LONDON: It will be a mix of both youth and experience as England and the Netherlands face off in a historic first of three Dutch-based one-day internationals under sunny skies predicted on Friday.
Newly-minted England white-ball coach Matthew Mott has two uncapped players in David Payne and Luke Wood as well as Brydon Carse, Philip Salt and Liam Livingstone(three ODIs each) in his squad, with all expected to be keen to impress the selectors ahead of India’s tour next month.
The Dutch too are set to field a team of relative rookies, propped up by experienced players like skipper Pieter Seelaar, who was part of the team that beat England in a historic T20 opening match win in 2009.
All eyes however will be on young rising stars such as Vikram Singh, who stacked an average of 49 runs in the recent three-day ODI series against the West Indies, quick-hitter Bas de Leede and high-economy wicket-taker Aryan Dutt.
Veteran Dutch-Australian batter Tom Cooper is back to play his first ODI in nine years, as well as the hard-hitting Max O’Dowd and county-contracted bowlers Shane Snater and Fred Klaasen expecting to steer the ship.
There is also plenty of experience under England one-day skipper Eoin Morgan, set to lead the charge at the scenic VRA cricket grounds at Amstelveen just outside Amsterdam.
Morgan will be backed by veterans Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and hard-hitters Jos Buttler and Jason Roy.
‘Fantastic opportunity’
“My expectations are that we keep learning and bringing our A game,” Dutch head coach Ryan Cambell told AFP ahead of the series.
“For our youngsters to play these guys (England) in front of a big crowd will be a fantastic opportunity for all of them,” said Campbell, who is recovering from a life-threatening cardiac arrest in April.
“But as a coach, I want to see this team winning big matches, not just competing,” said Campbell, who has handed the reigns for the series to caretaker coach Ryan Cook.
The matches are taking place between the second and third Tests of England’s home series against New Zealand, meaning new Test skipper Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow are all unavailable.
Several England bowlers are currently also injured, including World Cup winners Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, but Sam Curran is fit again following a stress fracture of the back.
With Lancashire’s Wood called up for the first time and Payne bidding for a debut having been in previous squads, there are five left-arm seamers in the squad (Curran, David Willey and Reece Topley are the others).
But there was no place for wicketkeeper-batsman Sam Billings, with Salt set to take Bairstow’s place at the top of the order alongside Roy and Buttler.
“I’m very excited to be coaching a strong squad for my first series in charge,” said Mott, previously in charge of Australia’s all-conquering women’s team.
“We have tremendous depth with a blend of youth and experience. We want to continue to play in an expressive style and let our players showcase their skills and firepower.”
Netherlands ODI squad
Pieter Seelaar (capt), Scott Edwards (wkt), Musa Ahmad, Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek, Philippe Boissevain, Tom Cooper; Aryan Dutt; Clayton Floyd; Viv Kingma; Fred Klaassen; Ryan Klein; Bas de Leede; Teja Nidamanuru; Max O’Dowd; Tim Pringle; Vikramjit Singh; Shane Snater
England ODI squad
Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler (wkt), Brydon Carse, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, David Payne, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, David Willey, Luke Wood
