Men's T20 World Cup: Dutch to prepare in South Africa against local teams

AMSTERDAM: Having qualified for next year's T20 World Cup, the Netherlands men's cricket team will prepare for the mega events by playing seven matches against local teams in South Africa in the New Year.

Of the seven challenging matches, five will be against SA20 teams followed by the last two against South African domestic team Lions.

The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup will be held on June 4–30, 2024.

"In the new year, seven challenging T20s in South Africa are immediately programmed for the Dutchmen in preparation for the T20 World Cup in June. The matches will be against SA20 bound teams, followed by the last two games against South Africa domestic team Lions," the Royal Dutch Cricket Federation informed.

The Dutch team will be led by Scott Edwards and will include regulars like Max O'Dowd, Shariz Ahmed and Paul van Meekeren.

However, Colin Ackermann, Logan van Beek, Fred Klaassen, Bas de Leede and Roelof van der Merwe are not available. Paceman Viv Kingma and left-arm spinner Daniel Doram are included in the squad.

The squad:

Scott Edwards (captain), Shariz Ahmad, Wesley Barresi, Noah Croes, Daniel Doram, Aryan Dutt, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Viv Kingma, Kyle Klein, Ryan Klein, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O'Dowd, Vikram Singh, Saqib Zulfiqar.

T20 fixtures:

4-1-24: Sunrisers

6-1-24: Sunrisers

7-1-24: Paarl Royals

8-1-24: MI Cape Town

9-1-24: Paarl Royals

12-1-24: DP World Lions

13-1-24: DP World Lions