Bas de Leede hopes for ‘bigger nation’ status

Two upset wins in the ongoing World Cup under their belt minnows Netherlands have now called for ICCrsquos attention for ldquobigger nationrdquo status batting allrounder Bas de Leede has saidThe Dutch who are the only associate nation in the World Cup first produced the biggest stunner of the global showpiece defeating South Africa by 38 runs in DharamsalaAlso ReadItrsquos quite a labour partyOn Saturday defending a modest 229 the Dutch bowled out Bangladesh for 142 for yet another upset result this time by a handsome 87run marginldquoEvery win we get is going to be big for us and for cricket in the Netherlands We want to inspire young kids to take up the gamerdquo De Leede told reporters in the postmatch interaction at Eden Gardens hereldquoAnd we also want to try and get the ICCrsquos attention to start looking at us as a potentially bigger nation in the coming years So definitely every win helpsrdquoIt is however unclear whether the Dutchmanrsquos demand for a Test status for the country and more exposure will be entertained by the world bodyDomestic structure the keyDomestic cricket structure is one of the major criteria in awarding a country Test status and the Dutch cricketers mostly play country cricket for exposureTheir chances of making the semifinals however appear slim as they have to win all their three remaining matches and hope for favourable results from other teamsThe Netherlands who have four points from six matches will next take on Afghanistan in Lucknow on November 3 before facing the struggling defending champions England in Pune on November 8 They will conclude their campaign against hosts India in Bangalore on November 12ldquoIt depends how other teams do how big our chances are for the semifinal But for us the goal is to keep winning as many games as we canrdquo De Leede saidldquoTherersquore a couple of games where we havenrsquot played our best but then again today we did And if we can do that again for the next three games who knows where we will finishrdquolsquoNot an easy pitchrsquoldquoIt was a tricky pitch and wasnrsquot the easiest track to bat on It wasnrsquot easy to score runs And us having runs on the board I think it was very clear what we needed to do With the pacers it being a little bit up and down spin staying a bit lowrdquo De Leede said ldquoI donrsquot think it was the easiest pitch to bat So a little bit surprisedrdquo he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever