Bridgetown (Barbados), Feb 19 (IANS): The West Indies cricket team will embark on its maiden limited-overs bilateral tour of the Netherlands when they play a three-match One-day International (ODI) series in May-June this year at Amstelveen.
The ODI series will be a part of the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League, where seven spots are still up for grabs for automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup to be held in India. India, as hosts, have already qualified for the mega event.
The matches will be played between May 31 and June 4 at the VRA Cricket Ground in Amstelveen.
The two teams have earlier taken part in only multi-team series -- the first instance in the quadrangular series in 2007 that also included Scotland and Ireland, and the other being in the 2011 Men's Cricket World Cup. On both the occasions, West Indies emerged triumphant.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief executive officer Johnny Grave said on Saturday that the series will be played following the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
"We have been working closely with our colleagues at KNCB (Netherlands cricket association) to put together this series immediately after the IPL and we are happy to now be able to announce the match schedule. It's going to be exciting to tour the Netherlands for the first time. It is a short tour, but we expect great entertainment during what promises to be a wonderful week of quality cricket for the fans in The Netherlands."
KNCB high performance manager of, Roland Lefebvre said, "The KNCB is very excited to welcome the West Indies cricket team back to the Netherlands. The last time the team visited our country was in 1991, for two 55-over friendly matches, with the likes of Richards, Haynes, Ambrose, and Marshall present. These matches will be the second Cricket World Cup Super League home series for the Dutch team and we look forward to a great Caribbean style contest."