Van der Merwe, de Leede return to Netherlands squad for T20 World Cup

Scott Edwards will lead Netherlands at the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup. The squad has a host of changes from the one that played the T20I series against Bangladesh in August-September, Netherlands' last T20I assignment.

Roelof van der Merwe, Bas de Leede, Michael Levitt, and Zach Lion-Cachet mark their returns, having last played in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Region Final, the event that preceded Netherlands' tour of Bangladesh.

Colin Ackermann, the 34-year-old allrounder who last played a T20I in November 2024, is also back. He scored 304 runs in 14 games for Durham in the 2025 Vitality Blast. Timm van der Gugten, also 34 and returning to T20Is for the first time since 2024, also finds a spot. He, too, played in the Blast and took six wickets in ten games.

Logan van Beek, the medium-fast pacer, last played for Netherlands in July 2024 during the previous T20 World Cup. He makes his return after having been part of the Super Smash, New Zealand's domestic T20 competition, where took five wickets in seven games for Wellington.

Kyle Klein and Noah Croes, the back-up wicketkeeping option to Edwards, have not played a T20 World Cup game so far in their careers.

Teja Nidamanuru, Tim Pringle and Vikramjit Singh are notable absentees from the squad. All three were part of the squad for the Bangladesh T20Is along with Cedric de Lange, Sikander Zulfiqar, Sebastiaan Braat, Daniel Doram, Shariz Ahmad and Ryan Klein, who all miss out.

Ryan Cook is the head coach of the team and Ryan van Niekerk and Heino Kuhn are the assistant coaches.

Netherlands are in Group A alongside Pakistan (whom they will face on February 7 in Colombo), Namibia (February 10 in Delhi), USA (February 13 in Chennai), and India (February 18 in Ahmedabad).

Scott Edwards (capt & wk), Noah Croes (wk), Max O'Dowd, Saqib Zulfiqar, Aryan Dutt, Kyle Klein, Paul van Meekeren, Fred Klaassen, Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede, Michael Levitt, Zach Lion-Cachet, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Timm van der Gugten.