Allrounder Bas de Leede helped the Dutch reach the 50-over showcase in India, where they are not just willing to make up the numbers. Their campaign begins against Pakistan on October 6 in Hyderabad
Netherlands allrounder Bas de Leede is setting his sights on the semi-finals as the team heads into their first men's Cricket World Cup campaign for 12 years.
The 23-year-old stole the headlines with a player of the match display in the World Cup Qualifier against Scotland when he struck 123 and took 5 for 52 to secure their place.
The Dutch kick off their tournament on October 6 against Pakistan in Hyderabad and though they cleared a significant hurdle to progress - the only associate side to do so since the tournament was reduced to 10 nations - there is no feeling they travel to India to make up the numbers.
"Our goal is to make the semi-finals," de Leede told Wisden. "Whether other people think that's realistic or not, they can have their opinion. If we play our best cricket, we have a chance of beating teams and hopefully, we will find ourselves in a position to qualify for the semis."
Netherlands are not looking to make up the numbers in India (ICC)
It is the first time the Netherlands have qualified for the World Cup in a dozen years and the achievement has not been lost on de Leede, the son of former captain Tim de Leede, who represented the country at the 1996, 2007 and 2011 editions.
He said: "It's massive for such a small cricketing country to play in a 10-team World Cup. When you think about it like that, that we're one of just 10 teams to make it, it makes qualifying even more special.
He added: "It's a niche sport in the Netherlands. There is no getting away from that fact. We have only 6,500 people registered to play in the country. But when we qualified the media got much more interested in us. We have the potential to grow a lot, but we need money.
"If we put a couple of decent performances together at the World Cup, interest will get much bigger."
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