Tour Special South Africa 2012: Ons gaan in die Kaap ... - kon HCVV

The Royal Hague Cricket Club:
a brief history
Established in 1878, it was HCC that took the initiative five years later in forming the
Nederlandsche Cricket Bond (Dutch Cricket Association). By this time, the club had
already pioneered international cricket - 22 of HCC taking on an Uxbridge XI in 1881 -
but losing by an innings and 48 runs.
The club won the first-ever national tournament in August
1884 retaining their title the following year and again in
1886. These early matches were played on the Malieveld
(near The Hague Central Station) but in 1898 the club moved to
De Diepput, the complex in the Van Hogenhoucklaan which it has
shared with HVV, its footballing sister-club, ever since. The ground
was rented at first, but was purchased outright by the club in 1947.
HCC did not take part in the inaugural season of the Dutch league
in 1891, but joined the following year, finishing third. They won
for the first time in 1895, and from about 1910 onwards they
were without question the dominant team in the competition,
winning twelve championships in eighteen years (including
five in a row between 1919 and 1923). The club was so strong
that from 1925, the Second XI was also a regular participant of
the top division, taking the title for the first time in 1928 and
retaining it the following year. Key players in the years leading up
to World War II included Tonnie de Beus, Auk Schill, Willem van
den Bosch, Jan Koeleman and Leen Sodderland.
The club remained strong after the Second World War, and
between them the first and second teams won twelve national
titles in the fourteen years between 1955 and 1968, missing
out only in 1962 and 1965. The mainstays of these sides
included wicketkeeper-batsman Rob Colthoff, Peter van Arkel,
Loutje de Villeneuve, Ernst Vriens and Koos van Staaij. Through
much of this period, HCC regularly provided the nucleus of the
Dutch national side.
Gradually, though, the balance shifted. And although there were
further successes for HCC 1 in 1972, 1976 and 1985 and for
Photo: Daan Rhijnsburger
national champions 1884 national champions 2008
16 TOUR SPECIAL SOUTH AFRICA December 2011
HCC 2 in 1973, the club was much less dominant than it had
been up to the 1970s, despite the presence in the side of internationals
like Auke Smits and Peter Entrop. The Second XI dropped
down to the Tweede Klasse, and for the first time in the club’s
history, HCC 1 joined them in 1993. After two seasons, however,
HCC returned to the top flight under the leadership of Jeroen
Smits, and in 2008 the club claimed its first national title for more
than twenty years, crowning the feat by completing the double
of championship and Twenty20 Cup. In that winning team, (former)
Dutch internationals like Feiko Kloppenburg, Bernard Loots,
Jacob-Jan Esmeijer, Tom de Grooth, Mark Jonkman and Stephan
Myburgh played a contributing role.
Great names have represented HCC in the past such as Gary
Kirsten (current SA coach), Chris Pringle (NZ), Simon Doull (NZ),
Neil McKenzie (South Africa, Highveld Lions and Hampshire
CCC), Johann Myburgh (Nothern Titans, Hampshire CCC), Chris
Nevin (NZ) and Dean Brownlie (NZ Twenty20).