The second edition of the ICC Women’s Emerging Nations Trophy begins in the United Arab Emirates on November 12, with the Netherlands placed in Group B alongside Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand and Zimbabwe in a ten-team field.
Ahead of the tournament, Netherlands captain Babette de Leede spoke to RevSportz about her side’s preparations and about the lessons carried over from their maiden ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in England earlier this year.
Fine-tuning in the UAE
The Dutch squad is already in the UAE and has been playing practice matches. De Leede said the extra days are being used to settle the details of the team’s plans.
“It’s great to be here. By the time the tournament starts, we’ll be ready. We’re just fine-tuning the last few details, such as the batting order and who is going to bat where. It’s really good to have these extra couple of days to prepare, train and play some warm-up games,” she told RevSportz.
Opening against defending champions Thailand
The Netherlands start their campaign against defending champions Thailand on the opening day. Thailand recently featured in the Women’s Asia Cup and the Asian Games, and De Leede is expecting a close contest.
“It’s always a really good challenge,” she said. “We beat them in the global qualifier in January, and the games against them are always very close. I do think we’ve had a World Cup, while they’ve had the Asian Games. Both are really good experiences, but the conditions here in the UAE are also very different. So, we’ll see who can adapt and adjust better. We always look forward to playing them.”
Hungry for another chance against Bangladesh and Pakistan
The Netherlands lost all their group-stage matches at the World Cup, but De Leede believes the team had opportunities to beat both Bangladesh and Pakistan and is eager to face them again in the UAE.
“It was really cool to play against some of your idols in big stadiums across England. We had a lot of our family and friends over because England is so close to the Netherlands. So, the whole experience was great,” she said. “But we did lose against Bangladesh and Pakistan, games that we could have won. So, we are very hungry for another chance to play against them and beat them this time.”
“Definitely, the loss against Bangladesh hurts. I think our last game was also against Pakistan. We were chasing 127, a target we should have been able to reach. So, I think we had a really good chance of beating them in both games. Because it was our first time, we were very overwhelmed and didn’t quite get things right. But I think we’ve trained very hard since then. We are hungry and eager for the opportunity to beat them this time,” she added.
Dressing-room moments and a milestone
Reflecting on the World Cup, De Leede recalled India inviting the Netherlands players into their dressing room, and praise from Australia’s Sophie Molineux after her half-century against the eventual champions.
“It was very special to be invited into the Indian dressing room and meet all of them,” De Leede said. “They were very friendly, and we had some really good chats. Australia’s captain, Sophie Molineux, was also very nice to me. It was my 100th T20I, and I scored a half-century in that game. She was very impressed and said ‘well played’ about five times. So, that was also very special.”
“And, of course, playing against South Africa was special because I play against a lot of the girls from South Africa and know them quite well. So, there are good bonds on the field.”
Learning from the best, and WPL hopes
De Leede scored half-centuries against Bangladesh and Australia, and said the World Cup showed that the Netherlands can compete at that level.
“It was very special to score runs against the best team in the world. I think it also showed the world that the Netherlands can compete at this level, even though we didn’t win or come close to chasing down the target,” she said.
“But at least we were able to put ourselves out there and gain some exposure. I think we would have hoped that franchise teams might take a look at us as well, especially in the WPL, where Associate players can feature and have an advantage.”
“Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened yet. But it’s always amazing to play against the best teams in the world and measure yourself against them. It’s also an opportunity to learn from them: how they approach the game, how many slower balls they bowl, how many variations they use, where they score their runs and how hard they hit the ball. We learned a lot, both as a team and individually.”
Why the Emerging Nations Trophy matters
De Leede highlighted the value of the tournament for Associate teams and said she hopes to see it staged in the 50-over format in future.
“It’s great that the ICC organises this tournament, especially for Associate countries,” she said. “We don’t get to play a lot of games, so it’s great to have these opportunities to face some really good opponents as well. I hope to see a 50-over edition in the future because it’s great to play against better teams or, I should say, higher-ranked teams. We can’t wait for the tournament to start.”
