Nickname | Lionesses |
---|---|
Association | KNCB |
ICC status | Associate member (1966) |
ICC region | Europe |
Coach | Sean Trouw |
Captain | Esther de Lange |
First international | |
Netherlands vs. Australia (Haarlem; 22 May 1937) |
|
First Test | |
Netherlands vs. South Africa (Rotterdam; 28 July 2007) |
|
First ODI | |
Netherlands vs. New Zealand (Haarlem; 8 August 1984) |
|
First T20I | |
Netherlands vs. West Indies (Utrecht; 1 July 2008) |
|
World Cup | |
Appearances | 4 (first in 1988) |
Best result | Quarter-final (1997) |
World Cup Qualifier | |
Appearances | 3 (first in 2003) |
Best result | Third (2003) |
World Twenty20 Qualifier | |
Appearances | 2 (first in 2013) |
Best result | Fourth (2013) |
as of 5 December 2015 |
The Netherlands women's national cricket team, nicknamed the Lionesses, represents the Netherlands in international women's cricket. The team is organised by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond (KNCB), which has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1966.
A Dutch women's team first played an international match in 1937, when Australia toured on its way to play a series in England. The team regularly played fixtures against English club sides over the following decades, but it was not until the early 1980s that regular international competition commenced. The Netherlands made its One Day International (ODI) debut in 1984, against New Zealand, and made its World Cup debut at the 1988 edition of the tournament, in Australia. Considered a top-level team from the late 1980s through to the early 2000s, the Netherlands participated in four consecutive World Cups between 1988 and 2000, and made the quarter-finals of the 1997 event. Since 2000, the Dutch side has not qualified for either the World Cup or the World Twenty20, although it retained ODI status until the 2011 World Cup Qualifier. In 2007, the team played a one-off Test match against South Africa, joining Ireland as the only associate member of the ICC to play at that level.
The Netherlands took part in women's international cricket from its earliest years, as early as 1937 they hosted the Australians on the first leg of their first ever Women's Ashes tour, before visiting England late the same year.