Cricket: Internationals take to Cobham

Dutch batsman Atse Buurman executes a pull shot in a game between the Netherlands national one day cricket team and a Northland selection at Whangarei's Cobham Oval yesterday. Photo/John Stone

Cobham Oval could become a popular venue for international cricket teams preparing for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

The Dutch cricket team is in Whangarei playing two warm-up games against Northland cricketers in the lead-up to World Cup qualifying matches in Mt Maunganui.

The Cricket World Cup is being held in New Zealand in 2015 and the "smaller' cricketing nations must go through the qualifying tournament to reach the main event.

"For us, this is a big deal and we want to keep doing more of this sort of thing," said Warren Marr, Northland Cricket general manager.

The Dutch will play Canada on January 10 and the United Arab Emirates on January 11 in the Mt Maunganui qualifier.

Ed Nierop, manager of the Dutch cricket team, is relaxed about his team's chances of qualifying for next year's Cup.

Mr Nierop said that there were only about 2500 cricketers in The Netherlands and the temperature there was currently less than 10C.

The cold weather meant that in winter players were limited to playing in one of six indoor stadiums with artificial pitches.

The warm-up match, featured first-class Northland players, but the Dutch players played on both sides of the 50 over games for added practice.

Entry to the warm-up cricket matches was free.

Meanwhile, the next international occasion for Cobham Oval is when the visiting Indian side plays a New Zealand XI in a two-day match on February 3-4 as a warm-up for the first test against the Black Caps the following weekend.