Netherlands' two-day competition dead in the water

Cricket Europe has reported that the Netherlands’ attempts to introduce a two-day competition appear to be all but dead in the water as a result of a marked lack of enthusiasm and a problem finding suitable dates.

The announcement of matches at home to Canada in July may well be the final nail in the coffin as far as this season is concerned, and there is a growing feeling that it might not be resurrected in 2010.

“So inadequate has been the KNCB’s promotion of the proposed new competition that there were already rumours that many players were going to decline to take part anyway,” wrote Rod Lyall. “But the truth is that this experiment has not been given a fair chance, and it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the will to make it work simply did not exist.”

The Dutch board hardly helped their own project, and one of the most controversial ideas was to have compulsory declarations after 65 overs in the first innings, something critics claimed made the two-day games effectively two one-day matches.