AMSTERDAM – The Royal Netherlands Cricket Board (KNCB) has announced the squads for the South Africa and Zimbabwe series. The Netherlands will play a three-game ODI series against Zimbabwe in Harare, which is their last CWC Super League series.
The Dutch side will play the remaining two ODI games in South Africa which have been suspended due to Covid-19.
Scott Edwards will lead the side on his first bilateral away tour since taking over the captaincy from VOC Rotterdam club-mate Pieter Seelaar last year, although the Netherlands’ constant availability problems will once again deny him the services of a number of top order players.
Notably absent from the touring group are left-arm spinner Tim Pringle and seam all-rounder Logan van Beek, who remain in New Zealand with Northern Districts and Wellington, respectively. Colin Ackermann, Brandon Glover and Bas de Leede – the latter two recently signed from Durham under former Dutch coach Ryan Campbell – will miss the South African leg of the tour. Campbell’s replacement Ryan Cook will also miss the tour due to commitments at the IPL, with Ryan van Niekerk (also a protege of Gary Kirsten) taking over as acting head coach.
Roelof van der Merwe and Tom Cooper have returned to the Dutch side. Fred Klaassen, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma and Ryan Klein are the seam bowlers of both series. Wesley Barresi and Aryan Dutt will join the squad for the South Africa series but are not available for the Zimbabwe series.
Shariz Ahmad has cemented his place as the first choice wrist spinner in the Netherlands after Michael Rippon moved to New Zealand. Max O’Dowd and Vikram Singh are likely to open the innings. Musa Ahmad and Teja Nidamanuru are the other hitting options available for the middle tiers.
SQUAD FOR ZIMBABWE SERIES
Scott Edwards (c, wk), Max O’Dowd, Vikram Singh, Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Roelof van der Merwe, Musa Nadeem Ahmad, Tom Cooper, Shariz Ahmad, Brandon Glover, Vivian Kingma, Fred Klaassen, Ryan Klein, Paul van Meekeren.
Source: Royal Netherlands Cricket Board
