Daan van Bunge

A prolific all-rounder, Daan van Bunge is a professional cricketer for the Netherlands national team. Van Bunge represented the Netherlands at many age levels, including at the Under-15 World Cup in 1996, and on their Under-17 tour of England in 1997. 

Van Bunge made his ODI debut for the Netherlands in the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy against Sri Lanka due to his exploits in domestic cricket. After his arrival on the international scene, he was named in the Netherlands squad for the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, and it was his performances in this tournament that brought him to the attention of a wider audience. He scored a half-century on his World Cup debut against India striking 62 runs in a total of 136 runs.

In 2003, Van Bunge was selected to join the MCC Young Cricketers program. He hit the record books in 2004 when he scored a 38-ball century – the fastest in the history of MCC Young Cricketers. At the end of the 2005 season, he returned to the Netherlands to play for Excelsior 20, a club based in Schiedam. 

Van Bunge led the Netherlands to the 2007 World Cup when he bludgeoned 137 from 118 balls, against Denmark to seal a spot in the finals held in West Indies. Van Bunge retired from international cricket after the 2007 World Cup, citing a lack of motivation, however made himself available for the national squad again in 2008 following the completion of his studies. 

He bounced back well and showed his class at the domestic level but was not selected in the national team for almost three years, missing the 2011 World Cup. He returned back in a one-off fixture against South Africa in 2012 scoring only 3 runs. After a year of failure at the highest level, Van Bunge was dropped from the squad and never donned the orange jersey again.

(As of May 2021)