Bangladesh is rarely kind to touring International cricket sides.
The Netherlands’ men’s side went down 0-2 in a three-match T20I series to add to a long list of casualties that includes England, Australia and New Zealand, strengthening Bangladesh’s formidable home record.
There were mitigating factors for the Dutch, not least missing as many as seven frontline players either through injury or commitments elsewhere for a tour hastily arranged after India had pulled out of its planned white-ball tour to Bangladesh ahead of the Asia Cup.
But what cannot be discounted is the failure to capitalize on conditions suited for batters to come good in a series designed to represent a focused buildup towards the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February next year.
Despite not playing enough white-ball Internationals in Sylhet, Bangladesh were cold and clinical.
Having won the toss in the first two games, their bowlers restricted the Dutch to below-par scores of 136-8 and 103 all out in a relentless display before the batters chased down the totals comfortably.
The Dutch are yet to find a suitable batting order that fires consistently and in the absence of Michael Levitt, the top-order aggressor, batters struggled to set the tone.
In the two innings they batted, the batters looked frantic and error-prone, not testing the Bangladeshi bowling enough, even on a batting friendly Sylhet deck.
The side’s only consolation came with the ball in the final T20I restricting Bangladesh to 164-4 in 18.4 overs, a handy counterpunch after the hosts had raced off the blocks to be 61 for one inside the first five overs. Any chance the Dutch had of redeeming themselves with the bat was denied by the rain.
Assistant coach Ryan van Niekerk said the team “hadn’t played to our standards” and blamed their decision making: “When you play a top side like Bangladesh in their home conditions, those small margins all of a sudden make a big difference. Their bowlers don’t always give you opportunities to score boundaries to add to their quality fielding.
“If you’re making poor decisions or taking too long to sum up the conditions against quality sides like Bangladesh, it is going to hurt you.”
Positives
Despite missing big names, the trip was not without its benefits. It provided valuable reference points for senior players and fringe players alike with the T20 World Cup only five months away.
It provided an opportunity to play under lights, in front of huge crowds and adjusting to the challenge of the heat and dew factor – something they would have had to adjust to on the fly instead come February.
Despite his high bowling economy of 12.12, seamer Kyle Klein, for whom it was his first trip to the Indian subcontinent since being the travel reserve at the ODI World Cup in 2023, finished as the leading wicket-taker for the Dutch, including picking three wickets in the last game.
Dew
He was spotted sprinkling water on the ball while bowling in the nets before the second T20I to adjust to the dew, a drill that could come in handy in February.
Left-arm seamer Ben Fletcher, on just his second tour, spent time after the final game picking the brains of Mustafizur Rahman, the experienced Bangladeshi bowler with nearly 300 T20 caps.
All-rounder Aryan Dutt top-scored with 30 off 24 balls in the second T20I before returning a bowling analysis of 4-0-14-0 while defending 104.
Controlled bowling
Tim Pringle, playing his first competitive matches since the T20 World Cup last year after undergoing an ankle surgery, bowled with great control in the last game to rein Bangladesh in with figures of 4-0-18-1.
“It would have been nice to be a bit more competitive. I think it just showed us where we need to be,” right-arm quick Paul van Meekeren told Dutch News.
“We need to be consistent with our batting and try clearing the boundary more often. For the seamers, it’s about being relentless with our line and length and just executing the plans better.
“We spoke a lot about death bowling and batting at the death but we never really got there during the series, unfortunately.“
Experience
“But for a lot of guys, it was just a great experience to play in front of huge crowds and under the lights, as we don’t have those facilities in the Netherlands,” Van Meekeren added.
“The humidity was quite a big factor. Bowling with a wet ball as well, we haven’t encountered those things a lot.
“Even your warm up feels different, where the crowd is screaming and shouting. Even when you get a high catch at the boundary, when all these people are watching, that can be quite intimidating.
“You can prepare as much as you want by talking about things and trying to replicate them in training but until you actually experience it yourself, it’s completely different. Sometimes, the experience is the only thing that counts.”
No fixtures
While there is barely a pause in the schedule for cricket’s more elite nations, the Dutch will have no fixtures until a tour to Nepal in January and will have to contend with training indoors.
“We spoke to the Bangladeshi guys, and we asked them how much cricket they’ve got. They have obviously got the Asia Cup coming up. But after the Asia Cup, they’re playing Afghanistan in Dubai and then they play West Indies and Ireland at home. So they have got a lot of cricket building up to the World Cup,” Van Meekeren said.
“They asked us what cricket do we play next. We told them our next cricket, officially, at the moment, is the World Cup itself. They couldn’t believe that.
“I’m sure we will try and get some preparation done somehow but finance is always the issue in Associate cricket, and it’s not going to be different this time around.”
