Peter Borren to lead Netherlands in World Cup

	Peter Borren was appointed captain of Netherlands in July 2010. © Getty Images Enlarge

has been named captain of the Netherlands' squad for the 2011 World Cup. It will be his first World Cup as captain. The side includes an uncapped player - seamer - and six players who will be playing in their first World Cup.

National selector Darrin Murray said he was happy with the progress the Netherlands have made over the last year. "Recent series have shown we have made progress in one-day cricket, and we will be looking to continue this form during the Cricket World Cup. The squad includes three younger players (wicketkeeper , and seamers Westdijk and ) who have forced their way into the main squad during the year on the basis of their commitment to improve and results on the park." Netherlands beat Bangladesh in a one-off ODI in July and then beat a Zimbabwe XI side that featured most of Zimbabwe's ODI players later the same month.

Westdijk, 25 years old, has only played three first-class matches and came up through playing in the under-19s and under-23s for Netherlands. The 26-year-old Baresi is a former South Africa first-class player and made his debut for Netherlands against Scotland in 2010. He averages 29.71 in nine ODIs. Kruger, 22 years old, started his international career with three wickets against Canada, but hasn't taken a wicket in the three matches he has played since.

Allrounder , who plays for Essex in England, Canterbury in New Zealand's HRV Cup, and Tasmania in Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash, will be the mainstay of Netherlands batting. He is the in the on-going HRV Cup, scoring 284 runs in nine matches. Top-order batsman Alexei Kervezee, who plays for Worcestershire, is also part of the fifteen.

Fast bowler and his twin brother - seamer Maurits Jonkman - did not make the squad as they are both undergoing a programme to change their bowling actions, which will not be finished by the time the World Cup starts on February 19. Mark, who was a part of Netherlands' squad during the 2007 World Cup, was from bowling in international cricket by the ICC, in August, for a suspect bowling action.

Top-order batsman Nick Statham and seamer Ruud Nijman, who were both part of Netherlands' 2003 World Cup squad, were also not available for selection.

Netherlands are the first among the fourteen teams playing the tournament to announce their final 15-man squad. They have selected their team well ahead of the January 19 deadline because several of their players are not full-time professional cricketers and need to balance the World Cup with their other jobs. Netherlands, who are in Group B, will play their first game against England on February 22.

Squad: Peter Borren (capt), Wesley Baressi (wk), Mudassar Bukhari, Atse Buurman Tom Cooper, Tom de Grooth, Alexei Kervezee, Bradley Kruger, Bernard Loots, Adeel Raja, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Swarczynski, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Berend Westdijk, Bas Zuiderent.