As most club cricketers up and down the country prepare to get their season underway in two weeks’ time, most will be grateful to be back playing on grass under the sun after a long winter indoors.

For VOC Rotterdam’s Arnav Jain, the venue for his season opener happens to be the Lord’s Cricket Ground, widely regarded as the Home of Cricket.

“It’s an honour and a pinnacle of the sport,” he says with a glint in his eyes. Jain is speaking to Dutch News in London as he wraps up a training session on the eve of captaining an ICC European Under-23 XI against the Marylebone Cricket Club in a one-off 50-over game at Lord’s.

Dutch participation 
The 23-year-old all-rounder is the only Dutchman in a side featuring emerging players from five other European non-Test playing countries: Scotland, Jersey, Guernsey, Italy and Denmark.

“The MCC sends touring teams to many countries across Europe every year so we would act as a little bit of a bridge between the members we’ve got in Europe,” explains Andy Wright, the Development Manager for ICC Europe, with a view to expand the season opener to a T20 game and a 50-over fixture with more countries being represented in the future.

“The conversation then started from our side, around what can we do about getting a fixture for a high performance European development XI to come here? They [the MCC] also understand their responsibility to grow the game in Europe, as well as just in England and Wales. My job is to make sure that they realise that Europe is in need of cricket support as much as anyone else.So that’s really where it came from.”

Lord’s holds a special place in Dutch cricket lore with it being the scene of one of the greatest upsets in sport. With a group of mostly amateur players, the Netherlands turned over England in a last-ball thriller at the 2009 T20 World Cup’s curtain raiser. They haven’t played an International game at the venue ever since.

A few months shy of his eighth birthday then, Jain hadn’t picked up the sport yet and only found out about the win a few years later. A first-generation cricketer born to Indian parents, with his 17-year-old brother Aaditt following in his footsteps, he quickly moved up through the age-group ranks and has been around the Dutch national set-up since 2018 which culminated in a maiden call-up for Pakistan’s tour three years ago.

Though he warmed the bench, he managed to get on the park as a substitute fielder in the second ODI.

“It would have been pretty special to make my debut at my home ground. All my friends and family were there but nah, I look back at it with fond memories,” Jain says.

Student life
For the most part of his playing career, which has included winning two T20 trophies with VOC, he has managed to juggle it with a full-time bachelors degree in economics and later a masters in finance and investment.

“I’ve always had my books on tour. Sometimes it’s difficult, you don’t go for a beer after training or after the game with your teammates, and you have to stay home and study till late. But luckily, most of my education I could follow online.”

If that wasn’t enough, he is also a chef who runs a pop-up restaurant in Amsterdam. A self-confessed “home-made apprentice”, what started as a happy Covid accident has now turned into another part-time gig on the sidelines.

“I wanted to start my own restaurant but I didn’t have the money so I thought I’d do a pop up restaurant. I had 30 people come over the first time and then I expanded it to nine courses for 40 people with a fixed menu.

“I was the only one in the kitchen,” he says, breaking into a smile. “I love the bustling nature and the stress. I almost veer towards pressure. I’m now going slightly away from cricket and into the investment banking world and that’s also high pressure, very competitive. I just love that stuff.”

Match results
A wicket off just his fourth ball the next day was further proof of that, a successful LBW shout. He later added another to his tally thanks to a diving catch at mid-wicket to finish with figures of 2-33 in eight overs.

Chasing 268, he came in at 115-3 and was happy to play second fiddle to Jersey’s Charlie Brennan, who scored a remarkable unbeaten century, in a crucial 104-run stand. By the time Jain was sent back for a well-made 43 off 71 deliveries, even dumping a six into the Grand Stand, he had ensured the game was within touching distance for his side. Brennan and Italy’s Syed Naqvi duly obliged with the finishing touches.

“Very proud of the group to come out and put European associate cricket on the map,” Jain says beaming after the game. “They have the skill, they have the talent. They need a bit of discipline and guidance to push them in the right direction to the right things at the right time. And I’ve had a taste of that in the Dutch setup, so I was happy that I could bring that along and in that sense, people buy in very
fast.”

Next steps
Come Monday, he will swap his cricket kit for a suit as begins his career in high finance as an intern at Santander in Amsterdam.

“I’m open to everything, but with that job, it’s quite difficult to then juggle full time cricket. So now cricket takes a bit of a back seat, and hopefully I make a career there.

“Actually, I’d want [my career] to be in cricket because I’d want to play here [at Lord’s] more often, or tour the world, and I’ve done a bit of it as well. I loved every minute of it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the results or the breakthrough moments I wanted. That’s not to say that I’m shutting out cricket opportunities in the future but this win is just a nice high to end this chapter on.”

Brief scores: MCC XI 267-8 (Alfie Cooper 70, Evan Williams 54, Jain 2-33, Zainullah Ihsan 2-37) lost to ICC European XI 271-5 in 48.2 overs (C Brennan 112*, Jain 43, Tom Harper 2-35)