Jeroen Smits

Flamingo since 1990

C Smits b Smits

There was something very special about it. Your father bowls his usual off spin and you sit behind the posts eagerly waiting for your prey. This happened to Jeroen Smits when he made his appearance in HCC I at the age of sixteen. The father-son cooperation was successful, because VOC-er Robert Lifmann was unable to cope with it and disappeared from the books as Jeroen's first main class victim. Smits considers it to be the real starting point of his cricket career.

That he can keep so well is also clear on the football field, at HVV he is between the posts and not behind the backs of his team. His age category contains names that later acquired great fame: Davy Bakker, Jacob-Jan Esmeijer, André van Troost and Feiko Kloppenburg, for example. "At one point it was clear to me that as a batsman and bowler I would not reach the highest peaks. Keeping was better for me. For example, at the age of sixteen I already trained with the KNCB senior selections. These included big names such as Flavian Aponso, Rupert Gomes, Nolan Clarke, Roland Lefebvre and Steven Lubbers, men whom I looked up to and in whose company, I traveled to New Zealand in 1988. Although I only participated in a practice game, I believe against the local fire brigade, it was still an educational experience. In 1992, I made my official debut against Somerset during a preparatory tour to England. "

Jack Russell

Jeroen's great example in those years was the English wicket-keeper Jack Russell. "Russell made wicket-keeping look simple. What I especially admired in him was that he was so close to the wicket of faster bowlers. That shows courage and quality. In the Netherlands I had (and have) great admiration for René Schoonheim, a great figure in the Dutch cricket world and a very loyal guy who, if he saw talent in you, would take you under his wing to train in some gym in Rotterdam, for example.”

At HCC, Jeroen succeeded Lex van der Gun, not only a good wicketkeeper, but also a more than creditable batsman. "In the end I played 406 games in HCC I also became the HCC player with the most international caps: 140. As captain of HCC I, I had a difficult start. During one of my early years, we lost the first eleven games. I must say that the noise that arose in association then did not go unnoticed and I certainly felt the pressure. Fortunately, our turnaround came against the VOC. We had to make about 160, at first sight not an impossible task, but when you suddenly find yourself at 88 for 8, 160 is very far away. At that point, the true spirit became proficient in me, and I produced 45 runs. We won and remained, after a strong final sprint, still in the main class. While we didn't win anything tangible, this was perhaps one of the most remarkable achievements of my career. "

Gary Kirsten

At HCC, Jeroen learned a lot from Wulf van Alkemade, Peter Entrop, Baldwin Poolman and, above all, Gary Kirsten. The South African was admittedly at the start of his later glorious career during his only year with HCC and was also not exceptionally successful as a player. He does indicate clearly the difference between practising cricket as a pleasant pastime and striving for the very highest level in the sport through hard dedication. "Gary Kirsten made you realize what it takes to get really good. He was an example to which you could pull yourself up to."

In 1992 Jeroen travelled to South Africa in the company of Reinout Scholte. They first stayed with Kenny Jackson and later moved into their own apartment. "I played there for Green Point Cricket Club in Cape Town, an association that played at the highest local level. In a way I was lucky there, because they were only allowed to line up two foreign players and there was an abundance of county cricketers who wanted to spend the harsh English winter in the pleasant African summer. I was fortunate that the wicketkeeper on duty did not seem so reliable, so I got a chance. That season I made the most victims of all the wicket keepers in our league. I recently heard that achievement is still listed there on a sign."

Sachin Tendulkar

At the international tournaments Jeroen was still doing very well. in 2003 he went to South Africa and Zimbabwe with two groups of seven country teams each. This meant that an associate member like the Netherlands is also assured of six matches. "I still think it's nice that we had a team all of boys who had their cricket roots in the Netherlands. Roland Lefebvre was captain and I also remember Luuk van Troost, Edgar Schiferli, Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk, Jacob-Jan Esmeijer, Tim de Leede, Bas Zuiderent and of course Feiko Kloppenburg and Henk Jan Mol with whom I went to South two months earlier.” 

“Our first match was against India on February 12th. The night before we sat together with white, frightened heads. Oh, if we all got out for twenty runs! What a shame that would be! But it was not too bad. It is true that Indian national idol Sachin Tendulkar made 52 before he fell victim to Tim de Leede and me but recognized cracks like Ganguly (8) and Sehwag (6) were neatly kept in check. The 204 runs that India put on the board seemed feasible, but only Daan van Bunge, judging by his 62 runs, kept his nerves under control (134 all out)."

The legendary Orange victory over Lord's on 5 June 2009 is of course also a highlight in Jeroen's career. Like him, many a Dutch cricket fan will have fond memories of this epic encounter that created moving scenes in the stands of Lords and a significant increase in turnover that night from London’s bars and restaurants.

Hagley Hall

Jeroen has been a Flamingos member since 1990. Under the captaincy of Wulf van Alkemade, he went on an illustrious tour to England. He played on the field of Hagley Hall and that of J.P. Getty and well remembers the qualifying matches he played with Tim de Leede, Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk and Marc Nota before they were allowed to join the Flamingos. "I saw beautiful fields, experienced a close mutual bond and enjoyed the wonderfully relaxed atmosphere. It didn't matter if you performed less well every now and then which was sometimes nice for a change. "