Watching the steady rain, first from his hotel room and then from the dressing room at the Greenfield Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Logan van Beek felt a sense of deja vu. A year ago, on his last tour of India, the scenario had been similar: there were some frustratingly wet days.
There is one tiny difference, though.
At that time, he was playing for New Zealand-A, in the unofficial Test series against India-A, at Bengaluru and Hubballi, where, one recalls, he bowled a fine spell of swing. Now, he is one of the key players for the Netherlands at the World Cup.
Dominating a Super Over
He has played a significant role in helping the Dutch team catch the flight to India. It was his extraordinary show with both bat and ball in the Super Over against the West Indies that gave his team a vital victory in the World Cup Qualifier. He plundered 30 runs off Jason Holder — and almost apologised to him the next morning — before claiming both the West Indies wickets.
van Beek has a tendency to shine on the big stage. Last year, he took the first-ever hat-trick for the Netherlands in T20I cricket, against Hong Kong at Bulawayo. He is now playing on the biggest stage — the ODI World Cup, a dream of his since he was a little boy.
“I had a great conversation with my 10-year-old self the other night, and we talked about how cool it was that I’m here at a 50-over World Cup,” van Beek tells The Hindu at Thiruvananthapuram. “And little Logan, from 2000 and living in Christchurch, is very proud of me.”
So what would 10-year-old Logan tell him now?
“Lose the expectations,” says van Beek. “Enjoy the ride of your cricketing journey. You don’t have to be anywhere at a certain time. Yeah. Just go with the flow. Make sure every day you give yourself the best chance to succeed — that is body, mind, skill-wise. And just go with the flow.”
It wasn’t the Netherlands that little Logan wanted to play the World Cup for. It was New Zealand, the country he represented at the Under-19 basketball World Championship in 2009 and the Under-19 cricket World Cup the following year, both of which New Zealand hosted.
When paths cross
He met Holder during that tournament. Neither could have imagined that their paths would cross in the most dramatic fashion in Harare more than a decade later.
van Beek remembers clearly the match — and the over — that he will always be remembered for. West Indies, asked to bat at Harare in June, made 374 for six, thanks in no small measure to Nicholas Pooran’s 65-ball 104 not out. Teja Nidamanuru’s 111 off 76 balls, after coming in at No. 5, kept the Netherlands in the hunt.
When van Beek joined him in the 46th over, 50 were still required. But Nidamanuru was sent back by Holder in the same over.
van Beek then took over. Off the final ball, only one run was needed, but he fell to a diving catch by — who else — Holder off Alzarri Joseph. He had made 28 off 14 balls.
Redemption, however, was minutes away. He asked for it. The coach, Ryan Cook, obliged.
“I think it was just the calmness that I came off the field [with],” he recalls. “When I spoke to Ryan, I kind of looked him in the eye and I said, ‘Look, give me redemption’. I wanted to be in that moment. I wanted to finish the game. He looked back at me and said, ‘All right, away you go’. It was just a matter of who was going to come with me. You know, there are a number of other guys in the team who could have come in that moment. I think I just knew in myself that I was the man for that moment.”
After the game, he felt bad for the man who was at the receiving end of that moment.
“Jason is actually one of my good friends… we’ve played together for a long time,” says van Beek. “During that Under-19 World Cup he came to my home and met my family. So every time he comes back to New Zealand, we catch up and play a game of golf. So it was a little bit bittersweet, really, that he was the bowler.”
He texted Holder the following day. “I messaged him, saying, ‘Look, I’m feeling for you’,” says van Beek. “He replied with a wonderful message: ‘No, look, man, you’re the man. I’m so happy that it was you who did that to me’. It was very nice of him. He is a class individual.”
But Holder isn’t here for the World Cup. The West Indies didn’t qualify. Nor did Zimbabwe and Ireland.
All those Test-playing nations finished behind the Netherlands in the qualifying tournament. The Netherlands is the only ICC associate member to make it to cricket’s most prestigious tournament, qualifying for the first time since 2011.
Coffee with Steyn
“The 50-over World Cup is the pinnacle event, and I have been lucky enough to play four T20 World Cups,” says van Beek. “You can’t write the script, really, in terms of a 50-over World Cup in India. The love and the support and the praise, from the Indian community… and everyone at the hotels, you know, they are smiling, they are wishing us well. I was lucky that this morning I had a coffee with Dale Steyn. And we have got nine opportunities in the tournament.”
He is especially looking forward to the match against New Zealand. “I’ve got two or three of my best mates in that team, like Matt Henry, Tom Latham and Devon Conway,” he says. “And there is Rachin Ravindra. I would like to take their wickets. If I had to choose the top four wickets for me at this World Cup, they are the ones.”
van Beek was born in Christchurch but has a Dutch passport, because of his paternal grandparents. His grandfather Sammy Guillen played Test cricket for the West Indies and New Zealand.
“I am lucky that I could play for both New Zealand and the Netherlands,” says van Beek. “The dream was to play for New Zealand in the 50-over World Cup, but the fact is that I found a different way to make it happen.”
The Netherlands is lucky that van Beek found that way.
