Edwards hands over the Netherlands captaincy, and de Leede inherits the road to 2027

Scott Edwards waited until the Utrecht leg was over. The Netherlands had just lost to Namibia by six wickets on 31 July, closing out a run of World Cup League 2 matches at home, and Edwards told his team-mates in a video message that he was giving up the captaincy. Bas de Leede takes it on.

Edwards had the job for four years and 56 ODIs. He won 24 of them and lost 29, which sounds ordinary until you look at which ones the wins were.

The two best days happened in India

Edwards took over after the first ODI of England’s tour of the Netherlands in June 2022. His side went on to beat South Africa in Dharamsala and Bangladesh in Kolkata at the 2023 World Cup, two results that did more for Dutch cricket’s standing than any amount of League 2 points ever could. Before that he had led them past Zimbabwe and South Africa at the 2022 T20 World Cup.

That is the strange shape of an associate captaincy. The record says 24 wins from 56. The memory says Dharamsala.

Why he went now

The 29-year-old wicketkeeper-batter framed it as a playing decision rather than a resignation under pressure. He said the timing “feels right” for him and that he has “so much more to offer as a player”, which from a keeper who has been doing two jobs at once for four years is not hard to believe. He is not going anywhere. He is just going back to being one of eleven.

What de Leede brings

De Leede is 26 and a fast-bowling allrounder, and Dutch cricket has been building around him for a while. The innings that defines him came at Bulawayo on 6 July 2023, in the Super Six of the World Cup Qualifier, when the Netherlands had to chase 278 inside 44 overs to overhaul Scotland on net run rate and take the last ticket to India. He had already taken 5 for 52. Then he made 123 from 92 balls with seven fours and five sixes, and they got there with 43 balls to spare.

Scoring a hundred and taking a five-for in the same ODI has been done by a very short list of players. Doing it in a match that decides whether your country goes to a World Cup is its own category.

The job he has taken on

The Netherlands sit second in World Cup League 2 on 38 points from 32 matches, with 17 wins, behind the United States on 43. Fixtures against Oman and the UAE are still to come, and de Leede leads for those.

What is riding on them is the shape of the route to the 2027 World Cup. The top four in League 2 go straight into the World Cup Qualifier. The bottom four drop into the Qualifier Play-off alongside four teams from the Challenge League and have to fight their way back up, which is the position Nepal are looking at from sixth on 24 points after losing all four of their matches on this Dutch trip.

Edwards leaves with the Netherlands in the half of the table they want to be in. Keeping them there is now someone else’s problem, and de Leede has already had one afternoon where the whole qualification rested on him.

Stay across the road to the 2027 World Cup