Netherlands Name Women's Emerging Nations Trophy Squad, Babette de Leede to Lead

The Netherlands women's national team has announced its squad for the ICC Women's Emerging Nations Trophy 2026, to be hosted in the United Arab Emirates and starting on November 12. Babette de Leede will lead the side. The official release from the ICC frames the selection around two ideas: recent form over the past few months, and continuity carried forward from the T20 World Cup. It also describes the Netherlands as fielding a 'full-strength squad' for the tournament.

That is where the first problem begins. The released information does not include the full list of players, the total size of the squad, or the roles of the players — batters, bowlers, wicketkeepers. What is available is the name of the captain, a reference to two changes, and the fact that the bulk of the group has been retained from the T20 World Cup side. In any squad announcement, the roster is the primary payload. Without it, this report is cut off from its most important component.

A team built around its captain

Babette de Leede is the only player named in an explicit leadership role. She is a familiar figure in Dutch women's cricket, and under her captaincy the side has made rapid progress in recent years — particularly in the T20 format, where the Netherlands qualified for a World Cup for the first time. Notably, the announcement makes no mention of de Leede's role as a batter or wicketkeeper, so where she will bat in the order is not clear at this stage.

The two names that raise a question: van Koolwijk and Landheer

Alongside the captain, only two names surface in the release — Carlijn van Koolwijk and Hannah Landheer. Both are mentioned in the context of differing from the T20 World Cup squad. But there is a significant ambiguity here: it is not clear whether these two players were not part of the World Cup squad and have now been added, or whether they are the two who have been left out. The wording of the announcement allows for both readings, and until the names are cross-checked against the original T20 World Cup squad list, settling on one conclusion would not be correct. Similarly, it is not established whether the squad contains 14 or 15 players, or how many wicketkeepers and all-rounders it includes.

A drawn ODI series against Scotland

Explaining the basis of selection, the announcement refers to an ODI series played earlier this year against the Scotland women's team, which finished level at 1-1. For a squad announcement, this is a reasonable frame: recent results show the team is competitive and was not beaten by a wide margin. Drawing a series against a side like Scotland is not a weak credential.

But the limits of that reference are equally clear. The release gives no dates, no venues, no series name and no match order. It is also unclear under what circumstances the series was played — whether Scotland fielded a full-strength side, or whether the matches were played in the Netherlands. A drawn series is being presented as evidence of form while the detail behind it is absent. It creates atmosphere rather than providing proof.

The format confusion

There is another thing the announcement never states: what is the format of the Emerging Nations Trophy? Is it a T20 tournament or a 50-over one? The released information does not say.

This matters more because the form reference is to an ODI series. If the tournament is to be played in T20 format, then how far a 50-over series is a valid gauge of readiness is a fair question. It is entirely possible that the tournament is itself a 50-over event and the reference is perfectly appropriate — but the reader is not told, and that is the report's biggest structural weakness. Without a definitive answer, the apparent mismatch cannot be written up as a conclusion.

The credibility of a T20 World Cup appearance

The Netherlands' biggest achievement of the year was qualifying for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup, held in England and Wales, for the first time. That is a milestone in the team's history, and the announcement deliberately highlights it — because experience of playing in a global tournament is the strongest possible foundation of credibility for any emerging side.

Building on that experience, the release sends the message that the Netherlands is no longer merely a participating team but a competing one. The bulk of the group has been drawn from that same World Cup squad, presented as continuity — a group that has played together on a big stage and now wants to convert that experience into results.

Continuity versus 'full strength'

The most solid part of the announcement is this: the team is almost exactly the one that played the T20 World Cup, with two names excepted. In selection language, that signals stability — few changes, low risk, and a set of players already known to the coaching staff. For an event staged immediately after a major tournament, that is a practical strategy.

But continuity and 'full strength' are not the same thing. Nowhere does the release state who is injured, who made themselves unavailable, or why any player was left out. In other words, 'full strength' is an adjective, not an established fact. What is demonstrated is continuity; what is asserted is full strength. The gap between the two matters to the reader, because judgements of the team's prospects will rest on exactly this distinction.

Why is a World Cup side playing an Emerging Nations event?

Here is a question the announcement does not answer anywhere, and one that will occur to readers first: why is a team that has just played a T20 World Cup competing in an 'Emerging Nations' tournament?

What is the basis of eligibility — rankings, development status, or invitation? No explanation appears in the release. This is not a minor gap. For a reader who has watched the Netherlands at a World Cup, it looks like a contradiction. It should not be filled in by inference — the answer has to be confirmed from the ICC's tournament regulations or event page.

A broken timeline

The announcement says the tournament starts on November 12, but the available detail does not clearly attach a year — the title implies 2026. Likewise, the T20 World Cup is described as having taken place 'earlier this year', which is a relative anchor. No dates are given for the Scotland series either.

For a news report, this is a serious deficiency. The reader cannot tell whether the Scotland series came before or after the World Cup, nor how much time separated the two events. Without absolute dates, this announcement cannot be placed in any chronology. When the tournament ends, what the groups are, and which countries the Netherlands will face are all unavailable.

The wider context of Dutch women's cricket

There is a broader context to all of this. The Netherlands has never been a traditional powerhouse in women's cricket, any more than in the men's game. Over recent years the team has increased investment in both its domestic structure and its international calendar, and the reward was a first-ever qualification for the T20 World Cup.

Against that background, a tournament like the Emerging Nations Trophy carries added weight. Here the team is not merely gathering experience; it can legitimately be seen as a contender for the title. But to substantiate that claim, it is necessary to know which teams it will face — and that information is not in the release.

The bottom line

This Dutch announcement is reliable on its core facts: who the captain is, where and when the tournament takes place, and on what basis the squad was chosen are all clear. But it is incomplete: the roster is missing, there are no quotes from the captain or coach, the direction of the two changes is ambiguous, and the tournament format is not mentioned at all — even though an ODI series is cited as evidence of form.

A reader trying to understand the Netherlands' preparation currently has a framework, not a picture. The team looks settled, the captain is experienced, and World Cup experience is in the ranks — all of that is true. But before November 12, the questions demanding answers are these: who is in the full squad, in which direction did the two changes go, in what format will the tournament be played, and in what capacity is a team that has already played a World Cup entering this event.