The Shorter Wisden 2013 (70 page)

CRICKET IN SCOTLAND, 2012

W
ILLIAM
D
ICK

An air of negativity hung over Scottish cricket through much of 2012 as the national side failed to reach the levels of performance demanded by coach Peter Steindl. The
cancellation of the one-day international against England was a major blow, although at least they were given plenty of notice that they would not be required in Edinburgh: the storm and flood
damage to the Grange was so severe that the fixture, scheduled for August 12, was called off three weeks in advance. Efforts to find a suitable replacement venue on either side of the border met
with no success. England will not return until 2014 at the earliest, so Scotland must hope for better weather when Pakistan and Australia pitch up in 2013. In all, five of Scotland’s games
had to be moved to Uddingston and Ayr, because of bad weather in Edinburgh and the continuing after-effects of vandalism to the pitch at Aberdeen’s Mannofield Park.

For all these complications, Scotland finished the year handily placed in the one-day and four-day tournaments that formed the bread and butter of their international competition. In the 50-over
World Cricket League Championship, they bounced back from two defeats in the UAE in March to beat Canada at home in the one match that survived the weather, enough to occupy second place overall
behind Ireland. When the competition ends in October 2013, the top two will qualify for the 2015 World Cup; the rest will attend a standalone World Cup qualifier event, which Scotland were long
expected to host, but eventually ceded to New Zealand as part of an ICC boardroom compromise.

All four days of the home Intercontinental Cup match against Canada at Uddingston’s Bothwell Castle Policies ground were lost to the weather. But a seven-wicket win in the UAE, inspired by
25-year-old Richie Berrington, who scored 110 and 42 not out, helped Scotland finish the year second in that competition too. They still had plenty of work to do to reach their third final in six
tournaments, including away matches against Afghanistan and Ireland.

The highlight, though, came in Twenty20 cricket – traditionally Scotland’s weakest suit. Sure enough, they lost to Namibia, Ireland, USA and the Netherlands at the 2012 World
Twenty20 qualifying tournament. (The qualification process for the next competition should give them a better chance: at the time of writing, six spots were open to non-Full Members.) But in July,
Scotland beat Bangladesh in the Netherlands, their first win over a Test-playing nation. Berrington became the first Associate cricketer to score a century in an official Twenty20 international,
from 57 balls. The result did not persuade any Bangladesh Premier League franchises to pick up Scottish players for their 2013 event.

The CB40, by contrast, was relentlessly miserable. There was one slightly fortuitous victory over Nottinghamshire, helped by rain, and Scotland’s other points came from no-results. Mention
of the tournament cannot pass without noting the ECB’s decision to exclude Scotland (and the Netherlands) from their new 50-over competition in 2014 – meaning 2013 will be
Scotland’s last season in county cricket after 34 years. The announcement was accepted with diplomatic resignation – at least publicly – by Cricket Scotland; a less-guarded
response might have been that the ECB missed a golden opportunity to continue assisting Associate cricket. It is difficult to see how Scotland can adequately replace 12 fixtures against quality
opposition, but they promised they would try. A European league featuring regional sides from Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and elsewhere came under discussion, but would surely help bridge
the gap between club and Associate cricket only. More useful would be a fuller programme of matches against the Test nations and their A-teams.

Scotland did, however, benefit from ICC largesse. They and Ireland were the first two Associates to receive $500,000 of funding from the new Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme, and
were delighted when the ICC eased their eligibility rules following sustained lobbying from Cricket Scotland. They had watched with envy at Dutch and Irish passports being acquired by talented
cricketers bearing tenuous links with those countries, but now British passport holders with Scottish parentage will be eligible to pull on the Saltire. Four English-born county players –
Richard Coughtrie, Matt Machan, David Murphy and Rob Taylor – represented a Scotland XI on an autumn tour of South Africa; and they will soon be followed by Iain Wardlaw and Neil Carter, the
veteran South African all-rounder who left Warwickshire at the end of the summer.

Cricket Scotland were delighted at this perceived levelling of the playing field, but stressed their commitment to producing home-grown talent. There were signs that one or two youngsters may be
ready to graduate from the Under-19 team, who finished 11th at the 2012 World Cup in Australia. Ross McLean scored half-centuries against Afghanistan and Pakistan, while Freddie Coleman made 65
against New Zealand, having achieved his maiden first-class hundred for Oxford MCCU against Worcestershire in April.

Given just how badly the weather ruined the domestic game, the jury remained out on the new regional Cricket Scotland League, which replaced the old National League. Dumfries, promoted in 2011,
won the Western Premier Division at their first attempt, but lost the new Grand Final against Eastern champions Watsonians. The former international seamer John Blain was the leading wicket-taker,
for West of Scotland, months after being removed from his coaching role at Yorkshire.

CRICKET IN THE NETHERLANDS, 2012

D
AVID
H
ARDY

It felt like a watershed year in Dutch cricket, one in which the game finally began to take on a wider appeal. A major new initiative, the Youth Plan, was launched by the
Netherlands Cricket Board (KNCB) at the beginning of 2012, with the aim of doubling player numbers in four years. There is an imperative to spread cricket beyond the densely populated cities in the
west: only 18 clubs exist elsewhere in the Netherlands; and only two of them have youth sections.

More and more schools offer a dual Dutch–English curriculum – and what could be a better example of English-language culture than cricket? Around 1,000 children in 28 schools –
roughly the same number of juniors that currently play the game – were introduced to it for the first time in a Bilingual Schools Cricket Challenge, culminating with a finals day in
Deventer.

