For Netherlands, one dream comes true and another is born

After qualifying for the women's T20 World Cup for the first time, Netherlands want to leave an impression and also ensure direct qualification for the next edition

Vishal Dikshit

Published: Jun 17, 2026, 5:15 AM (1 hr ago)

Does one dream give birth to another? A reference to Inception, and also a question Netherlands will ask themselves and answer in the affirmative.

If India fulfilled their dreams by lifting their maiden ODI World Cup trophy last year, Netherlands have taken inspiration from Harmanpreet Kaur & Co to make it to this T20 World Cup. And they might, in turn, inspire women across the world to come to the World Cup one day. Importantly for Netherlands, they got here through the qualifying tournament at the start of the year, and took down Scotland and Thailand, who have played the World Cup in the past, to achieve their dream.

"It was their dream collectively to qualify for a World Cup," Netherlands' Scottish head coach Neil MacRae said on Tuesday ahead of their fixture against India in Leeds. "I think, in that sense, just by being the other inspiration to every female cricketer on the planet - that anything can happen and you can follow your dreams and they can come true. But now that we're here, we actually want to put on some performances and those sacrifices bring them together as a group.

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"They know each other when they look each other in the eye that they've had to make huge sacrifices to get to this point. And the spirit of being a Dutch cricketer and the passion that they've had to show to pull together and go on this journey will allow them to compete in this tournament. We saw that in the first game against Bangladesh and you'll see it again tomorrow [against India]."

MacRae called the game against India "an unbelievable opportunity".

Netherlands started their World Cup journey by giving Bangladesh a scare in Birmingham, but the occasion weighed "quite heavily" on the players. For the India game, MacRae expected his players to "relax" and play with the "freedom" that brought them to the world stage.

"Even though we know India's a strong side, we're coming here to win the game tomorrow," he said. "I think we have to be aware that at this level of cricket and against a strong Indian team we have to play our best cricket and attack and be brave enough to do that. I thought we did play some good cricket [against Bangladesh] - I thought we fielded well in the first game. But now, having got the emotion and the feeling of the first World Cup match out of our system, I think now we really have to just relax and play with the real passion that the Dutch team has and that's what's brought us to this point and really show our skills and take the Indian side on."

Netherlands couldn't have asked for a tougher next two games: after India, they face Australia on Saturday.

It was a distant dream for them some months ago when all their focus, all their resources, and all their energy was being channelled towards the one goal of qualifying for the T20 World Cup. Their next goal is already in the making now: the next T20 World Cup, in 2028.

"Coming into this first tournament, to really simplify it, the goal all through the last 12 months was just to qualify for this tournament," MacRae said. "Now, having achieved that, a simple goal was just to win our first ever T20 World Cup match. We also have a goal to finish in the top eight of this tournament, which would automatically qualify us for the next World Cup. And obviously we want enough wins on the board to try to make the semi-finals.

"But, I think realistically now, having played that first game, the opportunity to play a side as big as India on the world stage is itself a standalone event, which would create history by being able to take on a team like India and achieve a result.

"Now India are in a position in this group where they know Australia and South Africa coming in as top seeds, only two of them can go to the semi-finals. So it's not just about us in this game. India know that they can't afford any slip-ups. And we think that when we come to this match, having played our first game, we're ready to take them on."

Coming to this tournament meant so much for this team and the support staff that MacRae, who was initially supposed to leave the team after the qualifiers, extended his stay until the main competition. After the T20 World Cup, MacRae will return to coaching the Jersey men's team, with whom he spent ten years before joining the Netherlands women's team in January 2024.

"Yeah, when we qualified for the World Cup in the qualifier in Nepal coming into the start of February, it was a goal that we'd worked on as a squad and with the KNC board for a two-year period and that project, when that came through in Nepal and we had the World Cup to look forward to, we decided it would be best to keep the continuity of the support staff to give the players the best opportunity for this tournament," he said. "Fortunately that's all worked out and we're delighted to be here. We've been together as a really close group, building tournament by tournament to reach this stage and now we're just focussing on what gives the players the best chance to play tomorrow."

Like any other Associate team, especially in the women's game, the players have made sacrifices in terms of "time and money" to find ways to train and prep for this tournament while cutting down their time with friends and family, MacRae said. They are not taking anything for granted; they are fully aware and committed to making the most out of this opportunity, he said.

And if they can achieve the next dream they have birthed - qualifying for the next edition - it might be just the fillip women's cricket in their country needs. And then the next dream can take shape.

Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

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