New Delhi, Oct 24 (PTI) The Netherlands have made a fine impression in the on-going World Cup with some gritty outings, and all-rounder Logan van Beek hoped with a couple of more wins in the tournament they can make people at home “stop joking and start taking us seriously”.

Netherlands had shocked two-time champions West Indies to qualify for the quadrennial big bash, and in the tournament they stunned South Africa to underline their steady progress as a cricketing destination.

“I watched a Dutch sports show this morning and they were talking about cricket and laughing how it’s pretty similar to a nine to five job, how long it takes, and they’re making a few other jokes,” he said during the pre-match press conference.

“I hope that another of couple wins, they can almost stop joking about cricket in the Netherlands and they start talking seriously about how this is actually one of our best sports teams in the country.

“So that’s – One to inspire the next generation but also to change the narrative within Netherlands, we’re actually one of the better Netherlands sporting outfits.” The Dutch will be taking on Australia here on Wednesday. They have never beaten Aussies in ODIs, having lost both the times they met in 2003 and 2007.

But Van Beek said they are confident of another upset.

“Why not? We’ve come here to reach the semifinals. That’s our goal. It’s been pretty clear throughout the whole preparation phase. The South African win just gave us that extra belief that on our day we can beat a good team,” he said.

“…If we can manage to put on a great performance (against Australia) and create a memory for a lifetime then happy days..” Australia and Netherlands met in a warm-up game in Thiruvananthapuram but that was washed out.

“The warm-up game, the other day, was the first time that a lot of the guys have played against Australia and a lot of those guys I grew up watching and I admired,” he said.

“But we’re very much in the now and what’s going to happen in the future. Fingers crossed the way we’re playing, we’re showing that we deserve to be having more series at home and teams are wanting to come over to the Netherlands to play as well.

“So hopefully, Australia will be one of those teams that on the way to England can play a series against the Netherlands, something along those lines will be pretty cool in the future,” he said.

Van Beek hoped all the limelight that they are getting will translate into something sustainable to help Netherlands become a more consistent team in next five years.

“It is how do we ride this momentum and actually put structures in place so that this run that we’re having can be sustainable and that we can look at the long term and not let this time just be a flash in the pan.

“Hopefully, there’s more investment into the game from a local point of view, but also international sponsors want to get behind the Netherlands team. That’s all going to have a flow on effect, come into more contracts, better facilities, more resources, more coaching.” Van Beek showed an example in the progress of New Zealand.

“I look at how New Zealand were 20 years ago and see where New Zealand are right now. We’ve got in the Netherlands just as many players, and I can’t see why in the next 5 to 10 years we can start being more consistent on the world stage.” Netherlands have been part of the ODI world cup in 1996, 2003, 2007 and 2011 before missing the next two editions. But they are yet to get a Test status.

Van Beek said “chasing Test status could hamper getting more players involved in the Netherlands” at the moment.

“If the Netherlands had Test status, then I wouldn’t be able to go back and play in New Zealand or Colin Ackerman can’t go play County cricket or anything like that,” said the Christchurch-born van Beek.

“The more we can focus on the T20 and one-day cricket and give guys opportunity to play in other leagues and give people in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh …to come to the Netherlands do the qualifications and play international cricket, I think that’s more positive in the short term for us.

“If we gain momentum and we’ve got a pool of players that can compete in Test match cricket in the future, then yeah, we’ll definitely push for that.”

Source: PTI News