S.Engelbrecht, Van De Merwe surprise inclusions in Netherland's Squad for the ODI World Series

Roelof Van der Merwe, Colin Ackerman and Paul Van Meekeren have made a return to the Netherlands’ squad for the 2023 ODI World Series. These three had missed the World Series Qualifier in Zimbabwe earlier this year due to their nation’s cricket commitments. 

South-Africa born batter Sybran Engelbrecht is another notable inclusion in the 15 men squad. The counter attacking batter first came under the spotlight for his electrifying fielding for South Africa during the 2008 Under 19 World Series. He has made 58 List A appearances, registering 1275 runs at an average of 45.33 and a strike rate of 78.89, and featured in 54 first class games and 45 T20s. In 2016, he played his final competitive game for the South African domestic circuit. 

Mitchael Levitt, Vivian Kingma and Clayton are the three players who have left out from the World Series Qualifier squad, while Kyle Klein and Noah Croes were named as the travelling reserves. Tim Pringle will accompany the squad for the pre tournament camp, which is scheduled from September 19 to September 28. 

Left arm seamer Fred Klaassen did not make the final cut due to injury. 

Netherlands and Sri Lanka were the two teams to make it to the main event from the Qualifier tournament held in Zimbabwe in June-July. 

“Naturally, our planning and preparation for the World Series started soon after our qualification in Zimbabwe," said head coach Ryan Cook. "Having no bilateral fixtures after the qualifiers enabled us to plan for various scenarios for the duration of the summer. Over the past few months the players and staff have been hard at work with the full squad being very dedicated and detailed towards achieving our objective in the World Series.

"We have an exciting mixture of youth and experience and a unified, cohesive culture which allows those to express their best selves within the group."

Netherlands last competed in the 2011 edition of the ODI World Series. This will be their fifth time in the tournament

Netherlands squad for World Series:

Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Colin Ackermann, Shariz Ahmed, Wesley Barresi, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Ryan Klein, Bas de Leede, Paul van Meekeren, Roelof van der Merwe, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O'Dowd, Vikram Singh, Saqib Zulfiqar

Travelling reserves: Noah Croes, Kyle Klein