Netherlands’ camp was unusually quiet when they left Hyderabad after that knife-edge finish against Pakistan. Paul van Meekeren summed it up bluntly: “Pakistan did not really win the match, but rather the Netherlands lost it themselves.” Forty-eight hours on, the squad is in Delhi, trying to make sure that a bruising night stays where it belongs – in the past.
“Yes, it was naturally a very disappointing result for us,” Colin Ackermann admitted on Monday, a day before facing Namibia. “But the nature of this tournament is that the games come thick and fast. So we’ve parked that. Part of the DNA of this Netherlands team is that we take ownership of our performances and our roles, and we learn from past experiences.”
It helps when the message is reinforced the moment players step off the coach. Ackermann recalled Ryan Cook’s words: “The past is the past. There’s nothing we can do about it and we must look forward to the next game against Namibia.”
The bare facts
• Pakistan needed 29 from the last two overs with three wickets in hand.
• Faheem Ashraf, dropped by Max O’Dowd at long-off, then plundered 20 off six balls.
• Pakistan scraped home; Ashraf collected Player of the Match.
No witch-hunt
Ackermann dismissed the idea that one mistake decided everything. “No, there hasn’t been extra fielding practice,” he said when asked if O’Dowd had been hauled in for remedial drills. “Max is good. There were obviously many other moments in the game where we could have done better. If we look at the last five overs of our batting, if we had added another 15-20 runs, that could have been the difference. There are around 240 moments in a T20 game, so we need to be better in those other moments as well.”
Those final overs with the bat – 30 runs for four wickets – gnaw at the side more than the dropped catch. Ackermann spelt it out: “I think we were on track for a total of around 170 after the 15-over mark. We had only lost three or four wickets for about 125 runs. It just didn’t happen for us on the day. One of the strengths of this team is that we have quite a few allrounders who can bat deep. So I think that game was a bit of an outlier. We spoke about it in the batting meeting this morning, and we’ll look to rectify it in the coming games.”
Mind matters
For the first time at a global tournament the Dutch have a performance psychologist travelling with them. Tom Dawson-Squibb has been a regular presence in team huddles and one-to-ones.
“Tom has been a great addition to the coaching staff,” Ackermann said. “He works with us off the field to help us get the best out of ourselves. We’ve developed a technique where each of us has two words that mean a lot to us out in the middle. Those words are printed on the inside of our playing shirts. So whenever you’re in doubt or lacking clarity, you can look at them. He’s worked with us in that reg”
(The sentence trailed off as Ackermann’s attention switched to a tactic board being wheeled into the room – a small, very human moment that hinted at how hectic these World Cup days can be.)
Looking ahead
Namibia may not offer the same pace battery as Pakistan, yet they are savvy on slower surfaces. Balanced wickets, as Anil Kumble pointed out on broadcast duty, “give the rest a fight”. Netherlands know this. They also know that a win keeps them in the quarter-final conversation; another stumble makes the climb steeper.
There is confidence, not bluster. The players talked openly about what went wrong, ticked off a few fixes, and tried to keep the mood light during a short fielding and optional nets session at Feroz Shah Kotla. Expect minor tactical tweaks rather than sweeping changes – perhaps Logan van Beek sliding up the order, or Tim Pringle operating earlier with the new ball.
If the Dutch are to stay alive in Group B, they must turn lessons into runs and catches tomorrow. As Ackermann put it while packing away his batting gloves, the challenge is simple: park the hurt, play the cricket.
