Royal netherlands cricket board

Royal Netherlands Cricket Board: The Netherlands putting up a spirited performance before going down to a three-wicket loss to Pakistan in the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup opening game in Colombo encapsulated a broader truth about Dutch cricket: punching above their weight while operating with tied hands behind their back.

As the team prepared for their Group A clash against Namibia, another country with a thin talent pool who have full-time professional players and recently hosted Men’s U19 World Cup games, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday, the contrast between on-field competitiveness and off-field constraints couldn’t have been starker.

With approximately 5,000-6,000 active cricketers across 60 cricket clubs and a competitive eight-team Topklasse league, the grassroots are flourishing, especially with South Asian origin expats taking up the sport in great numbers.