The KNCB’s new chairman, Marc Asselbergs, resorted to the words of a Frank Sinatra ballad to sum up the situation facing the organisation as he presented the members of his proposed Board to a special general meeting on Tuesday.

‘It’s now or never . . .’ he said. ‘Something really has to happen, now.’

Addressing the meeting in the KNCB’s new premises in Nieuwegein, near Utrecht, where the cricket body shares a building with several other sports, Asselbergs drew attention to the multiple challenges facing the new Board, and the Dutch cricketing community more generally.

‘The numbers of members and of available grounds have both been falling,’ he said, ‘the financial position is weak and we have insufficient sponsorship, while neither the Board nor the office have functioned optimally.’

The new Board, comprising Asselbergs himself, secretary Jacques Mulders, treasurer Steven Hartman, and new members Bart Lubbers (technical matters and international cricket), Akbal Mohamed (development), and Marcel Beerthuizen (marketing, sponsorship and media), is already busy with ambitious plans to confront all these problems.

Asselbergs promised that one of the Board’s first tasks would be the creation of a strategic plan, incorporating and extending a series of initiatives which will already be started before the next regular general meeting in December.

This is all based on a clear mission, which includes the overall development of the sport in The Netherlands, protection of the ‘Spirit of Cricket’, a culture of service to the KNCB’s members and stakeholders, and the creation of a healthier financial situation.

Behind all of this lie the perceptions that cricket at the highest level and recreational sport have very different cultures which need to be held in balance, and that Dutch cricket is a multicultural sport in a multicultural society which has not yet found a way to resolve the problems which this brings, nor take full advantage of its opportunities.

Priorities for the Board include semi-professional status for the leading international players, creation and improvement of links with English County cricket, one major international event in each Dutch season, better integration within The Netherlands’ multicultural cricketing community, an improved structure for domestic competition, expansion of youth and women’s cricket, and a KNCB office which is ‘fit for purpose’.

One specific difficulty stems from the increasing demands of the international programme, which will mean that from next year the leading players will frequently not be available during the Dutch domestic season. Consultation with the Hoofdklasse clubs will take place in November in order to resolve this problem.

Asselbergs’ concerns were reinforced by new KNCB director Maarten Westermann, who was also introduced to the meeting.

He called for better definition of the body’s clients and products, and outlined the first steps he would be taking to improve communication and ensure that the organisation was successful in attracting new sponsors.

That, too, will have an impact on both domestic and international cricket in The Netherlands.

‘If we are going to encourage new sponsors,’ Westermann pointed out, ‘we need to organise more events.

‘The problems are great, our ambitions are far-reaching, but we are at the beginning of an exciting period of development.’

The meeting was striking in its expression of a new managerial culture in the KNCB, with words like ‘consultation’, ‘service’ and ‘teamwork’ recurring frequently. Asselbergs and his team are evidently convinced that they can only achieve their ambitious goals by drawing on all the resources of The Netherlands’ small but dedicated cricket community.

‘Cricket may be small in this country,’ the chairman observed, ‘but it is one of the major sports worldwide, and the ICC’s ambitious and accelerating development programme demands that we respond. The sport will die a lingering death here unless we do.’

The appointment of the new Board was approved, but not before there was a brief debate, provoked by a KNCB rule requiring that at least one Board member should be a woman.

Asselbergs explained that efforts had been made to find a willing candidate to take on one of the newly-defined portfolios, but that this has not proved successful. Although this means that the new Board’s composition is technically irregular, it was agreed that this should not hold up its appointment. Proposals will be brought to the general meeting on 7 December to resolve the situation.