Netherlands announces T20 WC squad, gives more opportunity to young players

Amsterdam [Netherlands], May 13 (ANI): Netherlands announced their squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in West Indies and USA on Monday and a couple of experienced performers, all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe and key batter Colin Ackermann missed out while young left-arm spinner Tim Pringle, seamer Kyle Klein and hard-hitting opener Michael Levitt were included in the squad.

Levitt turned heads with a blistering hundred against Namibia in a T20I tri-series played in Nepal back in February, hitting 11 fours and 10 sixes in a knock of 135 from just 62 balls, as per ICC.

Wicket-keeper-batter Scott Edwards will once again lead the Netherlands in his regular role as skipper, with star all-rounder Bas de Leede among the key players for a Dutch side that will face South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal in Group D during the league stages at the T20 World Cup.

The Netherlands’ first match comes on June 4 against Nepal at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, with the European side looking to build on their impressive effort at the last T20 World Cup where they upset South Africa in one of two memorable victories during the Super 12 stage of the event.

“We have been able to select a well-balanced team which we are confident will be able to perform in the conditions against the opposition we face in the US and West Indies,” Head coach Ryan Cook said as quoted by ICC.

“All of the players have been training well and have been involved in the recent ProSeries T20 event with some exciting performances showing the growing depth and quality in Netherlands cricket. We have managed to perform admirably in the last two World Cups we have participated in and will be determined to rise to the challenges we face ahead to reach the next round of the tournament,” he added.

Netherlands squad: Scott Edwards (c, wk), Aryan Dutt, Bas de Leede, Daniel Doram, Fred Klaassen, Kyle Klein, Logan van Beek, Max O’Dowd, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, Tim Pringle, Vikram Singh, Viv Kingma, Wesley Barresi

All teams are allowed to make changes to their squad until May 25, after which any alteration will require approval from ICC’s Event Technical Committee.