AMSTELVEEN: It will be a mix of both youth and experience as England and the Netherlands face off in a historic first of three Dutch-based One-day Internationals under sunny skies predicted on Friday.

Newly-minted England white-ball coach Matthew Mott has two uncapped players in David Payne and Luke Wood as well as Brydon Carse, Philip Salt and Liam Livingstone (three ODIs each) in his squad, with all expected to be keen to impress the selectors ahead of India’s tour next month.

The Dutch too are set to field a team of relative rookies, propped up by experienced players like skipper Pieter Seelaar, who was part of the team that beat England in a historic T20 opening match win in 2009.

All eyes however will be on young rising stars such as Vikram Singh, who stacked an average of 49 runs in the recent three-match ODI series against the West Indies at home, quick-hitter Bas de Leede and high-economy wicket-taker Aryan Dutt.

Veteran Dutch-Australian batter Tom Cooper is back to play his first ODI in nine years, as well as the hard-hitting Max O’Dowd and county-contracted bowlers Shane Snater and Fred Klaasen expecting to steer the ship.

There is also plenty of experience under England one-day skipper Eoin Morgan, set to lead the charge at the scenic VRA cricket grounds at Amstelveen just outside Amsterdam.

The second and third ODIs will be staged at the dame venue on June 19 and 22.

The matches are taking place between the second and third Tests of England’s home series against New Zealand, meaning new Test skipper Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow are all unavailable.

Morgan will be backed by veterans Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and hard-hitters Jos Buttler and Jason Roy.

The England skipper said newcomers will have a chance to shine for the injury-hit world champions in the series against the Netherlands.

Several England bowlers are currently also injured, including World Cup winners Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, but Sam Curran is fit again following a stress fracture of the back.

With Lancashire’s Wood called up for the first time and Payne bidding for a debut having been in previous squads, there are five left-arm seamers in the squad (Curran, David Willey and Reece Topley are the others).

“With the injuries we’ve had in our bowling contingent over the last couple of months, it has really hit us hard,” Morgan told Sky Sports on Thursday.

“But that also presents opportunities for other guys and everybody here has played a role in some way or another.”

Morgan, who was a member of England teams beaten by the Netherlands in T20 Internationals in 2009 and 2014 is confident there will be no complacency.

“They’re extremely competitive,” said Morgan. “In the first one at Lord’s in mine and Adil Rashid’s T20 debuts, we didn’t deserve to win that game.

“We didn’t play well enough and we weren’t calm under pressure. The following game was a completely different set of circumstances with a completely different team.”

Dutch coach Ryan Campbell thinks the games against England is a huge opportunity for his youngsters to impress.

“My expectations are that we keep learning and bringing our A game,” Dutch head coach Campbell told AFP.

“For our youngsters to play these guys [England] in front of a big crowd will be a fantastic opportunity for all of them,” said Campbell, who is recovering from a life-threatening cardiac arrest in April.

“But as a coach I want to see this team winning big matches, not just competing,” said Campbell, who has handed the reigns for the series to caretaker coach Ryan Cook.There was no place for wicket-keeper/batsman Sam Billings, with Salt set to take Bairstow’s place at the top of the order alongside Roy and Buttler.

“I’m very excited to be coaching a strong squad for my first series in charge,” said Mott, previously in charge of Australia’s all-conquering women’s team.

“We have tremendous depth with a blend of youth and experience. We want to continue to play in an expressive style and let our players showcase their skills and firepower.”

Squads:

NETHERLANDS: Pieter Seelaar (captain), Scott Edwards (wicket-keeper), Musa Ahmad, Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek, Philippe Boissevain, Tom Cooper, Aryan Dutt, Clayton Floyd, Viv Kingma, Fred Klaassen, Ryan Klein, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O’Dowd, Tim Pringle, Vikramjit Singh, Shane Snater

ENGLAND: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler (wicket-keeper), Brydon Carse, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, David Payne, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, David Willey, Luke Wood.

Published in Dawn,June 17th, 2022