De Leede buries demons to create happier memories in Delhi

Allrounder gave Netherlands control at the same venue where he was based by Australia three years ago

Nagraj Gollapudi

Feb 10, 2026, 2:13 PM • 10 hrs ago

Bas de Leede hit a match-winning half-century • AFP/Getty Images

The last time Bas de Leede played in Delhi, he had a century against his name. A landmark he would rather forget. De Leede conceded 115 in ten overs, the most by a bowler in a men's ODI, against Australia in the 2023 World Cup. Glenn Maxwell blitzed the fastest century in World Cup history - off 40 balls - with de Leede suffering the most.

Nearly three years later, de Leede reached another milestone in Delhi: he's the first Dutchman to take two wickets and score a fifty in a T20 World Cup match. De Leede also hit the joint second-highest score for Netherlands in T20 World Cups, an undefeated and match-winning 72 against Namibia.

It makes for a good script, doesn't it? De Leede banishing the demons of 2023 in Delhi and creating a happier memory. But he said the Australian ordeal never came to mind because he is "pretty good at forgetting in terms of performances". The best way to get over a bad day at work is to forget quickly and move on.

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De Leede is not the brooding kind. This T20 World Cup has also come at a critical time in his life. Just last week, he decided to leave Durham after three seasons. Having suffered two stress fractures in his lower back, de Leede took the call to move back to the Netherlands and focus on white-ball cricket. Performance in this T20 World Cup then was important to him at various levels.

He bowled just nine deliveries in Netherlands' opening match against Pakistan, but scored with gusto, a 25-ball 30. Then in a must-win match against Namibia, to keep their hopes of making the Super Eights alive, de Leede did what he has done in such moments. Remember his all-round heroics in Bulawayo against Scotland in July 2023, when he took a five-for and helped Netherlands chase down the target inside 44.1 overs to qualify for the World Cup?

Netherlands only had a two-day break between the Pakistan and Namibia fixtures, including a four-hour flight from Colombo to Delhi, which meant workloads of players, especially fast bowlers, had to be closely monitored. Paul van Meekeran, whose exploits jolted the Pakistan chase, did not train on Monday and was a late pull-out just before the toss.

De Leede, though, had a purposeful open-net session at the venue on Monday. With the ball, he focused on pitching back-of-a-length, mixing both cutters and slower bouncers, and aiming yorkers onto toes and wide of off stump. Later, while batting, he focussed on hitting straight. He brought most of those skills to the match against Namibia.

With the Delhi cool in the mornings, the toss became key. The ball was skidding but also gripping for the spinners as Aryan Dutt showed in his three-over spell in the powerplay. Those conditions did not change when de Leede was brought on in the second half of the Namibia innings.

In the previous over, Timm van der Gugten had leaked 16 runs, his last three balls smacked for 6,4,4 by Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus. De Leede understood Namibia were keen to accelerate after a slow start so he cramped Erasmus for room by firing a short ball at the body, which he pulled to the towering figure of Dutt at short midwicket.

Two overs later when Namibia's consultant Gary Kirsten walked in during the final drinks break, the message was clear to the six-hitting machine JJ Smit: go aggressive. De Leede went for a scrambled-seam delivery that skidded on to the top of off stump, leaving Smit dumbfounded. Namibia lost momentum and fell at least 20 runs short, Erasmus would admit later.

Netherlands have trained for this T20 World Cup, de Leede said, with the "mindset change of being a 160 team to hopefully now be able to score 180 and 200." Three months of gruelling training in the "freezing cold" back home was followed by a camp at the CSK academy in Chennai on black, red and mixed-soil pitches.

Against Namibia, every batter showed an instinct to attack, including de Leede, who hit two fours and two sixes in the V. Erasmus, who has seen de Leede from his teenage years, said the Dutchman, like himself, utilises the skills learned from playing field hockey to exploit scoring areas especially against spin.

Erasmus, who played club cricket in the Netherlands for the same team, remembered getting out to de Leede. Things haven't changed much, but the Namibia captain said he had got de Leede out a few times as well. "He is quite a package of a cricketer," Erasmus said. "I have immense respect for Bas, who has prepared well over the years to where he is now."

"He does it all, doesn't he," Netherlands' captain Scott Edwards said after the victory. "He was sensational with the ball, honestly. He bowled his first over in about the 10th [13th] over and then just really took control of the game. And was clinical with the bat as well."

As Netherlands look to play at a new tempo at this T20 World Cup, Basball is vital to their success.

Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo

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