C.R.P. Bakker in conversation with Ernst Vriens

The bowler who changed the statistics

It is hardly conceivable that anyone could personify The Hague more than Ernst Vriens. He lived for many years in the Benoordenhout, with a backyard adjacent to the Diepput, the official name of the Kon's site, HC & VV. There he broke records season after season as the famous off-spin bowler of HCC, the Dutch XI-tal and our Touring club.

But to speak to Ernst Vriens these days, you must go to Brabant. To the charming house in Ulvenhout, where he and his wife Em have lived for over 20 years. Almost hidden away from civilisation, along a country road with a forest on one side and a deep, spacious garden with a pond and extensive lawns where graceful birds and, sometimes a deer pass by. That's where our conversation took place.

Vicious off spin

Enthusiasm for cricket was inevitable. As a youngster, Ernst did not even have to cross the street to get to the fields of the Hague: a step through the garden was sufficient. There he saw celebrities from the heyday of HCC I and II at work. There he discovered almost automatically that bowling, and especially bowling with effect, was natural for him. There he caught the attention of A.M.J. de Beus, himself a gifted cricketer who first as a wicket keeper/batsman and later for years as a successful slow bowler/batsman represented the Netherlands in many international competitions.

De Beus was the first Dutchman to master the googly, a magical ball which he practiced for a very long time in the winter in the cage he had built in his garden in Wassenaar. Ernst also regularly practiced with De Beus and under his guidance developed his vicious off-spin into the dangerous weapon that was such a thorn in the side of so many opponents.

Gerrit van Osch, who later became football coach of HVV, also started to concentrate on cricket. Ernst and he practiced accuracy for hours in the official cage of the Diepput by aiming at coins or pictures on the mat. It made Ernst the player, that normal statisticians would hardly ever be able to get to grips with.

Sir Garfield Sobers

Were there batsmen that Ernst would rather not have bowled against? He mentions Wally van Weelde, the exuberant Marquis van Schiebroek who, first for ACC and later for VOC, was able to forcefully reduce almost every bowler in the Netherland, or elsewhere, to insignificant anonymity. To my surprise, Ernst didn't like to bowl on club mate Rob Borgers either, who was not known as a top performer. But as a tail batsman he was sometimes unabashedly able to be the "long handle". And Ernst says he suffered a lot from that.

The legendary West Indian lefthander Sir Garfield Sobers had wreaked so much havoc on Rood & Wit against the Netherlands (and particularly on Ernst) at the time, that it cost Ernst his place in the subsequent international match. Those who saw these innings of Sobers were amazed that one towering six after another did not do more damage to the trees along the Spanjaardslaan. Ernst doesn’t like to be reminded of it!

That Ernst also ranked me among the less attractive opponents may have to do with the fact that we often practiced together or played in the same team, so many of his specialties were known to me.

Players sometimes have a hard time with the captains of their team. But not Ernst. He always got on well with captains such as Leen Sillevis, Robbie Colthoff and later with Peter van Arkel. Teamwork with Colthoff as goalkeeper and Van Arkel as batsman are among his fondest experiences when willow wood swords were crossed with English and Danes. He also has especially amusing memories of teammates Paul Bouwman and Max Maas. With the latter, a tip-and-run anti-clockwise position was won at the end of an almost lost game against Denmark.

Successes on grass

Cricket on grass wickets in England during Flamingo Tours has always been a pleasure and a challenge for Ernst because of the varying states of the different pitches. He achieved considerable success in England on grass and was even asked to play for an English club for a season. He declined, as it would have thwarted his business career in the Netherlands.

Two hat-tricks in consecutive games

Ernst showed me albums of newspaper clippings and photos. It provided a comprehensive and impressive picture of his remarkable place as the leading wicket taker in our national league. Were there any highlights that stayed with him in particular?

Yes. Two hat-tricks in two consecutive games. Ten wickets, away in Amsterdam, against ACC. Quick - Haag out. The game was rapidly decided: Quick 82 - HCC 55. Ernst continues: We were not happy about that. There were still 88 minutes of playing time left. Let's take a chance. First, we bowled Quick in the forced second innings for 62, then just before the end, 90 for 5, we narrowly won! That would no longer be possible in our current competition schedule. And then I could not have taken 11 for 44 in one match.”

It may be certain that the cricketer Ernst Vriens was one of the most striking players we have had in our country. For that reason, many commercial doors would have been opened to him in England. Did that ever happen to him in the Netherlands? The answer turns out to be "yes". Ernst's appointment as Director of the Rotterdam Bank on Wassenaarseweg, in The Hague was a direct result of the initiative of a prominent banker who knew Ernst from the cricket world. And, later, after his active sporting career ended, he was regularly approached by relative strangers about his cricket achievements.

Ernst is brief about current cricket. He remotely monitors how competition matches are played nowadays with the number of overs limited to fifty, or in the Twenty/20 format. He doesn't like either. Nor is he interested in the input of paid players, and even less that foreigners could be qualified to play for the Dutch XI after just a few seasons.

But that's the way it is and under the circumstances he would find it difficult to formulate a well-founded message for the new generation of younger cricketers.

Finally, while preparing for our interview, I noticed that despite Ernst's fabulous track record, he had only been awarded the Cramer McLean Cup once. And that was due to an exceptional catch against Oxford University, for his undeniably sublime bowling. Does he have an opinion on that? Well, he was somewhat surprised, but had never really thought about it.

Time’s up. At the door, Ernst said that he had found it a unique experience to be interviewed at his age. But who in our cricket world could ever forget the height this unique slow bowler reached!