Netherlands’ former fast bowling coach Ian Pont has come up with a radical idea to shake up Dutch international cricket
Jenny Thompson19-Apr-2007
Ian Pont on Luuk van Troost: “His friendly demeanour and excellent man managementskills are part of the reason Dutch cricket is going forwards today” © Getty Images
Netherlands’ former fast bowling coach Ian Pont has come up with a radical ideato shake up Dutch international cricket. He believes that the talentdoesn’t currently lie in the Dutch domestic leagues – with cricketranked only 25th in popularity in the country – and so thinks anyonewith a Dutch passport should be considered, regardless of whether theylive in the country or not.”As a strategy for the next five years, the Netherlands would besmart to bring in passport holders and blend them with local talent. Is thatgood for long-term development? No, but there is a big differencebetween the domestic league and international cricket.”But where these players are going to come from is a different matter.”There are South Africans, Kiwis and Aussie players holding Dutchpassports who are excellent cricketers,” he says. “Some are stateplayers, or youth internationals. The Associate countries have allused players not originally from their own cricket development teams,as have England with players like Geraint Jones and Kevin Pieterson.If it’s good enough for Test teams to absorb those cricketers intotheir own, then Dutch cricket should not feel ashamed to do the same.”Pont can’t see any other short-term solution given the current limitations ofDutch domestic cricket: “The truth is it doesn’t produce internationalplayers. Domestic cricket isn’t strong enough to support the nationalside at the moment.”Nevertheless, he is positive about what he has seen on theinternational scene. “Dutch cricket is on an upslope – there are goodyoung lads coming in. We’ve had three or four retire. You can’tinstantly replace Luuk van Troost and Tim de Leede.”van Troost stepped down as captain, a move which Pont thinks isinevitable after more than one hundred appearances for his country andtime spent away from his family. “Luuk’s career had to come to a closeat some stage. He chose the World Cup as the place to do this. But Iwill not forget the brave decision he made to step down from the teamfor what would have been his final match against Scotland. He put thesquad first and felt the side had a better chance of victory that way.”This is the mark of the man. Perhaps there are other internationalcaptains who could look at Luuk and only admire the guts he showed inthat decision. His friendly demeanour and excellent man managementskills are part of the reason Dutch cricket is going forwards today.”Pont himself doesn’t know if he will be working with Holland in thenear future, after the head coach Peter Cantrell stepped down forpersonal reasons following some poor performances from the side at theWorld Cup. The Associates have been “out of their depth” in thetournament, he admits, but still thinks they should have their place.”A great experience, certainly, to be treated equally even though theAssociate countries aren’t good enough to win the World Cup.”But, like many, he believes that, structurally, the World Cup needs arethink, with Ireland going through on the strength of one victory.”You would have to rethink that an Associate can go through afterwinning one match and that’s what happened.”He would like to see ODIs played with the lower-ranked Test nations, althoughaccepts that the decision of such a dominant country as Australia, forexample, to refuse to host matches in an already-packed schedule.