Pressure and process: Van Beek and O’Dowd on how Dutch heads stay cool

By Daniel Beswick in Dallas

“Your anxiety levels are quite high,” Logan van Beek begins, reflecting on his first ball of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup as a harsh and humid Texas heat hit Grand Prairie Stadium on Tuesday.

“You just want to get your first ball on the pitch. The pressure and everything’s kind of fired up here.”

If you hadn't turned up, nor tuned in across the world, you would have never known the Dutch quick pinned Nepali opener Kushal Bhurtel in front lbw reading his reactions back.

Almost not bothering to turn around to watch Langton Rusere's decision, van Beek threw out the double fist pump, well aware of the wicket's magnitude. A second Powerplay victim, crippling a Nepali hitback, and silencing more or less a full house of Nepali fans who had already waited 10 years for their T20 World Cup moment.

Not shy in front of a camera, exuding the Out of this World mantra of this year's tournament, van Beek has brought that level of confidence into his game. From his record-breaking Super Over heroics at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualifier to put a dagger in West Indian hearts, to performances in victories over South Africa and Bangladesh in the 50-over tournament, there is a level of dependancy even as tensions rise.

Though even for someone so unflustered on the outside and free of inhibition, the fast-bowling all-rounder admits the stakes and scale of global events is enough for the butterflies to kick in.

“When you’re running in (to bowl), you’re almost not feeling yourself. You feel quite numb," he said.

“Everything just seems heightened. You feel like you have to kind of rush a little bit, and so it’s just trying to keep yourself present and grounded and just go, ‘OK, what do I need to do right now?’

“And that happened to me a couple of times, a couple of first balls in my second and third over (against Nepal), I just wasn't quite present enough because I was running from deep mid-wicket to get the top of my bowling mark.

“I was pretty tired. It got pretty hot there. And then my first ball, I just bowled a soft ball.”

Van Beek went on to claim 3/18, returning to remove opposing all-rounder Gulshan Jha (14) and Abinash Bohara in consecutive deliveries to tie up Nepal's innings on their final over dismissed for 106. Tim Pringle's 3/20 through the middle with his left-arm orthodox pipped van Beek to Player of the Match honours, and the collective effort in the field paved the way for Max O'Dowd's 54* (48) to steer the Dutch ship home.

While hard markers of the Dutch squad and staff will not call it a perfect performance by any means, there was a level of maturity from the group, cognisant of Nepal's threat in the field and the full house supporting Rohit Paudel's side.

A known aggressor at the top of the order, O'Dowd was more watchful to ensure the team in orange saw off the challenge.

“I don't think it was ever a case of it being an easy win," the opener reflected after the chase.

“I felt like I really had to think about what was best for the team in certain situations and you could see the pressure they were putting on.

“They put a lot of pressure on us and definitely didn't make it easy. But I'm just happy that we managed to get over the line.

There's a same, but different approach from O'Dowd to how he deals with the rigours of a World Cup match. Nonplussed by the crowd, once he walks out, the right-hander is only focused on what's happening within the boundary rope.

“We have nerves and stuff before the games. You see the crowd. It kind of builds up. But then once you step over that line, it's just another game of cricket, really," O'Dowd said.

"It's just I guess trusting the processes that I have and I feel like a lot of us guys are probably quite similar.

“And you try not to let it (anything on the outside) annoy you or get in your head. For me, I really love it."

The side have an impressive resume of wins against strong opposition at global events, with progress overseen previously by Ryan Campbell and interim Ryan van Niekerk, before the appointment of a third Ryan - Ryan Cook. From the Rowboat Mentality, to Sail the Ship, this time the Dutch are Stronger Together - a side that put together are world-beating, with a cameraderie making them better than the sum of their parts.

Van Beek and O'Dowd share similar sentiments on how the team evolves.

"We might not have the superstars, but we've got this bond that when we go on the field, we're completely playing for each other and we are stronger together. This is no one who really kind of stands out," van Beek continues.

"We don't have 15 fast bowlers and 15 spinners and 25 batters that are pushing the case. It's kind of the similar guys and that's great. They get an experience of the World Cups, but it's just the depth of players and the need to create that competition to greatness to make sure the guys are actually leveling up in their game."

O'Dowd in a similar vein harped on the performance levels of the 15, pushing each other to continue their progress.

“There's many little things that we need to do, whether that's fitness, whether that's extra fielding, extra batting, whatever it looks like," he said.

"It's just putting in the work and we've been doing that for the last year and a half I think leading into India, it's just continuing that.

"It probably comes down to consistency. Consistency in games, consistency in the way we play, the way we train and always just trying to get better (as a squad)."

Next up on the T20 World Cup 2024 journey is South Africa, and after battles in Adelaide and Dharamsala in the last two years, their meeting in New York has been circled by many in the calendar.

Unsurprisingly, van Beek is relishing in the environment.

"This past week just thinking 'We're in America, we're playing at T20 World Cup!' It's unbelievable," he said.

"And I think this is just the start for America.

"Now at a T20 World Cup, and I think this is the place to be, where people who have got money, the love sport, now they're getting a taste of it.

"I think this is only the beginning. I think the USA will be a team of the next five to 10 years that will be right up there.

"People will be coming out of the woodwork to play."