Injured Myburgh out of Holland’s WC qualifiers

AMSTERDAM: The Netherlands’ hopes of securing a place at the 2019 World Cup suffered a serious blow on Tuesday with the news that Stephan Myburgh has been ruled out of next month’s ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe after aggravating an ankle injury. The left-handed opener will fly back for surgery from Pretoria, where the Dutch are based for a series of warm-up games against Ireland, Hong Kong and Scotland. Netherlands physio Evan Speechly estimated that Myburgh would be out for at least four to six weeks. The 18-year-old Bas de Leede, son of former Netherlands captain Tim de Leede, has been called up as his replacement. De Leede had been training for the last two months at the Gary Kirsten Cricket Academy in Cape Town and will join the squad ahead of their final practice match against Scotland on Thursday before the team departs for Harare. Harare is where the former under-19s skipper de Leede made his List A debut in Dutch colours for a KNCB XI against a Zimbabwe A in September, before earning his first full international cap in the Netherlands’ Intercontinental Cup match against Namibia in Dubai in November, scoring an unbeaten 56 in the second innings.