Dutch national coach Peter Cantrell and director of youth cricket Roland Lefebvre were already in agreement a year ago: important as the 2007 World Cup may be, the real goal for The Netherlands is the 2009 qualification tournament for the 2011 competition. Because with World Cup qualification comes continued access to the High Performance Programme, the right to stage full ODIs for another four years, and a more firmly established position within the non-Test elite nations.

Nor is the 2009 tournament, successor to the ICC Trophy, the only target in the KNCB’s sights. 2008 sees the next Under-19 World Cup, for which next year’s European Championship will serve as a qualifying tournament.

As the likely composition of the Dutch party for the West Indies next spring becomes more firmly established, therefore, it’s not too soon to be measuring progress towards these medium-term goals.

As with previous tournaments, the 2007 World Cup is likely to be the swan-song for several senior members of the Dutch squad: skipper Luuk van Troost, Tim de Leede, Billy Stelling and Darron Reekers are all pretty certain to have retired by the time the 2009 qualifying tournament comes around, and there may be questions about the long-term future of keeper Jeroen Smits.

So how fares it with the next generation, the players who aspire to join Bas Zuiderent, Daan van Bunge and Ryan ten Doeschate in the post-2007 Dutch side?

Cantrell’s selection policy so far has ensured that, provided they continue to deliver the goods, that team will contain a substantial group of players with a good deal of international experience: he has consistently picked young spinners Muhammad Kashif and Pieter Seelaar, while Alexei Kervezee (right) is clearly in a class of his own, as his innings in the first ODI against Sri Lanka amply demonstrated.

The international season which has just finished has also seen several further additions to this group: batsman Eric Szwarczynski, allrounder Peter Borren and seamer Mark Jonkman took advantage of the opportunities presented by the EurAsia Cup tournament in the Gulf and the friendly matches against Denmark and the MCC to stake their claim for a place in the senior squad, and all three are in the party to travel to South Africa at the end of November.

2006 has not so far been an unqualified success for two aspiring openers, with Tom de Grooth failing to find consistent form after participating in the ICC winter training camp last year and Maurits van Nierop missing much of the season with an ankle injury. There have in any case been few one-day opportunities for either, since the Dutch have tended to use Reekers in a pinch-hitting role, but the first-class game demands a stable opening partnership which has not yet evolved. Ironically, van Nierop’s presence in South Africa will be confined to the ODI series.

An outside contender for an opening slot is VOC’s Maarten van Ierschot, who made 490 runs in the Hoofdklasse this year at an average of 28.82, and was an integral part of the side’s formidable top four. Whether he is quite ready to move up a level is doubtful, but a really good start to the 2007 season could bring him into contention.

The greatest medium-term problem, however, lies in the seam attack. It’s a worrying fact that in the absence of the injured Edgar Schiferli the new ball was generally shared this season by Stelling and Reekers, who did well enough in Scotland but whose international careers are unlikely to extend far beyond the World Cup.

Much will depend on the emergence of Jonkman, but with Schiferli already 30 and disturbingly prone to injury, Cantrell urgently needs to find a couple more seamers, at least one of whom should ideally be able to bowl fast and accurately enough and hit the deck hard enough to open the bowling. Dutch wickets don’t greatly encourage this, and the recent dropping of three seamers from the national squad emphasizes the size of the problem.

There are, it is true, a few young bowlers on the club scene who might make the transition to international cricket, even though they have not yet developed far enough to enforce their claims, could be prospects for the future.

They include VVV’s Mudassar Bukhari (also a destructive batsman when he comes off), Berend Westdijk (HBS), and Somesh Kohli and Jeroen Brand (Quick Haag). All three had their good days this season, though all tended to be expensive, and none was consistent enough to force themselves on Cantrell’s attention.

Henk-Jan and Geert-Maarten Mol, on the other hand, both performed consistently well for Quick: Henk-Jan, now 29, has played for the national side in the past without much success, but younger brother Geert-Maarten looked promising when he was included in the under-23 side and, as a left-hander, could play a valuable role in the post-World Cup batting line-up.

Another who did well in the Hoofdklasse was wicketkeeper-batsman Atse Buurman, the leading contender for Jeroen Smits’ place behind the stumps. His 112 against HBS was one of the high points of the season, and made a significant contribution towards his tally of 411 runs at 31.60.

The debate about whether a keeper should be preferred because of his superior batting is not one which is confined to The Netherlands, and both Smits and Buurman have their adherents. Cantrell has so far stayed loyal to Smits, however, and there is no doubt that his contribution in the field, given his role as vice-captain, goes far beyond his glove work.

It seems almost inconceivable that he will not remain the sitting – or in this case, crouching – tenant until after the World Cup, but thereafter the issue may perhaps be worth reopening.

Overall, it remains a sad truth that there are very few young players around to put pressure on the more established members of the squad. With top order batsmen who are still showing a frustrating tendency to get themselves out and a seam attack which could do with a lot more penetration, the lack of genuine quality in depth must give Cantrell some sleepless nights.

It’s time, perhaps, to be looking at the next generation as it emerges, and they will be the subject of a subsequent article.