C.R.P. Bakker in conversation with Ruud Onstein

The man who scored the winning runs against Australia

The young people among us (recognize) know Mr R.F. Onstein down the line perhaps as a well-preserved older expert, with a calm demeanor. His contemporaries, on the other hand, know that this outward calm on the cricket pitch often turned into aggressive batting and surprising success with medium-pace bowling that didn't even seem so dangerous at first glance.

Because who are we going to interview? With Ruud Onstein: played 33 times for the Dutch XI-talent (when a two-day race was still considered one match), sporting cornerstone of Rood & Wit for many years, regular player for the Flamingos in the Netherlands and on foreign tours, winner of the Cramer McLean Cup in 1962 (for a high score against HCC when R&W, after years of rising, became champion of the Netherlands) and now tops our list of honorary members in seniority. Cheers!

Winning Australian Test Team

Even if only on the strength of one unforgettable blow, Ruud Onstein is inextricably linked to the Netherlands' first victory over the Australian Test Team on a packed HCC site in The Hague. On August 29, 1964, Onstein blasted the latter's fourth ball out of the field. Dutch television images show how a cheering crowd of supporters spontaneously ran onto the field!

The strong Australia had convincingly won the Test series against England that summer. The BBC opened the news in the evening with: Today cricket history has been created in Holland! And the Daily Telegraph drew a parallel with the origins of the Ashes, stating that this victory also killed the reputation of English cricket.

Was this a highlight in Ruud's career? Yes, actually, although an eventual national championship of Red & White competes with that. HCC's hegemony was broken at the time.

Has he also had lows?

Sure, several. But there are two that still hurt him. The first is a match experience: Red & White fought to stay in the big league and at a decisive moment Ruud, always a reliable fielder, missed an absolute sitter. After all, R&W managed to maintain their status, but he almost went through the same ground in shame on which he had dropped the ball.

A second low point was as a journalist (we will come back to this aspect of his activities later). The Dutch XI team competed against the Elephants, who were fully announced as a star team, who were absolutely unable to live up to this quality in practice. Ruud wrote that it was a shame, also referring to wasting sponsorship money. He has long remembered the criticism he received from all sides about his article.

Packer's Circus and Derek Underwood

Onstein attaches great importance to the fact that over the years he has played against so many greats of the cricket world himself and often got to know many of them better. In the foreground is Derek Underwood (Kent and England) who was one of the first to join controversial Australian media mogul Kerry Packer in the 1970s for a revolutionary and financially unprecedented private tournament. This was soon ironically labeled as Packer's Circus in conservative circles, but it was the beginning of a total overhaul into what became professional cricket shortly afterwards. After signing for Packer, Underwood, on the basis of friendship, was interviewed by Ruud Onstein for the NRC, a first that the writer is justifiably proud of.

He considers himself an all-rounder, a name that his former opponents can fully agree with with respect. Later in life he was more successful as a bowler. Would the experience of bowling grass wickets in England have made him smarter and more subtle? Probably. The shine stays on the ball longer on grass pitches than on a mat and with the help of this experience Ruud eventually mastered the art of swinging in two directions: inswingers and outswingers.

All sides of the field

During his long playing career (even at the age of 40, he once again played for Red & White in the Dutch big league) it was no matter who he had to bowl or bat against. Although there was considerable rivalry between Red & White and HCC and it is often hard in these duels. It is therefore difficult to erase from his memory how Gerrit van Laer once showed him all sides of the beautiful field on the Spanjaardslaan in a home game, in front of his own audience. Even worse – those who have played with or against Gerrit van Laer will probably be familiar with this – this massacre was accompanied by cheerful laughter and verbose humorous commentary from the batsman. Fortunately, it did not harm their later friendship.

Cricket in NRC newspaper

We already referred to journalism above. For several decades, Ruud Onstein has contributed significantly to publicizing and promoting our national as well as international cricket sport through media coverage (including radio and television). He cannot be blamed for the fact that nowadays hardly any noteworthy publications are made about cricket in the Netherlands, however disappointing this may be, especially now that we are becoming more and more involved in matches and tournaments in which all the major countries and emerging cricket nations participate.

There are some notorious reasons for this. For example: the current editors and commentators on sports programs know nothing about cricket (where are the specialists like Henrichs and Bouwens from the past?). Decades ago, the score of the competition matches was passed on during lunch and tea breaks. But a program like Langs de Lijn no longer does that if the final result cannot be included in the program. And that is unfortunately impossible. So in PR we keep missing the boat.

A conversation with someone like Ruud Onstein cannot be concluded without hearing his opinion about the spirit of contemporary cricket in the Netherlands and internationally. It is presumed that Ruud loves cricket immensely and therefore gladly embraces all new forms of the game, without looking back with nostalgia for aspects of the declaration game of yesteryear that have now been lost. It pleases him that the Flamingos still occasionally organize a competition with these original rules.

Before giving a message for the celebrating Flamingos, Ruud Onstein confesses that through cricket (he mentioned a renowned member of Rood & Wit as the initiator) he has completed his entire business career at a bank. Initially, he had planned to become a sports teacher. As a final word, Ruud Onstein would like to express his appreciation for the good and energetic work that is currently being undertaken by the Flamingos under Wulf van Alkemade, such as expanding the membership base and the intensive attention that is paid to youth education. This award comes from a veteran and honorary member who knows no better sport than cricket!