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A win for the Netherlands over England on Wednesday will not be a ‘flash in the pan’, according to Logan van Beek, the Dutch all-rounder who is something of an authority on the subject.
Van Beek starred with the ball the last time these sides met at a World Cup, taking three for nine – including Jos Buttler for just six – as the Dutch stunned an England team led by Stuart Broad during the T20 edition in Bangladesh in 2014.
Back then, England had already been knocked out, though the result contributed to the sacking as white-ball coach of Ashley Giles. Now, even more is at stake – with Wednesday’s game in Pune in effect a play-off for the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
And as far as van Beek – a 33-year-old former basketball international for his native New Zealand – is concerned the game means more to the Dutch than it does to their opponents.
‘It’s huge,’ he told Mail Sport. ‘The difference we have compared with England, Australia, India and New Zealand, is that they’ve got fixtures sorted for the next four years. We’ve got the T20 World Cup next year, then after that it’s nothing, really.
Netherlands star Logan van Beek insists beating England will NOT be a ‘fluke’ on Wednesday
The 33-year-old bowler believes the World Cup match means more to the Dutch than England
‘If England don’t qualify, they’ve still got a million fixtures, they’re still going to get paid all that stuff, it’s fine. Whereas us qualifying means more guys are going to get paid, there are going to be more opportunities for contracts, more funding, more resources. There’s far more benefit for us.’
Van Beek has been central to the Netherlands’ success here in India, taking three wickets in their stunning win over South Africa, four in the defeat by Australia, and conceding only 30 in nine overs during the victory against Bangladesh.
His victims have included some of the biggest names in the white-ball game: Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Mitchell Marsh, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell. Crazily, after stints with Derbyshire and Worcestershire, he still hasn’t secured a county deal for 2024.
‘One win would have proven we have every right to be here, but two wins confirm we are actually a pretty good team,’ he said.
‘Three wins will solidify that we deserve to be here just as much as any other team. A win against England won’t be that flash in the pan, it won’t be a fluke.’
It has been a miserable World Cup campaign for Jos Buttler, whose side sit bottom of the table
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England, pictured after losing to Australia, will be at an all-time low heading into their World Cup match against the Dutch, which is in effect a play-off for the 2025 Champions Trophy
Do the Dutch regard England, bottom of the 10-team table after one win out of seven, and struggling for the top-eight finish that would ensure a trip to Pakistan in two years’ time, as vulnerable?
‘Those guys have been put through the wringer the last six weeks,’ said van Beek.
‘They came in as one of the favourites, and they’ve had every man and their dog on their backs.
‘I feel for them, because they get as much scrutiny as any other team in the world. When it’s going well, it’s Bazball and happy days and lollipops and everyone loves to be an England supporter, and then suddenly they’re not performing as well as they can.
‘They’re still good cricketers, and there’s no reason they can’t pull out their best stuff against us. But we’re going to do our best, do our Netherlands thing, to stop them in their tracks.’
Van Beek starred during Netherlands’ victory over Stuart Broad’s (centre) England in 2014
Van Beek’s side have won two out of seven matches at the World Cup heading into Wednesday
Back in the summer of 2022, when England visited Amsterdam for a three-match series as part of the ICC’s World Super League, such a prospect looked unlikely.
In the first of the games, England racked up a world-record 498 for four, with van Beek’s 10 overs leaking 82. But his main memory from a potentially traumatic experience was the fact that he conceded only seven off the 49th, which helped keep the total below 500.
‘It was a tough day – as brutal as it gets,’ he said. ‘But that was probably the best death over I ever bowled: I had a wide hole, a straight hole, I bowled a bouncer. I was bowling to Jos, who was on 150, and Liam Livingstone, who was on 50-odd off 15 balls. That gave me a lot of faith in any situation.’
His grandfather, Sammy Guillen, played Test cricket for both West Indies and New Zealand in the 1950s, an unprecedented double. Now, the irrepressible van Beek wants to create more history, against an England side ripe for the plucking.
