Kolkata: Ask any sports enthusiasts about the Netherlands. The person would utter the names of Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneider, or even speak about the famous Dutch victory against England in the 2010 ICC T20 World Cup opener. But many wouldn’t know about the Dutch women’s cricket which has a rich history from the past.
The Netherlands have been a part of four consecutive Women’s World Cups between 1988 and 2000, and made the quarterfinals of the 1997 event and was considered as one of the top sides in the world. Since 2000, the Dutch women have not qualified for either the World Cup or the World T20. Sportslight Media caught up with the Netherlands skipper Juliet Post as the 22-year-old opened up about the women’s cricket in the country, future goals and lot more. Excerpts..
Women’s Cricket is not big in the Netherlands compared to men. How do girls motivate themselves?
We are motivated because we love the game and we want to get better. The love of the game connects us and that makes us more than teammates. The Netherlands is a small country and therefore we train with each other often.
Are there any steps being taken from the Dutch federation and government to bring women’s cricket at par with men?
As it stands now the men are better ranked than the women. They qualify for bigger tournaments and therefore they are rewarded with more benefits. As we, the Dutch women’s squad, get higher on the ranking and qualify for bigger tournaments, we get more privileges. Also, cricket isn’t a big sport in The Netherlands. For now, it isn’t aired on television. So a lot of people don’t know the sport and don’t understand the sport. It makes it therefore hard to get it on national television because there is little demand. Luckily our men’s national team have qualified for the T20 World Cup and the ICC ODI Super League, which attracts more attention from the national media. That should also have an effect on the coverage of the women’s game.
As being the captain of the side, What’s your next big target and how do you plan about it?
The next big target is the World Cup Qualifier. This is a 50-over tournament. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had an official lockdown in The Netherlands. Therefore we, the Dutch ladies, weren’t able to train and two tours were cancelled. The lockdown lasted for two months and we started training again at the beginning of June. This started once a week in smaller groups. One month later we were able to play matches and also the regular competition in The Netherlands started again. The current situation is that we train three times a week and play friendly matches, for example against the Dutch Lions U-16. We are working hard for this tournament, but it is hard to focus because we don’t know an exact date for the tournament.
Where do you see the Netherlands Cricket in the next five years?
The Dutch ladies is a group that’s very young and talented. If we stay together for the next five years we can grow and get better together. Work hard and train even harder and as a squad, we can achieve beautiful things. For cricket in The Netherlands in general we get more media attention. Cricket is becoming more popular, so I’m sure cricket in The Netherlands is growing in the next five years.
