Hans Mulder, the manager of the Netherlands cricket team. - Adrian frater

Adrian Frater, News Editor

western bureau

It would appear that local cricket saw no real value in watching the Netherlands team as only a handful of supporters turned out for their 2007 ICC World Cup warm-up game against India at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium, yesterday.

However, for the burly Hans Mulder, the manager of the Dutch team, the small turnout was neither surprising or disappointing as according to him, the bulk of the supporters of his team will be in St.. Kitts, where the team will compete in Group A alongside Australia, Scotland, South Africa and New Zealand.

Privileged

"Most of our supporters will be heading to St. Kitts, where we are based for the tournament," said Mulder, who is expecting some 200 Dutch fans to travel to the Caribbean. "It is quite expensive and quite difficult to come to Jamaica and then to go back to St. Kitts so most of them will just go straight to St. Kitts."

Although this year's World Cup is the Netherlands' fourth, Mulder said they still feel privileged to be playing against the top cricketing nations. He also said he was also relishing the prospect of doing very well against Australia and South Africa.

"We hope to come out of the tournament with at least one win," said Mulder. "We are hoping for good performances against South Africa and Australia to show that we can be competitive."

For Pamella Mulder, the coach's daughter, her visit to the Carib-bean is the fulfilment of a long-standing dream. According to her, she has been following cricket all her life and she has always had a healthy respect for West Indies cricket.

"It is so nice to be here, the atmosphere is fantastic and the people are really friendly," said Ms. Mulder, who thinks the experience will be of tremendous value to the younger players on the Netherlands team.

Wonderful place

"I think that outside of cricket, this is just a wonderful place to be," said Ms. Mulder. "I would like to come back as a tourist one day. It is absolutely beautiful here."

Insofar as the Netherlands' chances of doing well in the tournament, Ms Mulder said in restricting India to 300 runs for nine wickets off 50 overs was an indication of what the team is capable of doing, considering that India are one of the top teams in world cricket.

"I think our guys will do just fine," said Mulder. "I am expecting a lot from them because we are now a fairly established team at this level."

However, for local cricket fan John Grant, one of the few

local fans, who watched the Netherlands in action against India, he said he saw nothing of real merit in the Dutch team.

"They are really no better than some of our local club teams...I am only here today because I won a ticket to the game," said Grant. "I would be very surprised if they win a game when the real World Cup starts."