Netherlands’ front-line fast bowler on his CPL stint, working odd jobs between tournaments, and coming into his second World Cup a different bowler
Deivarayan Muthu17-Oct-20214:10
van Meekeren: ‘Every time we come to the UAE, the wickets are a bit different’
Paul van Meekeren recently became the first Netherlands player to feature in the CPL, and he went on to win the title with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. The 28-year-old fast bowler recounts his CPL experience, talks up Netherlands’ seam attack, and looks ahead to his second World Cup.What was it like to be the first-ever Dutch player to be picked in the CPL?
The CPL deal was sorted before I hit my form in the Royal London Cup. I had a message from Evan Speechley, who is the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Netherlands physio. He reached out to me because Malo [Malolan Rangarajan, RCB’s head of scouting and Patriots’ assistant coach] was scouting. Malo asked me if I was available, and Dwayne Bravo also said, “I want you to join the team because I need an opening bowler.” Apparently I’d made an impression during the Global T20 Canada for him to ask me, which I wasn’t aware of at all! Hopefully, I can come back and defend the title with St Kitts.Related
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What were the major takeaways from your CPL stint?
I think I took a lot of confidence away from it, that I can compete and belong at that level, and really contribute and play those tournaments. Some of the tactics and fields that were being set were interesting and something that I definitely want to experiment with in the warm-up games before the T20 World Cup.The whole brand of cricket in the West Indies was something I’ve never seen before, which is quite funny. It is almost just about hitting fours and sixes – that’s the feeling I got from it – and not being scared of getting out. It’s sixth gear from the start, which was very interesting.As a bowler it was the kind of pressure I’ve never had to deal with before. Every now and then on the county scene I might bowl to someone like Alex Hales, Jason Roy. But you also [mostly have] players in county cricket who pace the innings and start rotating the strike and run hard. Then, as a bowler, you feel like you can build a bit of pressure, but in the CPL it’s guys trying to hit you for six every single ball.
“I ended up doing food delivery because you can just open the app and start working. I didn’t want to be stuck working in a restaurant where, if I got a phone call saying ‘Come and train with us tomorrow’, I can’t tell them ‘I have a job'”
How did you deal with the pressure of bowling to elite hitters like Andre Russell? You also bounced him out in one game.
I think Russell is a special case (). I got him out in the first game against Jamaica and then I bowled an over to him and I went for 24-25 in another. I guess it was one-all. But Russell and probably [Kieron] Pollard, when they’re – which nine out of ten times they are – there are no words that I can find to describe the amount of pressure that you are under. If you miss by an inch, you go for six. They hit the ball so clean and so far.I definitely didn’t perform under pressure in that one over I bowled to Russell, but there’s a lot of guys [like him]. It’s not a one-off thing; these guys do it year in and year out. Every tournament they’ve got three, four games where they just take down guys for 20-plus runs an over and that’s a game-changer.You were with Bravo in the Winnipeg Hawks, who won the 2019 Global T20 Canada. How influential was Bravo’s leadership to the Patriots winning the CPL this season?
I think he’s just one of those captains that believes in his players. From day one he says, “We’re going to win this tournament and you’re here for a reason, because I believe in you and the coaching staff believe in you. We’ve got players that match up against certain opposition and that’s how the team was built as well.” I feel the guys he believed in had something that the other team would struggle against, and he probably made all those match-ups in his head.That was unbelievable to see, the knowledge and the way he reads the game, like keeping a slip in for 15 overs or getting a short leg in when I was bowling and there was a bit of extra bounce.I’ve seen things that I’ve never seen before. In the first game, I didn’t have a mid-on at one stage and I was hit through mid-on, but I’ve never had a field in T20 cricket where there was no mid-on. You saw this as well with some of the other captains: against Pollard sometimes when guys bowl yorkers, there’s a fielder straight behind the bowler. Some of those fields were unbelievable.”In county cricket, as a bowler you feel like you can build a bit of pressure, but in the CPL it’s guys trying to hit you for six every single ball”•Robert Brooks/CPL T20/ Getty ImagesYou’ve played county cricket in the UK, apart from the CPL and Canada stints. Has experiencing different cultures helped you grow as a person as well?
Definitely. You’ve got people coming from different places in the world, which is different to your life. That’s one of the beauties about cricket – it’s so diverse in where it’s being played around the world. I think it makes you a better person and you learn about other people’s lives and their ways of living, which I really, really enjoy. You will never stop learning and never stop being a better version of yourself. Hopefully, in the next few years I get the opportunity to travel a bit more and keep developing as a person and a player.How did you get your nickname, “Smiler”?
Actually, it’s not a nickname used in the Dutch team here. I think it happened at Somerset, where we have a very loyal fan base. There was a group of three, four members at Somerset who were die-hard fans, coming for the first team, second team games, and they came up with “the Smiler”. In one of the first meetings with St Kitts I said, “I’m called the Smiler and if you’re ever down, you can come and see me and hopefully I bring a smile to your face.”I’m lucky enough to do what I do, especially coming from an amateur country when I was growing up. There was no money in the game but it has changed for the better and we are now more professional. I get to travel around the world, play cricket and get paid for it. How can you not smile and be happy? You’ve got to appreciate what you’ve got and enjoy it, which I’ve been doing over the last five, six years.Last winter, when Covid-19 struck, you worked with Uber Eats and Deliveroo to support yourself financially. How did you cope with all of that uncertainty?
I was looking for something to pay my bills at the end of the day. Unfortunately, I don’t live in Holland, so I can’t get a KNCB [Dutch cricket board] contract – you have to live there to get one. I lost my county contract, so I didn’t have any finance coming in out of cricket. So I wanted to look for opportunities. If clubs and counties are allowed to get players from outside to train indoors, I wanted to be available. So I ended up doing Uber and Deliveroo, because you can just open the app, press start and start working. I didn’t want to be stuck working in a restaurant or in a bar where, if you get a phone call saying, “Come and train with us tomorrow,” I can’t tell them, ‘I have a job.’
Should’ve been playing cricket today now I’m delivering Uber eats to get through the winter months!! Funny how things change hahaha keep smiling people https://t.co/kwVEIo6We9
— Paul van Meekeren (@paulvanmeekeren) November 15, 2020