A second breakthrough came with an exhibition of Cage Cricket – the brainchild of former Hampshire batsman Lawrence Prittipaul – to primary school pupils in Nijmegen, in October. All
over inner-city neighbourhoods, where many immigrant communities live, there are Cruyff Courts, sponsored by the legendary footballer Johan Cruyff to encourage youngsters to play street soccer.
These cages are ready-made for street cricket too.

The Netherlands Under-15 team retained the European Championship, and the Under-17s beat Ireland twice. Like the senior team, they reaped the benefit of a few imports, notably Daniel Doram, a
two-metre-tall, 14-year-old left-arm spinner, and Shaquille O’Neal Martina, 16, an off-spinning all-rounder – both resident in the Dutch Caribbean territory of Sint Maarten.

The standard of domestic youth cricket was boosted by the creation of a new regional league at Under-19 level, but there is still some way to go before indigenous Dutch cricketers can make a
meaningful impact on the senior team again. It was only ten years ago that the overwhelming majority of players were Dutch. Ten years later, it is mainly cricketers who have learned the game
elsewhere.

Sydney-born seamer Timm van der Gugten was the latest player to be plucked from Australasia, while South African Stephan Myburgh and Pakistani Shahbaz Bashir, both 29, qualified by residency.
Bashir became the first Netherlands player to make a century on first-class debut, in the Intercontinental Cup against the United Arab Emirates; Myburgh was the leading Dutch run-scorer at both the
World Twenty20 Qualifier and the Clydesdale Bank 40. He made 77, 74 not out and 66 in consecutive innings, to add to his 55 in the last CB40 match of 2011.

Halfway through the CB40 campaign there were dreams of a home semi-final. The Netherlands stood proudly on top of Group A, with five wins, including a memorable double over Lancashire and Essex
on Whitsun weekend in Schiedam. The foundation of the early success was the top-order batting of Myburgh and Australians Michael Swart, Tom Cooper and Cameron Borgas, and the lower-order hitting of
Mudassar Bukhari. In a bizarre week in June, the Netherlands posted their highest 40-over total (304 for three v Leicestershire) and their lowest (57 v Worcestershire). Another highlight was Sky
Sports’ first live broadcast from the Netherlands, for Gloucestershire’s visit to Amstelveen in July.

From then on, it was all downhill; perhaps the intensive schedule took its toll. At one stage in July, the national team were in action for nine days out of 12 in four different formats. But in
the penultimate match, the second of two Twenty20s against Bangladesh, they managed their third win over a Test country, off the last ball.

In October, the ECB announced 2013 would be the Netherlands’ last season in its one-day competition. It was all the more reason for the KNCB to redouble their efforts to play more against
Test nations and establish a European regional limited-overs competition.

The Netherlands’ last-over defeat by Afghanistan in the group stage of the World Twenty20 Qualifier proved crucial. In the prolonged qualifying tournament for the 2015 World Cup, they
ended 2012 in third place, after two home wins against the UAE, but still out of the qualifying spots.

Six young uncapped players – including Doram – were named in a party to tour the UAE and India in November and December, which included intensive coaching at the ICC Global Cricket
Academy in Dubai and fixtures against the UAE Academy, Mumbai Academy and the England Performance Programme. Alexei Kervezee was the architect of a surprise 2–1 triumph over the EPP, scoring
96 and 80 in the two victories.

Excelsior 20 Schiedam lifted their ninth national championship in 22 seasons, winning all three play-off matches after finishing fourth in the league. Daan van Bunge, the captain, was in prime
form; only Wesley Barresi and New Zealand professional Greg Todd scored more runs in the season. It was the ninth title for veterans Luuk van Troost and Marcel Schewe, the only men to play more
than 400 matches in the
Topklasse
(Premier League) over the past 25 years. In a local derby against Excelsior, Todd made 120 and took five for 19 (including a hat-trick) for Hermes
DVS.

The leading wicket-taker was a Dutchman, HCC left-arm seamer Reinier Bijloos, with 29. But the story of the year was that of Dosti, the newly promoted Amsterdam club formed in 1978. This team,
made up almost entirely of cricketers from a non-Dutch background, made good use of the rule permitting three professionals. It was introduced a couple of seasons ago following more than 30 years
of only one official professional player-coach, after Dosti themselves were found guilty of fielding unregistered players. Now they boasted a powerful trio: former Pakistan Test batsman Mohammad
Wasim, IPL all-rounder Amit Uniyal, and David Wiese from South African franchise Titans. Dosti finished top after the initial round, then made it to the play-off final, where they lost to
Excelsior.

VOC of Rotterdam were relegated after 42 years in the
Topklasse
. This meant that, in 2013, three of the six clubs with grass squares (VOC, Voorburg and Kampong) will be playing in the
Hoofdklasse
(Second Division), leaving only two in the top flight
.
VRA won the Twenty20 Cup for the third season running; 18-year-old left-arm spinner Victor Lubbers’s four
for 11 earned him the match award in the final. ACC, their Amstelveen neighbours, regularly featured a father/triplet combination: former Dutch international Ahmed Zulfiqar and his three
15-year-old sons.

KNCB signed the most lucrative sponsorship deal in their history, with the Dutch bank ABN AMRO, who are keen to expand their horizons in the Indian subcontinent. The four-year arrangement
involves the Netherlands making more trips to Asia, which began with the first invitation in 16 years to the Hong Kong Sixes (where a strong Netherlands team beat England).

An award of $1.5m over three years from the ICC’s new Targeted Assistance Performance Programme is intended to provide more tournaments, expand development initiatives, and support the
national side as they build towards the 2015 World Cup. Unfortunately, there was no mention of women’s and girls’ cricket, an area of great concern in the Netherlands. The national team
finished seventh in the 2011 World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh – losing their one-day international status – and were relegated to Division Three of the ECB’s County Championship
after losing a play-off to Ireland A.

WORLD CRICKET IN 2012