World Cup: 'Semis is our goal, but won't be a failure if we don't get there'

Having qualified for the ODI World Cup after 12 years, the Netherlands are not going to settle for anything less than a semifinal finish.

The team's star-all-rounder Bas de Leede, whose father Tim played three World Cups for Netherlands, made that abundantly clear going into the tournament opener against Pakistan in Hyderabad on Friday.

Having finished ahead of West Indies and Ireland in the Qualifiers in July, the only associate nation in the World Cup is expected to cause a few upsets in the nine leagues games it will get to play.

Asked whether the team would be better off playing with a nothing-to-lose approach than crumbling under its own expectations, Bas said the squad members have only to gain from the experience.

“Probably a mixture of both. I don't think any of the teams have got anything to lose. They've got something to gain, which is winning the World Cup. For us, obviously it's special being back for the first time since 2011, but we've set our goal high which is making the semifinal and I don't think if we don't make it, we're a failure or anything like that.

“If we don't make it, but we have played our best cricket, we can still be proud of ourselves. But by setting the goal to make the semi-final, we can probably do more than what people expect from us.

“So yeah, I think it's a mixture of having nothing to lose, but also trying to perform at our best again after 12 years,” said the 23-year-old who is one of the few full time cricketers in the squad.

Cricket will be broadcast live in Netherlands for the first time in four years and Bas is excited about that.

“I don't think making the semifinals would be a big role in the development of cricket in the country. We're here and that is already big. Maybe being live broadcasted in Holland for the first time in four years, that cricket is going to be on national television, which is great news, and it's stuff like that and that's massive for the country,” he said.

Bas had played a big role in the World Cup Qualifiers in July. The team has not played since then but came to India well in advance and had a week long camp in Alur. Netherlands lost to Karnataka in practice games before the World Cup warm-ups in Trivandrum and Guwahati were rained off.

Talking about the lack of game time and the overall preparation for the event, he said: “We obviously don't get to play together as a team very often because guys are spread out. But I think the learnings we can take from Karnataka was, first of all, it was nice to play together as a team and try and adapt to Indian conditions.

“It's one thing training in Indian conditions, but then another thing going out and playing and seeing what it's like in a game, so for us it was a nice introduction to Indian conditions and trying to find out what works for us as a team.

“And then you know lack of game time. It was a shame that the warm-up games got rained off. But I think in the nets, we try and replicate game scenarios and try and be as competitive as we can when bowling to each other, when facing each other,” said Bas.

Did he get any advice from his experienced father before he left for India?

“Not too much, actually. The one thing he said was enjoy it. So, that's off the field but also on the field, taking a moment sometimes during the game to sort of soak up what's happening.

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“On the cricketing front, he takes care of the small things. He's always been kind of letting me go free and try and play my own game and not be too involved. So, I chatted to him about his memories from World Cups, which is a nice thing. But other than that, not much,” he added.