Netherlands women's national cricket team


The Netherlands women's national cricket team, nicknamed the Lionesses, represents the Netherlands in international women's cricket. The team is organised by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond, which has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council since 1966.
A Dutch women's team first played an international match in 1937, when Australia toured on its way to play a series in England. The team regularly played fixtures against English club sides over the following decades, but it was not until the early 1980s that regular international competition commenced. The Netherlands made its One Day International debut in 1984, against New Zealand, and made its World Cup debut at the 1988 edition of the tournament, in Australia. Considered a top-level team from the late 1980s through to the early 2000s, the Netherlands participated in four consecutive World Cups between 1988 and 2000, and made the quarter-finals of the 1997 event. Since 2000, the Dutch side has not qualified for either the World Cup or the World Twenty20, although it retained ODI status until the 2011 World Cup Qualifier. In 2007, the team played a one-off Test match against South Africa, joining Ireland as the only associate member of the ICC to play at that level.
In April 2018, the ICC granted full Women's Twenty20 International status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between the Netherlands women and another international side after 1 July 2018 will be a full WT20I.

History

Early years

The Netherlands took part in women's international cricket from its earliest years, as early as 1937 they hosted the Australians on the first leg of their first ever Women's Ashes tour, before visiting England late the same year.

1980s

The Dutch team played their first ODI in 1984 against New Zealand. This was 12 years before the Dutch men's team played their first ODI. They lost that game by 67 runs, and were next seen in international cricket in 1988, playing in their first World Cup, in which they finished in last place. They finished third in the first European Championship in 1989.

1990s

They again finished third in the European Championship in 1990, and finished fourth the following year. The 1993 World Cup was again a disappointment, with another last place finish. 1995 saw them again finish third in the European Championship.
1997 was a busy year for the Dutch team, travelling to the Mikkelberg-Kunst-und-Cricket Center in Germany to play two ODIs against Denmark, a trip they repeated in 1998. They also visited Sri Lanka for a three match ODI series against the hosts, which they won 2–1, which remains their sole ODI series victory. This was followed by the World Cup, in which they avoided last place by reaching the quarter finals before being knocked out by Australia.
1999 saw another tour to Sri Lanka, where they lost the five match ODI series 5–0. This was followed by a last place finish in the European Championship in Denmark.

2000s

2000 saw the Dutch team's fourth and, to date, final World Cup appearance, where they again finished last. This was followed in 2001 by a tour to Pakistan where the hosts went 4–0 up in the seven match ODI series before the Netherlands won the final three games. Later in the year saw another third-place finish in the European Championship.
Their only cricket in 2002 was a three match ODI series against New Zealand, which saw three heavy defeats, two by more than 200 runs. The following year they hosted the 2003 IWCC Trophy, the inaugural edition of what is now the World Cup Qualifier. They needed to finish in the top two to gain qualification for the 2005 World Cup, but could only manage third place.
Their next international engagement was the European Championship in 2005, finishing in fourth place. 2006 saw a two match ODI series against Ireland, which they lost 2–0. The year did see some good news for them though, as the ICC announced that the top ten women's teams would have Test and ODI status. Their third-place finish in the IWCC Trophy in 2003, meant that the Dutch were included in this top ten. In February 2008 the Dutch women retained their test status for another four years by reaching the semi-final of the Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

Squad

The Netherlands squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier was as follows:

World Cup">Women's Cricket World Cup">World Cup

In the 2019 Netherlands Women's Quadrangular Series, the Netherlands finished in last place, losing five matches and having one washed out.

Records and Statistics

International Match Summary — Netherlands Women

Women's Test cricket

Women's Test record versus other nations
Records complete to Women's Test #130. Last updated 31 July 2007.

Women's One-Day International

Most ODI runs for Netherlands Women
PlayerRunsAverageCareer span
Pauline te Beest136122.311990-2008
Caroline Salomons89420.311995-2011
Helmien Rambaldo72315.711998-2011
Nicola Payne63118.021988-1998
Maartje Köster53915.401995-2007

Most ODI wickets for Netherlands Women
PlayerWicketsAverageCareer span
Caroline Salomons3718.671995-2011
Sandra Kottman3125.541991-2003
Caroline de Fouw2625.301991-2008
Cheraldine Oudolf2530.281995-2009
Ariette van Noortwijk2419.331989-1997

WODI record versus other nations
Records complete to WODI #802. Last updated 24 November 2011.

Women's T20I cricket

Most WT20I runs for Netherlands Women
PlayerRunsAverageCareer span
Sterre Kalis55637.062018-2019
Denise van Deventer30719.182008-2019
Miranda Veringmeier23116.502008-2019
Heather Siegers21016.152018-2019
Babette de Leede19017.272018-2019

Most WT20I wickets for Netherlands Women
PlayerWicketsAverageCareer span
Heather Siegers1816.552018-2019
Iris Zwilling1323.152019-2019
Caroline de Lange929.112019-2019
Silver Siegers936.882018-2019
Annemijn van Beuge815.622019-2019

WT20I record versus other nations
Records complete to WT20I #757. Last updated 7 September 2019.

Lists of players