They’ve beaten bigger teams at the World Cup and picked up a few bruises too. Now, one final game awaits and it’s huge

Shashank Kishore11-Nov-2023On Sunday, Netherlands’ journey in this World Cup will end in Bengaluru, the city where it all began in September when they arrived for a skills camp. They played games against local teams to acclimatise to Indian conditions, after the Full Members did not heed Ryan Cook’s public plea for matches for his team.Now, after stunning South Africa (again), beating Bangladesh, and scaring Sri Lanka, Netherlands prepare to end a memorable campaign on their grandest stage: a World Cup game against mighty India in front of more than 30,000 fans in Bengaluru. Nobody gives them a chance against the table-toppers, but the Dutch aren’t daunted.They’re enjoying the sense of occasion because, apart from taking on the hosts, it is also the last ODI that these players will play together for a while. A place in the 2025 Champions Trophy is less likely than it was a week ago and the absence of the ODI Super League means there’s some uncertainty about the future. But all that can wait.Related

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Fifteen years ago, Sybrand Engelbrecht played for South Africa against Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja in an Under-19 World Cup final in Kuala Lumpur. He has memories of some on-field banter, and he also took a blinder to dismiss Kohli.Wesley Barresi remembers his cocky sledge – “we’ll never see or hear from you again” – at Kohli when Netherlands last played India in an ODI, at the 2011 World Cup in New Delhi. Barresi, wiser at 39, is the only player from that squad to return. Kohli, of course, is unrecognisable from the player he was 12 years ago.Roelof van der Merwe was team-mates with Kohli at RCB for two seasons more than a decade ago. They even came close to winning a title in 2009. At 38, van der Merwe continues to bowl and field with the same intensity he had back in the day.In 2009, they were nicknamed RCB’s “sledgehammers” by their coach Ray Jennings. Van der Merwe continues to be one, putting his body on the line for every minute he’s on a cricket field.The hallmark of Netherlands is their “one team, one family” philosophy. It may sound like a PR exercise, until you actually see them embody those virtues, even while doing small things such as taking care of the ball boxes at training, an aspect many bigger teams take for granted.Roelof van der Merwe: making every minute count•ICC/Getty ImagesA limited budget has meant limited resources for Netherlands. It was revealing to see their support staff retrieve balls stuck under concrete structures during range-hitting sessions and count them. Their reserve players have had to share rooms and fly economy around the country.Logan van Beek won’t have the luxury of sightseeing or taking time off after the World Cup. Hours after their fixture against India, he’ll be on a flight home to Wellington, to be ready for the next round of the Plunkett Shield from November 15.On Friday, the entire Netherlands group got together for a celebratory dinner, to relive the highs and lows of their campaign, raise a toast to those who made the journey memorable, while also acknowledging what they need to do to get better. By Monday, they will be transported from the centre of the cricket world’s attention to the peripheries once again.Scott Edwards: the leader of Netherlands’ memorable campaign•ICC via Getty ImagesNo one knows when Netherlands will get an opportunity to play the bigger teams again in an ODI. They will be part of the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA, but as things stand, they will prepare for that tournament with a handful of games in Nepal in March and warm-up fixtures against second-string SA20 teams in South Africa.India’s coach Rahul Dravid has been impressed with Netherlands’ efforts at the World Cup. “I think we’re very impressed with the way they have played in this tournament. The effort that they’ve gone through to be able to qualify. I have some, I wouldn’t say first-hand experience, but I certainly know how difficult it is for associate teams to be able to reach this level and play.”Having spent some time in Scotland myself in early 2000, I know things have improved for the Associates since then. Certainly, over the last 20 years, the ICC has done a very good job of trying to improve their standards and try to give their players the same amount of opportunities. Of course, it’s never going to be the same.”And it’s quite inspiring to see that in spite of the challenges that they do face that they’re able to compete at this level to play at this level.”Can more be done to give teams like Netherlands more quality games leading into ICC events, if not all year around? How about having them play the A teams of the bigger nations more often? While players can only do so much to make the most of what they have, it’s time for the people to run cricket to try and make it happen.For now, Netherlands have one big game left and they are focused on that. To try and leave an imprint of brilliant orange amid a sea of blue.