Borren calls time on Netherlands career

Netherlands captain Peter Borren, 34, has retired from international cricket with immediate effect. Pieter Seelaar, the 30-year old left-arm spinner, will take over the captaincy. Jeroen Smits, the former Netherlands wicketkeeper, has been appointed the new team manager.

The Royal Dutch Cricket Association (KNCB) paid tribute via a press release issued on Wednesday evening. Though Borren is only 34, the KNCB's press release said a "mutual decision" was reached between Borren and the selectors, with an eye towards building a squad for the 2020 World T20 and 2023 World Cup.


Peter Borren
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@dutchiepdb
 It has been my absolute privilege to play and lead this team and I'm so proud of what we have achieved.  I've feel very lucky indeed. Cricket in orange has been my life. I will miss it so much.  I have so many great memories. Go well boys!#metamorphosis

12:21 AM - Apr 19, 2018
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Borren had been captain since July 2010, when he took over the role from Smits. Among teams that currently have at least ODI status, the only players with longer ongoing captaincy reigns are Ireland's William Porterfield, and Nepal's Paras Khadka.

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Borren last featured for Netherlands in the World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe in March, where he could manage just 52 runs in six innings and passed double-figures just once. Netherlands won just once in the group stage, failing to reach the Super Sixes, before bouncing back with two wins over Hong Kong and Nepal in the playoffs to finish seventh.

Born in New Zealand, Borren was the leading wicket-taker for the country at the 2002 Under-19 World Cup, where he played alongside Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Neil Broom, Rob Nicol and Michael Bates. Three months after the tournament, he began his first season in the Dutch Hoofdklasse for VRA, eventually settling for good in his adopted homeland.

After completing the four-year residency requirement under ICC eligibility guidelines, Borren made his Netherlands debut against Denmark in June 2006, and his ODI debut a month later against Sri Lanka. He ended his career with a total of 58 ODIs and 43 T20Is across 12 years, making him the most capped player in both formats for Netherlands. He is one of just four Dutch batsmen to score 1000 runs in ODIs, and is their third highest wicket-taker in the format, behind Mudassar Bukhari and Ryan ten Doeschate. In T20Is, he in their third-highest scorer with 638 runs at 19.33, just 24 behind current leader Wesley Barresi. Borren's replacement as captain, Seelaar, debuted in 2006, the same year as Borren, and has represented Netherlands in 37 ODIs and 39 T20Is.

Borren played a huge part in Netherlands establishing themselves as a thorn in England's side at the World T20. His 30 off 25 balls in a 50-run stand alongside Tom de Grooth while chasing 163 propelled Netherlands to a famous win over England on the opening day of the 2009 tournament at Lord's. Under Borren's captaincy, Netherlands repeated the feat in Bangladesh in 2014, where they won by 45 runs in Chittagong.

But perhaps Borren's finest hour came earlier in the same tournament, in a stunning chase against Ireland. Needing to get 190 in 14.2 overs to pip Ireland on the net-run-rate tiebreaker for a Super 10 spot, Borren promoted himself to open, and produced an inspired effort, his 15-ball 31 setting the tone for a stirring victory.

That win was particularly meaningful as it came just two months after one of the biggest lows in Dutch cricket, when a loss to Kenya at the World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand resulted in the loss of ODI status, and broke their streak of three consecutive World Cup appearances. The sting of that defeat could have crippled Dutch cricket, with a reduction in ICC funding resulting in the downsizing of central contracts. Instead, it chastened them to work harder to climb back up the world rankings.



Borren was reduced to tears after Netherlands' triumph in the 2015-17 World Cricket League Championship in December: the conclusion of three years of hard work to reclaim ODI status, and a spot in the upcoming 13-team ODI league, beginning in 2020. It wound up being the emotional climax for Borren as a captain and player.

For all his on-field achievements, Borren was just as well-known for being outspoken in criticising ICC decision-making that resulted in reduced opportunities for Associate teams. It earned him admirers, not just in the Netherlands, but throughout the Associate cricket community.

