The KNCB has had an encouraging response to its efforts to find a new national coach, with more than thirty applicants for the post. The board hopes that its new coach will take over in January.

The chairman of the appointment committee, KNCB board member with responsibility for representative cricket Bart Lubbers, confirmed on Thursday that an initial selection had already been made and a shortlist of nine candidates established, with a reserve list also having been compiled.

The committee comprises, apart from Lubbers, Dutch international captain Jeroen Smits, manager Rob Kemming, KNCB director of youth cricket Roland Lefebvre, and two former internationals in Rob van Weelde and Tim de Leede. ICC High Performance Manager Richard Done is serving as an informal adviser to the committee.

According to Lubbers, it is planned to complete the first round of interviews within two weeks at the outside, and the committee expects to have completed the entire appointment process by mid-November.

He is understandably tight-lipped about who the leading candidates are. ‘But I can certainly say that the list includes some big names,’ he adds.

The national coaching job is currently vacant, Paul Jan Bakker’s short-term appointment having expired at the end of August. The appointee’s first major task will be to prepare the squad for Intercontinental Cup matches in the UAE and Namibia, scheduled for next April.