Club kleuren

Tonny Steel

Flamingo since 2017

Friday evenings in the summer teem with young cricketers on the field of HCC. For Tonny Staal it is also the place where his enthusiasm for the sport was born. "At the Koninklijke Haagsche you played football in the winter and cricket in the summer. I loved starting in the vac, the Friday night competition. At a fairly young age I realised that I was better in cricket than football."

Young in the first

Tonny was soon challenged through selections for teams with boys who were older. "I was always moved up to higher age groups. At one point it became normal that I already participated in the second at 15 and then took the step to the first. That didn't say much to me at the time, but it's nice to think back to it."

Captain HCC

And in the former, he quickly became one of the defining players: building up early in an innings, the captaincy fell naturally into his lap. 'I always find it difficult to name best performances, but I am very proud of two things that I have achieved in my career as a cricketer: captaincy of HCC gives me a lot of satisfaction and I am also very proud of my debut for the Orange in 2019. That's something no one can take away from me. I still remember very well how I felt when I received the news by email and saw my name in the selection. At first, I thought I was in the mailing by accident, but when I saw my name on the list, I had to sit down to read the entire mail again. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget."

South Africa

Tonny was already regularly playing with The Flamingos when he was invited to a winter in South Africa at the Gary Kirsten Academy in 2018. "That trip brought a lot of good to my cricket and I am very grateful for that. After that I went on the legendary England tour that gave me many beautiful memories which I can enjoy remembering with my fellow birds for years to come. For example, I can still very well remember how Daan Vierling made his first run on day five of the tour, and then left for a run or three later. That was really enjoyable. The wide of Bas de Leede, who bowled a ball next to the pitch which was then thrown back by the gully on field 2, has also stayed with me."

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