All You Need To Know About Netherlands Hero Logan van Beek & His West Indies Connection
Logan van Beek is playing for the Netherlands since 2014 [Source: Twitter]
Star for the Netherlands in their super-over victory over West Indies in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualifiers, Logan Verjus van Beek has become an overnight sensation. Beek slammed 30 runs off Jason Holder in the super-over after the match between the Netherlands and West Indies ended a tie on Monday, with both sides making 374 runs each.
Who is Logan van Beek?
The New Zealand-born cricketer belongs to a cricket-rich family, whose grandfather played international cricket for both West Indies and New Zealand.
Van Beek's grandfather Simpson Guillen played five Tests for West Indies and three for New Zealand, respectively. Interestingly, van Beek's great-grandfather Victor Guillen stood as umpire in two Test matches between 1935 and 1948.
Van Beek, who holds a Dutch passport through his paternal grandparents, first played Under-19 Cricket for New Zealand in the 2010 U19 World Cup and then made his List-A and First-Class debut for Canterbury in February and March, respectively.
The 32-year-old first represented the Netherlands in 2012, while playing against Essex as an overseas player, but made his debut as a local Dutch player in the ICC T20 World Cup 2014.
Van Beek slammed his maiden FC century in 2015 and soon found himself excelling with both bat and ball for Canterbury.
In his first season with Wellington in 2017-18, the bowler finished the Plunket Shield competition as the leading wicket-taker (40), after which English County Derbyshire signed van Beek for the 2019 County Championship season.
In 70 FC matches, the Christchurch-born has taken 188 wickets, and scored 1,783 runs, while in 115 List A, van Beek has 145 scalps and 1,131 runs.
The bowling all-rounder also holds an impressive record in T20 cricket, taking 137 wickets and scoring 681 runs in 144 matches.
International Record
The all-rounder made his One-Day International (ODI) debut quite late for the Netherlands in 2021 and found himself playing in the T20 World Cup 2021 and 2022 as well.
Van Beek created history in the ICC T20 World Cup Global Qualifiers 2022, becoming the first Dutch bowler to claim a T20 hat-trick; picking up against Hong Kong.
In 21 ODIs and 23 T20Is for the Netherlands, van Beek has taken 49 wickets and scored 368 runs, combined across formats.
Fun Fact: Van Beek also represented New Zealand in Under-19 youth basketball and played in the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship.
 "Vishal Mehra")
