Tim de Leende

Flamingo since 1993

An international career of almost 20 years and a lifelong connection to the sport. Tim de Leede about his best memories (and he is not finished yet).

"Even if the Dutch national team came to play here in the street, I still wouldn't watch," Grandpa De Leede once said, clearly demonstrating his aversion to anything to do with sports. Luckily, Tim's mum and dad were sports fanatics, with a penchant for football, tennis and, above all, cricket. Initially at the Schiedam Excelsior ’20, but after the move to Voorburg it became the VCC, a small club that was humble in everything. The field, the accommodation around it, the players, it added up to no grand allure. There was, however, a great passion for the game which paid off hugely.

We were often happy that we had 11 men

At the age of six, Tim joined VCC, following in the footsteps of a neighbour. “I still remember my first game, with much bigger boys in general. I held two catches so didn't quite compete for ‘bacon and beans.’ In the years that followed, I developed into an all-rounder, but it was almost impossible. We were often happy that we had eleven men.”

At the age of eleven, Tim recorded a real feat. In an under 12 match against HBS, he was almost single-handedly responsible for the win. The team from The Hague came to 120 runs, after which Tim took control: 77 not out from a total of 121 for 1. His time in Dutch youth under 13 also went well. “During our tour through the Netherlands, where we slept very comfortably in the changing rooms, I made a century on two consecutive days, achievements that I was very proud of.”

At the age of thirteen, Tim was selected for the first of VCC and a year later he had secured a permanent place. The opposition was not overwhelming, think of HCC 3 and CCA, but the fun was no less. His star rose quickly, and he made his debut in the Dutch national team at the age of 21 in Dubai in 1989. That was immediately a memorable match, as it was played on a concrete wicket in the middle of the desert!

167 at Lord's against the MCC

Every cricketer has his finest hour and Tim's undoubtedly took place on September 10, 1996, at Lord's in the match between the MCC and The Flamingos. As he did not feel completely comfortable, he did not go in as fourth, as was initially intended, but at number 5. That did not slow his attacking appetite, because before he realized, he had already scored fifty runs. Since this was the time that cricket, the MMC's declaration (337 for 3) had been rather cowardly. Their secretary, Sir Roger Knight, just didn't like to lose. But in this case, he hadn't counted on the explosive ability of Tim, because it continued unabated. His 167 brought the Flamingos close to victory (304 all out). It was a pity that Tim went out in sight of the harbour, but that this was due to a spectacular, one-handed rearward catch at the boundary, and not because of a mistake, gilded the bitter pill a little.

Three World Cups

His international career ended in 2007. In the nearly 20 years that it lasted, he played in no fewer than three World Cup tournaments. The first, in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, was unforgettable. It is true that the Netherlands remained without a victory, but to play in countries where cricket is in everyone's blood, who would have wanted to miss that?

Tim also has fond memories of the battle for the World Cup in 2003 (South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya). The match against India is particularly etched in his memory. “On February 12, we played in Paarl against Sachin Tendulkar and his men. I took the wicket from ‘The little master’ and also outwitted Dravid Singh and Khan and won two more run outs. I was player of the match. The omens for this tournament were far from favourable. Although we had trained very hard, it certainly didn't work out in friendly games against Boland and Western Province. Fortunately, we had Bob Woolmer, high-performance manager for the associates, in our ranks. He made us face the facts in our preparation by saying that we would never be able to bat and bowl as well as the players of the test countries, but that by putting the emphasis on fitness and fielding we could go a long way. After our failures during the practice campaign, he spoke in the locker room. In his speech he referred to his time at Kent, which had a good team in those years, but won little. At a team meeting to find out about a leak, everyone was talking about 'we' this and 'we' that, until the physiotherapist, a former Marine, took the floor and said that it was not about 'we', but about ' I'. “Who the fuck are we?” hit like a bomb. In the wake of this ancient warrior, we were reminded by Bob that it concerns what "you" have been appointed to do and that you should never pass off your own responsibility. That worked!”

Special signature on the match ball

During the press conference after the game against India, most questions were of course directed to players like Tendulkar and Ganguly, so Tim could walk past the umpires' room in peace. They had a wonderful surprise for him though: the match ball. He had it nicely signed by Sachin. “I was interested in that, and more but the other Indian players had already left. They slept in the same hotel, so the next morning I looked for them in the lobby. Unfortunately, the birds had flown. Fortunately, I got a third option. A year later, the Videocon cup was played on VRA, with India, Pakistan and Australia as participants. During the tournament I received a phone call from physiotherapist Jeroen Coster: "Guess who I have here in my practice? Sachin Tendulkar!" The world-famous star turned out to be just an ordinary person and suffered from tennis elbow. He was at the right place with Jeroen, a specialist in the injury. When I heard that the patient would return the next day, I took my chance. Sachin turned out to be a very friendly man, averse to flash, who not only liked to sign balls and shirts, but also was an interesting conversation partner. Among other things, he talked about the enormous pressure that was on him in his cricket-crazy homeland. For example, after the match against the Netherlands - which had gone very poorly - he appeared on national television to calm the heated spirits. There was a match in Amstelveen against arch-rival Pakistan and it had to be won, otherwise something was wrong. India won.”

Staying at Pip Fitzherbert's estate

Tim's Flamingo connection during his active years was mainly established by Wulf van Alkemade. The first time he went on tour to England with him as captain, it was "last minute". On the eve of departure, Tim and Marc Nota, although not yet Flamingos, received a friendly but urgent request to complete the tour party. They were interested, so they quickly set course for Hoek van Holland. They stayed on the estate, in Pip Fitzherbert's castle in Staffordshire, where they were served breakfast in bed by two elderly ladies. Three more tours under Wulf's captaincy were to follow, each was more impressive than the others.

In 2016 Tim went to England as coach of a young and strong Flamingo’s team under the captaincy of Tom Heggelman. Games were played on Lynn Wilson's beautiful private field in Northamptonshire, where matches took place against the second XI of Northamptonshire and the academy of that county. Things went that way in 2018 as well. Interesting fact: lunches during the matches were prepared by Allan Lamb's wife and mother of the Curran twins, Tim and Sam. There were educational tours in which only strong opponents were played.

Tim finally: “Cricket will never let me go. I spend a lot of my time educating youth and of course I also follow the adventures of my son Bas. Hopefully the name De Leede will continue to resonate in the cricket world for a long time and will continue through him.”