Chevrons’ rival to miss stars in WC qualifier

COLIN ACKERMANN, Fred Klaassen, Paul van Meekeren and Roelof van der Merwe are not part of Netherlands' squad for the ODI World Cup Qualifier slated for June-July in Zimbabwe due to their county commitments.

Fast bowlers Brandon Glover and Timm van der Gugten are also not in the 16-member squad whereas allrounder Bas de Leede, who had qualified as a local to be on a two-year contract with Durham from February, has been named in the squad since his clause in the deal allows him to take part in the Qualifier.

Even though counties have to allow their players to play for their Associate teams in ICC events, players and boards understand that they cannot enforce that protocol as it could result in some players losing their county deals.

In an interview last year, Klaasen had termed this a "tricky situation" since the county deals provide the players financial security.

Logan van Beek, Clayton Floyd and Saqib Zulfiqar are also back in the squad, while 19-year old Michael Levitt has earned a call-up.

"Coming off the back of a three game series in Zimbabwe a few months ago, we have been really intentional in our preparation for the qualifiers and we are confident the squad we have picked can play a brand of cricket that will be successful in these conditions," captain Scott Edwards said.

"We have a good mixture of experienced players along with some exciting young players who have performed well in the domestic Pro Series and club season leading into this tournament."

Netherlands will play against Zimbabwe, USA, Nepal and West Indies from Group A on June 20, 22, 24 and 26, respectively.

Group B has Sri Lanka, Ireland, Scotland, Oman and UAE.

The top three from each group will then advance to the Super Sixes stage, where they will only play the sides they did not meet in the group stage.

The top two teams from the Super Sixes will qualify for the World Cup, to be held in India in October and November this year.

Netherlands gained some valuable experience in Zimbabwe prior to the Qualifier, when they toured South Africa and Zimbabwe in March.

They lost 2-0 to South Africa in the three-match ODIs and suffered 2-1 defeat to Zimbabwe.

Squad: Scott Edwards (captain, wk), Max O' Dowd, Logan van Beek, Vikramjit Singh, Aryan Dutt, Vivian Kingma, Bas de Leede, Noah Croes, Ryan Klein, Teja Nidamanuru, Wesley Barresi, Shariz Ahmad, Clayton Floyd, Michael Levitt, Saqib Zulfiqar.— Cricinfo.