Heather Siegers promises a “positive brand of cricket" from the Dutch team

Ahead of the T20 World Cup Qualifiers, Women’s CricZone had an exclusive interview with the captain of the Netherlands team Heather Siegers. Here’s what she had to say:

“It is great to be part of the international scene and play against some great opponents. This can only be good for Dutch cricket and I strongly believe that the more exposure the game gets in the Netherlands, the bigger the sport will become. This is a huge step in the right direction for women’s cricket in the Netherlands.”

According to the skipper, the Netherlands, who are competing after a long period away from the game, is excited to return to the playing field and are eager to get stuck in. The fact that the team got an opportunity to play in England will help them adapt to the competitive environment of the Qualifiers.

In Siegers' words “we are excited to be playing again. We did play in the ECB county competition, so we have had some cricket.”

The Dutch team has put in eight months of preparation and expects stiff competition from their neighbours, Ireland and rising T20 side Bangladesh, as well as other teams of the associate nations. This will help showcase how far these teams have come.

Siegers expressed this in her interview saying “we are expecting the competition to be tough and to be a real exhibition of how well the associates have progressed.” Considering all the hard work the associate nations have done to improve, there are no doubts the Qualifiers will be entertaining to watch and a fitting prelude to what is to come in the T20 World Cup.

“We as a team just want to go out there and do our best and play a good positive brand of cricket and enjoy every minute of the tournament.” The skipper stressed how important it was to enjoy every second of playing in this tournament, of learning from other teams and developing. She believes that the opportunity to represent your country is something that should be relished and though it is important to enjoy the experience, it is equally important to focus fully on the task at hand and take it one game at a time.

What she expects from her team is “to play a good positive brand of cricket and take it one game at a time so as to maintain 100% focus on the tasks at hand.” When asked about her teams’ squad composition, Siegers said “we have a very young squad with a couple people with more experience. We are on a huge learning curve and we see this tournament as a great chance to gain more experience and progress as a team.”

Indeed the Qualifiers present a wonderful opportunity for teams to get some exposure in international cricket and are vital in increasing the popularity of the game in these countries.