The KNCB said of Borren: "Peter Borren has been of tremendous value to the Dutch team, leading the national side over the last nine years.

"He has seen the Netherlands team grow into a much more professional set-up resulting in winning the World Cricket League and qualifying for the ODI Championships in December 2017. With his inspirational leadership, Peter has played a more than important role in this success."

Smith, Warner sanctions will restore cricket's 'battered' image - Morgan

Eoin Morgan hopes the sanctions imposed on Steve Smith and David Warner will have served to restore the reputation of a game he feels has been "battered" in recent days.

Morgan, England's limited-overs captain, says he was "shocked" by the Australian players' attempt to alter the behaviour of the ball with sandpaper, insisting he had never experienced such a premediated plan in any team he has represented.

But while he accepted such behaviour could damage the reputation of the game, he felt the severity of Cricket Australia's punishments - on Warner and Smith especially - sent a firm message that such tactics will not be tolerated and could improve the way the game is played around the world.

"The sanctions imposed by Cricket Australia have shown how serious the actual mistake was, how seriously they are taking it and how seriously they regard the values, principles, spirit and laws of the game," Morgan said.

"For the last two weeks, the game has been battered. But I'd like to think that the balance [between the damage done to the game and the benefits brought by the suspensions] changed when the sanctions were imposed, because they were serious sanctions.

"It's one thing to say something is wrong. But to back it up with such a sanction says a huge amount. This isn't two of their worst players, either. It's two of their best. One is possibly one of their greatest ever.

"Naturally this will pull the leash [on the way Australia play]."

Morgan accepts there are some "grey areas" around the issue of ball-tampering. The use of sugary saliva, for example, has been prevalent for years (albeit with a distinction around whether mints and sweets are directly transferred to the ball), as has the practice of fielders returning the ball to the keeper on the bounce to scuff up one side. But, the way he sees it, Cricket Australia's actions have "gone a long way" to "saying none of it is acceptable".

"I was shocked there was a premeditated plan," he said. "I've never heard talk like that in a dressing room.

"Throwing the ball in, one bounce, is fine. But if you throw to the keeper from long-on or long-off, the umpires will monitor how often the ball hits the playing surface and tell you they'll change the ball if you do it again.

"Things have changed. The LED lights on the advertising hoardings around the ground have little bulbs that stick out and they can take a huge chunk out of the ball. We have forced our bowlers to chuck it to the umpires [after it hits the board] so they don't think we have done something to the ball.

"So, yes, there are grey areas but I think Cricket Australia have gone a long way to saying none of it is acceptable."

It might have been relevant that Morgan was talking at the 2018 launch of All Stars, the ECB initiative aimed at introducing a new generation to the game. Confronted by dozens of enthusiastic children aged between five and eight, Morgan and his fellow ambassadors (Michael Vaughan, Sarah Taylor and Isa Guha) might naturally have been keen to focus on the more family-friendly aspects of the game.


But Morgan, like so many in England cricket, was deeply impressed by the example of Brendon McCullum's New Zealand side at the 2015 World Cup, in particular. Seeing New Zealand play so effectively - they thrashed England so quickly in Wellington that the game ended before the lights were turned on for the day-night fixture - without resorting to any of the posturing or 'mental disintegration' that had started to become a feature of England's Test cricket in 2013 and 2014, made a big impression.

"I massively endorse the way New Zealand play the game," Morgan said. "Just look at the Test series in New Zealand. You have two fantastic ambassadors for the game - Joe Root and Kane Williamson - playing hard but enjoying the game. Nothing has come close to being controversial. And people have enjoyed watching it.

"You can talk about it [playing the right way] all the time, but living it and breathing it is a different thing. You have to recognise when it's veering too far the wrong way. And it doesn't stop you winning."

Parents wanting their children to take part in this year's All Stars sessions can register now via allstarscricket.co.uk .