VRA captain Darrin Murray talks with Rod Lyall about his experience of Dutch cricket and prospects for the future.

Former New Zealand Test batsman and now captain of VRA Amsterdam, Darrin Murray certainly does not under-estimate the extent of the task confronting Dutch cricket.

‘Taking that giant step forward is a huge ask,’ he says, ‘and I have a lot of respect for the guys who play in the Dutch team. They have to combine a heavy training schedule with the demands of work and family, and I know how hard that can be.’

Murray himself played first-class cricket for Canterbury from 1991 to 1998, and hit 2907 runs at 34.60, with seven centuries. He played eight Tests in 1994-95, his best score 52 against a West Indies attack led by Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose.

He was VRA’s coach for four seasons between 1993 and 1996, making 4176 runs at an average of nearly 60, hitting 12 centuries and three times passing 1000 runs in a season.

More important, perhaps, was the way in which he laid the foundation for the most successful Dutch side of the past decade, coaching youngsters like Victor Grandia and Adeel Raja, and attracting established players like Maurits Houben, Joost Leemhuis and Patrick Groeneveld. He was also instrumental in bringing to the club his Canterbury colleague Craig Cumming, who played a key part in VRA’s championships in 1998, 1999, and 2001.

Now married to a former VRA woman cricketer, Murray lived mostly in New Zealand for the next few years, but since 2004 he has again been based in Amsterdam, where he has now established his own business. Playing for VRA as an amateur, he has brought his Hoofdklasse aggregate to 6078, still averaging 54.27. In 2006 he returned to the captaincy, leading the side to its sixth national championship in nine years.

As one would expect, he has some very definite ideas about the future development of Dutch cricket, and is extremely critical of the coconut matting pitches which are still a widespread feature of the game in The Netherlands.

‘You’ll never create genuine quick bowlers on the mat,’ he says. ‘All you have to do as an average seamer is put the ball on a reasonable length, and you know that it won’t behave consistently.

‘And more important still, as a fast bowler you can’t run in hard and hit the crease.’

Murray adds that the coconut surfaces are also bad for batsmen: ‘As a batter, you never really feel you’re in. You know that the pitch can always produce a ball that will get you out.’

With few Dutch clubs able to introduce turf pitches, he thinks that artificial surfaces of the Notts weave type are the obvious answer, producing wickets that behave more like grass.

The physical conditions are not the only area that concerns him, and he feels that Dutch cricket could learn a good deal from hockey.

‘When I take my eight-year-old son to hockey training,’ he says, ‘I see a system which is fantastically well organised, easy for the parents, well structured, with terrific training programmes.

‘Cricket needs to be more like that – you have to get the kids playing the game young, and enjoying it. And it helps if you also make it easy and enjoyable for the parents.

‘But we also have to get cricket into the schools, so that lots of kids are introduced to the game and given a chance to see what fun it can be.’

Murray believes that Twenty/20 competitions could be a way of expanding the public appeal of cricket in The Netherlands, where press and television give the sport scarcely any attention.

He also thinks that the introduction of the shortest form of the game has had a positive effect in itself, in the same way that 50-over limited-overs cricket helped to transform the first-class version.

‘Where we used to think 230 was a good total off fifty overs,’ he points out, ‘teams have now seen how they can regularly make 300-plus. In 20/20 you smash the ball from the start, and in a 50-over innings you can do the same from, say, fifteen overs out.

‘It’s been great for cricket. Who would have thought we’d see Australia and South Africa both make over 400 in an ODI?’

As far as the Dutch domestic competition is concerned, Murray is convinced that the presence of more players from major cricketing countries has had a positive impact.

‘But it’s important to recognise,’ he adds, ‘that all the sides that have been successful in the recent past, including VRA, have had a strong nucleus of local players.’

He admits that in a city such as Amsterdam, with its large expatriate populations, maintaining the balance can at times be difficult, and acknowledges that VRA’s side this season, which often had only three Dutch-born players in it, may have got the balance slightly wrong.

‘But to those three you have to add overseas-born players like Peter Borren and Eric Szwarczynski, who are qualified to play for The Netherlands and in the national side,’ Murray points out.

‘And Rashid Amin and I have both played over 150 games for VRA – I certainly feel that VRA is my cricket club. Then there are newcomers like Wesley Barresi and Garth Brown, who are working here and want to play their cricket for a good club with the best facilities.

‘But we have given preference to young Dutch players, and as a newcomer you have to earn your place. It’s important for the club to look beyond the immediate present.’

That, indeed, is what gives Murray the greatest pleasure after nearly two decades in the game.

‘Cricket’s still fun,’ he says, ‘and I’m really enjoying the atmosphere. I still get a kick out of making runs, but the big challenge will be to play with a really young side and still do well.’

With youngsters like fifteen-year-old leg-spinner Vinoo Tewarie emerging in the VRA set-up, Murray will have some interesting challenges facing him for a while yet.