ETPL massive pathway to younger kids to enter cricket: Netherlands all-rounder Bas de Leede

CHENNAI: The inaugural edition of the European T20 Premier League is nearing its business end. The tourney, while moving from The Hague to Dublin, has seen some of the biggest stars from all over the world land in Netherlands and Ireland, share dressing rooms with local players and entertain the fans.

Still in its nascent stages, the tournament is only finding its feet, but seem to have gotten off to a good start. Ask Bas de Leede, the star Netherlands all-rounder, who has been playing alongside the likes of Steve Smith and Tim David for Amsterdam Flames. “It's been awesome to share the dressing room and bat together with players that we normally only play against maybe once every two or four years in a World Cup if we're lucky. To have them around at training, having them around in the dressing room, out on the pitch, even off the pitch, has been great,” he told this daily. “Just to get an understanding of why they do certain things, what their thinking is on the cricket field… for example, the chase we had against the Rotterdam Dockers in our last game batting together with Tim, the way he sees the game, the way he approaches that chase was amazing. I think that's how you learn the quickest on the pitch and to be on the pitch with players like that is going to hopefully help our games as European cricketers a lot,” he added.

Roelof van der Merwe, who plays for Rotterdam Dockers, echoed the sentiment. “I think that's probably the biggest impact this tournament will have. When we play against South Africa or India, you don't really rub shoulders with them, you don't really get to pick their brains. This is a great opportunity for Dutch, Irish, and Scottish cricketers to really tap into David's death hitting, Heinrich Klaasen, or Faf du Plessis, or R Ashwin, and all those guys,” said the veteran.

While being a part of the dressing room and sharing experiences remain one part, for any cricket league to succeed, the community on the ground and fans filling the stands holds the key. Though the tournament is taking its first steps, De Leede is pleased with the reception on the ground among communities. Van der Merwe, meanwhile, feels the community has opened its arms to the tournament. “Just from a player's point of view and a Dutch cricket point of view, the amount of youngsters now that sees the big players coming here and playing, that's definitely going to draw them towards the game. Obviously, the number one goal is to grow cricket in the region and in the Netherlands. So, I think this is massive for that. The effect you won't really see now, but hopefully when this continues and 4-5 years down the line, we can see a massive difference and growth,” said Van der Merwe.

“As a young guy growing up, personally I didn't have a clear pathway into professional cricket. I think the ETPL definitely gives you a clearer road towards professional cricket if you're a young aspiring cricketer. To be able to come and watch the last week and a half in the Netherlands as a Dutch kid who likes cricket, I think it makes it so much easier for you to go, ‘Hey, I want to play in that’, ‘I can actually make money out of playing cricket’, but also it's something to aspire to be able to play years down the line. For the younger guys coming through, it can be a massive pathway to professional cricket. I think it's got a massive potential to bridge that gap between associate cricket and cricket on the world stage,” De Leed added.

The one thing both of them hope for is the financial security the tournament could provide for players from Netherlands, Ireland and other European nations where cricketers often juggle between jobs and the sport to pursue the passion. “With the Dutch, we've only got seven nine-month contracts that are full time, and then we have got a couple of part-time contracts. ETPL brings a massive boost to at least 12 Dutch guys in terms of finances, and it makes it so much easier for guys to put away time. There's a couple of guys that probably don't have to do part-time work next year if they get retained. That's a massive boost to get guys playing cricket, or being able to choose to play cricket the whole year round, train the whole year round. That's, yeah, hopefully going to have a big impact,” De Leede explained.