinals, while the winner of the Pakistan-Bangladesh match would join them. South Africa’s hopes hang by the possibility of the match getting washed out.
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As impressive as their win was, fashioned chiefly by Colin Ackerman and Brandon Glover, who were both born and raised in South Africa before relocating to the Netherlands, it is their background story that makes the achievement all the more remarkable.
Went for breakfast with a friend. Told him we’ll go Dutch. He almost choked at the proposition!😋😋#SAvsNED pic.twitter.com/kDH1tN5nPJ
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) November 6, 2022
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Their team’s manager had to fly back home midway through the tournament because his office insisted that he returned to work. “Our managers don’t get paid. One of them had to go for work as his office had been calling him. So, we had to call a new manager. We have two players, Stephan Myburgh and N Teja, who work at a consultancy company and are playing the World Cup on leave without pay. They will be back at their office when the tournament gets over,” Netherlands seamer Paul Van Meekeren said.
Many have to self-fund. “We’ve got guys in the changing room who pay to go to their own training and only get paid when we go on tour and play games in Holland. But that’s the level of difference between guys that can hit 1,000 balls every week, and guys who study, work, all those kinds of things,” Meekeren said.
Some of them double up as coaches or trainers at academies, and seek opportunities to play league cricket abroad, like in England and New Zealand. Many players who were contending for World Cup spots but missed out on the World Cup squad had to report back to work immediately.
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Many senior players quit when they found full-time jobs with better pay packages. It is the reason the Dutch are a young team. “We have seen players retiring from Dutch cricket at a very young age as they get job opportunities or they finish studies and have to go into a job. We don’t have old guys in the team — we don’t have guys aged 28-plus who are playing for the national team and working. They are probably in the Dutch set up till 23-24, then take up a full-time job [and leave],” van Meekeren said.
Delivering food to keep passion going
He himself had started delivering food after his contract with county side Somerset ended. He worked for Uber Eats and then as a part-time salesman before Gloucestershire signed him for two years.
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The performance in Australia and the media publicity they received could change the way they are perceived back home. “It’s massive. The amount of media we got back home because we were playing India was immense. Getting photos and messages from people in Holland, from family, about just the articles. This is a day I’ll tell to my grandkids, hopefully. That’s what it is, playing against India,” Meekeren had said earlier, who also invited teams to camp in the Netherlands before going to England.
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The team is melting pot of cultures, with cricketers from South Africa, India, New Zealand, Australia and Togo. “Their camaraderie has become their biggest force and it’s helped grow the squad and the sport in the Netherlands as a whole. When I was in charge I made sure we sat in a room and had a beer together. Everyone is brought together here by their Dutch heritage, no matter how far stretched it is,” assistant coach Ryan Campbell had said during the tournament.
In a week’s time, the attention of the country will turn collectively to the football World Cup, for which the Dutch have qualified after eight years. Until, this ensemble bunch could hog some limelight.
