How tulips are bringing the Netherlands team together

Fifteen big, strong Dutchmen walked into a room to find 15 paddles waiting for them. This is the part of the movie where the screen fades to black.

"They were painted in orange and had the Dutch flag," Logan van Beek said on Thursday. He was talking about a team-building exercise in the Netherlands camp for the ODI World Cup qualifiers in 2023.

"On one side, we wrote our name and then on the other side, we wrote what we're going to bring to this team. So for me, my word was 'battle' and at some point during the tournament, you had to present your paddle to the team."

On June 26, after 374 played 374 in regular time, van Beek added another 30 in the Super Over against West Indies. Still not done, he took the ball and defended the runs by picking up 2 for 8.

"The day that we played against the West Indies, when I had one of the good days on the cricket field, I presented the paddle. The day that Bas [de Leede] got his five-for and hundred against Scotland to qualify for the World Cup, he presented his paddle that day as well.

"So there was a nice synergy when guys actually followed through on what they said they were going to do. And when you, I guess, create this buy-in and commitment to, or how you're going to bring your energy or your value to this team? When you buy into that, it's surprising how it can give you a bit of magic."

Sport is fun, but it can also be taxing. People try to eliminate this downside when kids are involved and don't keep score. When the results don't matter, everyone can just run around and have a great time. Professional teams participating in ICC events don't quite have that luxury. Here, results matter and getting on the right side of them requires practice and sacrifice.

That goes double for Associate nations because the only time they really break through the apathy is at world events, and the irony is that all year long, they play at a level well below what they face at these things. Somehow, they have to find ways to be better than the best version of themselves. Head coach Ryan Cook and the rest of the coaching staff understood this challenge and have come up with so many ways to rouse their players.

Row the boat at the 2023 ODI World Cup qualifiers became sail the ship at the tournament proper. Now it's tulips.

"You go to the Netherlands, you go to the tulip farms and it's a beautiful, beautiful thing to see," van Beek said. "The unique thing about a tulip is that there are 15 different varieties and we've obviously got a squad of 15 guys. And you know, it's all about the care that you put into the soil, the care you put into the maintenance of, and the preparation of a flower, and at some point, you want it to bloom. And we're now in the blooming season when it comes to the World Cup.

"Quite often, sport is quite monotonous. At times, it can be boring in terms of training. You've got to train your skill over and over and over and over again to get it right for the game. And so what theming does for a team is it creates a bit of energy around what we're doing. A bit of excitement. You know, something to connect with.

"It just makes the whole experience so... regardless of results, you can kind of look back and go, 'Well, there was a lot of fun that we had throughout that tournament.' So it's amazing."

If only they can find a way to inspire the locals back home. "We actually were in a discussion last night around dinner," van Beek said, "and you know, Dutch people are traditionally quite tall, and there's a lot of hockey played.

"So we're thinking, physically and traditionally, Dutch people could make some brilliant fast bowlers. And then when it comes to batting, they have these amazing wrists for sweep shots and reverse sweeps.

"I've seen a lot of hockey as well and a lot of that skill comes out of hockey. So there would be a lot of skilled individuals that, if they were exposed to cricket, they would pick that up quite naturally and if you get a six-foot-five-tall Dutchman running in similar to Paul van Meekeren…There's a lot of guys who are physically perfect for cricket, and skill-wise as well.

"The tough thing is that the mentality in Holland is that football and hockey are king. And it's really hard to draw people away from those sports and say, 'hey, come play a cricket game' and no one's really watching your cricket game. Whereas when club hockey is being played, thousands of people are watching. So they're gonna look at you and go, 'Well, this is ridiculous.'"

There's a chance more people in India will be watching them play on Friday than in the Netherlands. Match tickets start from INR 250 (Euro 2.32), which is about the same as a movie ticket in Chennai.

"If I could take them to India and bring them to a cricket match and see the opportunities that are presented here, then maybe they'd change their mind," van Beek said. "But I think there's a lot of untapped potential within Holland. It's just trying, how we attract those guys and girls who could be really good in cricket."

Last month, Netherlands Women booked their place at the T20 World Cup for the first time. The men's team was in the middle of practice at the CSK academy at the time and dropped everything to follow their breakthrough moment. De Leede's cousin, Babette, captains them. Wonder what theme they'll be going with.

"That's gonna be massive for Dutch cricket as a whole," van Beek said. "It means that we're moving in the right direction."