Tom Cooper makes comeback to Netherlands ODI squad for series against England

AMSTERDAM: Veteran batter Tom Cooper has made a comeback to the Netherlands ODI squad ahead of their three-match series against reigning 50-over World Cup winners England in Amstelveen.

Cooper, 35, has made 41 appearances for the Netherlands across ODI and T20I cricket and was part of their squad for the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2014 and 2016 T20 World Cups.

In 32 ODIs, Cooper scored 976 runs at an average of 48.80 but has not been involved in the set-up since the most recent of those tournaments. But Cooper hadn't been part of the Netherlands set-up ever since the 2016 T20 World Cup ended, plying his trade mostly for South Australia in Australian domestic cricket and had a lukewarm 2021/22 Big Bash League for Brisbane Heat.

"We are very pleased with the arrival of Tom Cooper, who brings with him a huge amount of experience. The knowledge and experience, but also the mentoring role that Tom will have within the young Dutch national team, is of great value. Tom is available for the rest of the international fixtures," said Roland Lefebvre, the High-Performance Manager of the Netherlands.

Apart from Cooper, uncapped teenaged left-arm spinner Tim Pringle, who has played for New Zealand's Under-19s, has also been named in the ODI squad. He is the son of Chris Pringle, a former New Zealand pacer with 64 ODIs and 14 Tests to his name. The Netherlands put some competitive performances in the ODI series against the West Indies but ended up losing the series 3-0.

But skipper Pieter Seelaar is looking at the positives from matches against the West Indies and hopes for the side to continue the progress and development against an Eoin Morgan-led side. The Netherlands are currently 13th on the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League table while England have a chance to eye the number one spot in the standings.

"After a very competitive series against the West Indies, we take on the reigning world champions England, taking a lot of positives from the matches against the West Indies into the upcoming Series. In saying that, there are also areas we need to improve in order to be as competitive against England," stated Seelaar.

The three-match ODI series will be held entirely at the VRA Cricket Ground in Amstelveen on June 17, 19 and 22.

Squad: Pieter Seelaar (captain), Scott Edwards (wicketkeeper), Musa Ahmad, Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek, Philippe Boissevain, Tom Cooper, Aryan Dutt, Clayton Floyd, Vivian Kingma, Fred Klaassen, Ryan Klein, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O'Dowd, Tim Pringle, Vikramjit Singh and Shane Snater