Ryan ten Doeschate took call not to play final game before retirement – Ryan Campbell

Max O’Dowd praises “great servant to Dutch cricket” as Netherlands bow out of T20 World Cup

ten Doeschate, 41, announced earlier this year that he would retire from professional cricket at the end of the tournament. He made a first-ball duck against Ireland in Netherlands’ opening game and was not required with the bat in their defeat to Namibia, but was a surprise omission from the playing XI in their crushing defeat against Sri Lanka.

Max O’Dowd, the top-order batter, said after the game that the decision had been made “behind closed doors” and that “everyone was content with it” but declined to go into detail. Campbell later responded to a tweet questioning his omission by saying: “It was his decision.”

“He’s been a great servant to Dutch cricket and Associate cricket in general,” O’Dowd said. “The numbers he’s put up are pretty amazing. To have a guy like that around is phenomenal for young guys, just to learn off him. He gives plenty of wisdom and I’m sure he will do [the same] when he takes to a coaching role at some stage.”

ten Doeschate said in a KNCB statement: “It has always been a privilege to represent the Netherlands. It’s been a tough tour to finish on but it’s been a pleasure to be a part of the efforts again.

“The professionalism and dedication that this team and support staff have shown has been inspirational. I’m grateful to the players, coaches and everyone involved with the KNCB for allowing me to have enjoyed some of the spectacular highs of international cricket.”

O’Dowd, who was run out in the first over of Netherlands’ innings of 44 all out – the second-lowest total in men’s T20 World Cup history – described the performance as “pretty catastrophic” and “embarrassing”, and voiced his frustrations at the paucity of warm-up games the team had played leading into the tournament.

“It’s not the Dutch team I know, to roll over like that,” he said. “I’m just extremely disappointed because I know we’re so much better than that, and to do that on a big stage is even more disappointing.

“[Their spinners] were just too good for us today. You can’t go back and play across the line on a wicket like that. It’s not something we face very often. These boys are extremely skilled and [Wanindu] Hasaranga put it on a spot and got it going both ways so you don’t know what’s coming.”

Campbell had claimed in the build-up to the tournament that this was the strongest Netherlands squad ever assembled, with a number of experienced county cricketers in the side. But asked whether their preparation had been good enough, O’Dowd said that playing three warm-up games – against Oman, Scotland, and a hastily-arranged fixture against New Zealand – was not enough.

“The question is ‘what preparation?’ We’ve had three games leading into the biggest event of our lives… our preparation has been very slim. That’s extremely disappointing and we’re going to have to look back at that and see why we’ve done that.

“I’m sure there’s some sort of implications with Covid that have led to that decision, but I know for a fact you can’t go through three warm-up games into the biggest tournament like this and expect to perform.

“That doesn’t take away from the way we played because we were poor over three games. We just couldn’t put it together. But I do think that comes with preparation games. I remember the 2019 qualifiers, we played 12 warm-up games, we lost I think 11, won one and then we won the qualifiers. That just shows if you can have a bit of time to figure something out, come that first game you know it’s a big stage, you get firing, and you can’t just do that off three warm-up games.”