Alexei Nicolaas Kervezee (born 11 September 1989) is a former Dutch
first-class cricketer who was born in
South West Africa
Domestic career
In late September 2006,
Worcestershire County Cricket Club announced that they had signed Kervezee to play
county cricket
Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...
on a two-year contract. The county's chief executive Mark Newton called him "a very accomplished and exciting young talent", while Dutch bowling coach
Ian Pont claimed that the youngster's story had "shades of
Graeme Hick" about it. Kervezee himself said that he was "looking forward to learning from such great players and coaches".
Kervezee was given several opportunities in the second half of the 2009 season and made an impression with some assured displays. He scored his first half-century for the club on 30 June 2009 when he made 66 in the second innings of the game against Durham.
Kervezee has been a permanent fixture in the Worcestershire side throughout the 2010 season and has consistently impressed with the bat, scoring quickly and showing stroke-making abilities of the highest order. Having fallen one run short of his maiden first-class century in the game against
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the count ...
, he scored 130 in the following game against
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Falcons ...
at
Worcester where his parents had travelled from
Rotterdam to watch him play. In the return fixture at Derby, he improved his highest innings total, hitting 155. He is only the fourth Dutch player to hit a first-class century in English cricket, following in the footsteps of
Roland Lefebvre,
Bas Zuiderent and current
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 when ...
and Netherlands international
Ryan ten Doeschate. He signed a five-year contract with
Worcestershire County Cricket Club in July 2010
In 2012, Kervezee signed a deal worth $35,000 to play for
Dhaka Gladiators in
Bangladesh Premier League
The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in ...
. He missed most of the
2012–13 English County season due to a broken finger. The injury occurred during
Worcestershire County Cricket Club's match in the Friends Life T20 cup, against
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Somerset. Founded in 1875, Somerset was initially regarded as a minor ...
.
International career
Kervezee rose rapidly and smartly through age-group cricket in the Netherlands, and in late July 2005, aged only 15, he made his first-class debut for his national team against
Scotland in the
Intercontinental Cup. This game was badly affected by the weather and Kervezee did not get to bat, but the following month in the same competition he scored 46
not out against
Ireland. He also played against
Kenya in March 2006.
In April 2006, Kervezee played his first
List A
List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...
matches, for
Netherlands A against
India A and
Pakistan A cricket team at
Sheikh Zayed Stadium,
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
. The Netherlands A team were badly beaten in both games, but Kervezee's scores of 26 and 25 were among the highest in each Dutch innings. His bowling was singularly unsuccessful, however, with his four overs going for 39 runs.
On 4 July 2006 he made his
One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
debut against
Sri Lankan cricket team
The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා ජාතික ක්රිකට් කණ්ඩායම, ta, இலங்கை தேசிய கிரிக்கெட் அணி) nicknamed The Lions ...
at
Amstelveen's
VRA Ground. It was a chastening experience overall for the Dutch team as Sri Lanka piled up 443/9, a world record ODI score,
but in the Netherlands' reply Kervezee played well for 47, putting on 69 (the highest partnership of the innings) with
Tim de Leede. Two days later, against the same opponents, he made 18. Kervezee played several Under-17 and Under-19 matches over the following days, as well as one game against
Italy in the
European Cricket Championship, then in early August he returned to ODI action with small scores against Scotland and Ireland.
In April 2013, Kervezee announced his decision to retire from the Dutch National Cricket Team. He stated his desire to focus on playing for his county Worcestershire and with a view to hopefully play for England internationally.
Kervezee quits Netherlands to commit to Worcestershire
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References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kervezee, Alexei
1989 births
White Namibian people
Afrikaner people
Dutch cricketers
Netherlands One Day International cricketers
Netherlands Twenty20 International cricketers
Living people
Worcestershire cricketers
Dutch people of Namibian descent
Sportspeople from Walvis Bay
Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Dhaka Dominators cricketers
Shropshire cricketers