Ryan ten Doeschate named Netherlands mentor for South Africa tour
Retired Dutch international Ryan ten Doeschate has been appointed as a mentor for the national men's team for their upcoming three-match ODI series in South Africa. ten Doeschate retired from professional cricket at the 2021 T20 World Cup, where the Netherlands failed to progress to the Super 12s. Their focus will now shift to the 50-over format, where they have a squad laden with South Africans for their tour.
Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe and Stephan Myburgh all played domestic cricket in South Africa and van der Merwe and Myburgh, in particular, will be familiar with conditions. Three ODIs, scheduled for November 26, 28 and December 1, will be played at SuperSport Park in Centurion, where van der Merwe and Myburgh were previously based. A limited number of fans are expected to be allowed into the venue, in line with the current Covid-19 regulations in South Africa, which are at their lowest level since the pandemic began.
Those spectators will witness history, as it will be the first time South Africa and Netherlands play in South Africa, after meeting in four ODIs and one T20Is before. South Africa have won all those fixtures.
Netherlands travel without the experience of Ben Cooper, Tobias Visee and Paul van Meekeren, who all asked not to be considered for personal reasons. They have included three uncapped players, 20-year-old Boris Gorlee, Pakistan-born Musa Ahmed and Clayton Floyd, who recently scored a century at the European Cricket Championships.
"After the disappointment of the World Cup, we will look to bounce back against a very good South African outfit. I'm extremely excited to take HCC youngsters Boris Gorlee, Musa Ahmad and Clayton Floyd with us. The experience of living and breathing international cricket in South Africa will be invaluable for them," Ryan Campbell, Netherlands coach, said.
The three matches are part of the World Cup Super League, where both teams need points. Netherlands are in last place on the table, with 20 points from two wins over Ireland. South Africa sit in ninth place, having dropped points in Ireland but could climb as high as second place with a 3-nil clean sweep.
Netherlands squad: Pieter Seelaar (capt), Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede, Vivian Kingma, Max O'Dowd, Scott Edwards, Boris Gorlee, Clayton Floyd, Musa Ahmed, Brandon Glover, Fred Klaassen, Roelof van der Merwe, Saqib Zulfiqar, Stephan Myburgh, Shane Snater, Timm van der Gugten