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Allrounder Bas de Leede says the team has set themselves a high target at their first ODI World Cup since 2011

Shashank Kishore05-Oct-20232:33

Bas de Leede: ‘Us being here is massive for the sport back home’

Netherlands allrounder Bas de Leede is clear about his team’s targets at the World Cup.For starters, they aren’t thinking of themselves as Associates. They want to play as equals with the big boys. For de Leede, there’s no bigger motivation than that.”We want to make the semi-finals,” he announced ahead of their first game against Pakistan in Hyderabad. It may seem a fanciful dream to many, considering Netherlands haven’t played an ODI since the World Cup Qualifiers in June.They arrived in India late September for two warm-up games against Karnataka, and the nature of pitches proved a challenge. In the first game, they slumped to 3 for 8, before making 114 in pursuit of 266. In the second, they made 295 and lost by one wicket.Netherlands had both their World Cup warm-ups against Australia and India washed out; and Mitchell Starc blew away their top order in the little play that was possible. It was a reminder of what they can expect when they face Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf.Related

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Several first-choice players had missed Netherlands’ glorious run at the World Cup Qualifiers to honour their English county contracts. De Leede was among those who made it to Zimbabwe thanks to Durham making letting him go play.”We obviously don’t get to play together as a team very often because guys are spread out,” he said. “But I think the learnings we can take from Karnataka was, first of all, it was nice to play together as a team and try and adapt to Indian conditions.”Obviously, it’s one thing training in Indian conditions, but then another thing going out and playing and seeing what it’s like in a game. Then you know lack of game time. It was a shame that the warm-up games got rained off. But I think in the nets, we try and replicate game scenarios and try and be as competitive as we can when bowling to each other, when facing each other.”Does the prospect of playing Full Member teams seem intimidating? Not quite. De Leede spoke of how Netherlands ran Pakistan close over three ODIs in Rotterdam last August.In the first match of that series, Netherlands nearly chased down Pakistan’s 314 but fell 16 short. In the third ODI, having restricted Pakistan to 206, they were 108 for 3 before collapsing to lose by nine runs.Bas de Leede played an important role in Netherlands qualifying for the World Cup•Albert Perez/ICC/Getty Images

“I think the experience of the whole Super League, having played against bigger nations, was fantastic for us,” de Leede said. “And obviously, Pakistan, having played them last year in Rotterdam in three ODIs, it’ll be nice to sort of be familiar with the team and the players and stuff, having played them before.”I think that will help us a little bit. But obviously, you know, they’ve evolved. They’ve gotten better. They’ve got different skills now as well, even with Shaheen [Afridi] coming back, who didn’t play that series.”Twice during the press conference, de Leede was asked to be “realistic” in terms of setting expectations.”We want to make the semi-finals,” he said both times. “If we want to get there, we’ve got to win four or five games. So, we’d have to take down one of the big teams. But that’s (semi-finals) our main target. And if we get there, we play our best cricket. Amazing. But if we play our best cricket and we don’t get there, I reckon we can still be proud of ourselves.”How will they approach their quest to make the final four? Play with a nothing-to-lose approach or set high goals and try to get there?”I think probably a mixture of both,” he said. “I don’t think any of the teams have got anything to lose. They’ve got something to gain, which is winning the World Cup. I think for us, obviously it’s special being back for the first time since 2011, but we’ve set our goal high which is making the semi-final. I don’t think if we don’t make it, we’re a failure or anything like that.”I think if we don’t make it, but we have played our best cricket, we can still be proud of ourselves. But by setting the goal to make the semi-final, I think we can probably do more than what people expect from us.”

Dejan Kulusevski shared his thoughts on Tottenham's transfer activity after the team's latest defeat to Nottingham Forest.

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• Kulusevski not happy with Tottenham transfers
• Says other clubs more 'prepared' when it comes to signings
• Spurs struggling in Premier League

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Spurs slipped to an 18th Premier League defeat of the season on Monday after going down 2-1 to Nottingham Forest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It's been a difficult campaign for Ange Postecoglou's side who have been plagued by injuries to key players throughout the year and currently sit down in 16th place in the table.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Tottenham splashed out on the likes of Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert in the summer transfer window but are on course for one of their worst-ever Premier League finishes. Kulusevski has been quizzed on his team's struggles for consistency and feels the club do not have a squad capable of coping with domestic and European competition.

• WHAT KULUSEVSKI SAID

  He told reporters: "[The top clubs have] been doing it many years. They know exactly what they're doing. They're bringing in a lot of players that are ready to play both competitions. And they are prepared for it. This year we cannot say that we're prepared for it because we had so many injuries and we did a lot of things wrong from the beginning of the season and we're paying for it right now. After big nights like Thursday, you always go down. That's why teams who are in more competitions are paying [a price]. We're not handling it right, we're not handling it well. Because after 16 minutes we'd conceded three goals, with the offside goal. Then it's hard to win football games. It's not good enough. Then we played some good football but if you're not doing everything right, you will not win games."

• TELL ME MORE

  Kulusevski made his first appearance since February against Forest and said he's in great shape ahead of the final few weeks of the season: "I felt great honestly. I'm so angry about the result but I've got to see the bigger picture: I'm back, I'm healthy and we've got important games coming up, so I've got to stay focussed. I took [my time out] so well because I had to accept it and I had more time to be with my daughter and wife, and do other things in life. I still worked extremely hard because I know that when you come back, it can be hard. But I did all the work necessary to feel good right now. I did everything right."

On-field umpires will no longer be required to give a “soft signal” while referring contentious catches to the TV umpire, according to the revised ICC playing conditions that will come into effect from June 1, 2023.The on-field umpires will now simply consult with the TV umpire before a final decision regarding a referred catch is made, without any soft signal having been made. The change was recommended by the ICC’s Men’s Cricket Committee, endorsed by the Women’s Cricket Committee, and ratified by the ICC’s Chief Executives Committee.While the soft signal was scrapped by the IPL in 2021, it continued to be used in international cricket, and the TV umpire had to find conclusive evidence of a catch being clean or not to overturn the soft signal, irrespective of whether the on-field umpires had a clear line of sight to the catch while making the soft signal.”The committee deliberated this at length and concluded that soft signals were unnecessary and at times confusing since referrals of catches may seem inconclusive in replays,” Sourav Ganguly, the head of the Men’s Cricket Committee, said.There was brief confusion about the Free Hit rule with the ICC saying a “minor addition” had been made to it. That tweak deemed that runs scored off a free hit when the batter is bowled would count as runs towards the batter, as opposed to byes. The most high-profile recent incident was in the last over of India’s epic win against Pakistan at the MCG in the T20 World Cup last year. Kohli was bowled by Mohammad Nawaz off the free hit, but as the ball went to deep third, the batters picked up three runs.Soon after the release, however, the governing body clarified that was not the case and that the rule, when a batter is bowled, remains the same: runs scored after a batter is bowled off a free hit will continue to be categorised as extras and will not be credited to the batter.In the revised playing conditions, the ICC also made it mandatory for players in “high-risk” positions to wear helmets. This includes batters facing fast bowlers, wicketkeepers standing up to the stumps, and fielders standing close to batters in front of the wicket.