Voorburg add Logan van Beek to squad

Dutch Topklasse contenders Voorburg have further strengthened their squad for the possibly-coming season by signing 30-year-old Wellington and Netherlands allrounder Logan van Beek.

Van Beek has appeared 16 times in Dutch colours, making his debut as an overseas player in a Clydesdale Bank 40 match against Essex in 2012. But while he holds a Dutch passport, the fact that he had played twice for New Zealand’s Under-19 side in 2008 meant that he wasn’t eligible for selection as a Dutch national until 2014. He then played in the Netherlands’ T20 World Cup campaign in Bangladesh, his 3-9 in two overs ripping through the England middle order in his side’s sensational 45-run victory.

This was one of his most significant contributions in the Dutch side, perhaps rivalled only by his 6-18 in a one-day match against the UAE at Westvliet, Voorburg’s ground, in 2017.

If Van Beek’s appearances for the Netherlands have been intermittent, he has impressive figures from his career in his native New Zealand. A bowling all-rounder, he has claimed in all 149 First Class wickets, playing first for Canterbury from 2009/10 to 2016/17 and since then for Wellington – and including a spell with English county side Derbyshire in 2019.

In total, he has taken five wickets in a First Class innings six times and ten in a match once, his best first-class figures six for 46 for Wellington against Auckland in 2017/18. He also has one century to his name, an unbeaten 111 for Canterbury against Otago in 2015/16.

He has also claimed a total of 77 List A and 84 T20 wickets across his career to date, figures which will bring a gleam to the eyes of both Voorburg skipper Bas de Leede and national coach Ryan Campbell. Strikingly, his best performances in List A games with both bat and ball have come for the Netherlands: that six for 18 matched by 64 not out against Zimbabwe in Amstelveen earlier in that 2017 season.

Van Beek will not be a newcomer to the Topklasse, having played a season for HCC in 2012, when he was just 21. He made 410 Topklasse runs that year at 37.27 and took 15 wickets at 25.93, also claiming eight wickets at 18.88 in the T20 Cup.

At Westvliet he will likely slot into a seam attack which already boasts Dutch internationals Viv Kingma and De Leede, as well as the lively Ali Ahmed Qasim. With international leg-spinner Philippe Boissevain also in the side, De Leede will have plenty of bowling at his disposal, while Van Beek’s batting will undoubtedly strengthen the middle order.

It is often noted that Logan Van Beek’s cricketing forebears include his grandfather Sam Guillen, who played eight Tests for the West Indies and New Zealand and is one of the few to have appeared in Tests for two countries, but it is less well known that his grandmother, Valmai Berg, played eight times for Canterbury between 1946 and 1949.

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