Helmien Willie Rambaldo (born 13 November 1980) is a Dutch former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played as a right-handed

batter Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

and occasional right-arm

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowler. She appeared in one

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

, 46

One Day Internationals 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 Cu ...

and 10

Twenty20 Internationals A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

for

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

between 1998 and 2011, and captained the team between 2007 and 2011, including in the side's inaugural Test and WT20I. She played domestic cricket for Boland in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

between 2003–04 and 2006–07.

Life and career

Born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Rambaldo's older sister,

Caroline Rambaldo Caroline H. Rambaldo (born 7 January 1971) is a former Dutch international cricketer whose career for the Netherlands national women's cricket team, Dutch national side spanned from 1997 to 2001. She played a total of 23 Women's One Day Internati ...

, also played international cricket for the Netherlands. Both sisters played their club cricket for Quick Haag ( nl). Helmien Rambaldo made her ODI debut in July 1998, aged only 17, scoring two runs against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in what was the first ODI played in Germany (at the

Mikkelberg-Kunst-und-Cricket Center Mikkelberg-Kunst-und-Cricket Center is a cricket ground in Hattstedt, Germany. The first recorded match on the ground was held in 1991 when Denmark Women played the Netherlands Women in a fixture. The ground later served as a venue for the two ...

). Slotting into the side as a top-order batter, her next matches in that format came at the 1999 European Championship in Denmark. Her performance there was unremarkable, with only 16 runs from three innings, but she maintained her place in the Dutch squad for its next major tournament, the 2000 World Cup in New Zealand. At the World Cup, Rambaldo was selected for only three of a possible seven matches, but top-scored with 38 against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, opening the batting with

Maartje Köster Maartje Alexander Köster (born 3 March 1975) is a Dutch former cricketer who played as a right-handed batter. She appeared in one Test match and 46 One Day Internationals for the Netherlands between 1995 and 2007, including playing at the 1997 a ...

. When the Netherlands toured Pakistan in April 2001, Rambaldo featured in six of their seven ODIs against the Pakistani national team, and finished the tournament behind only

Pauline te Beest Pauline Jantina te Beest (born 13 February 1970 in Haarlem) is a Netherlands cricketer who played in three Women's Cricket World Cups in England (1993), in India (1997) and in New Zealand (2000). She had one season for the Otago Sparks in the St ...

and

Carolien Salomons Carolien Aimee Salomons (born 20 July 1974) is a former Dutch international cricketer whose career for the Dutch national side spanned from 1995 to 2011. She played for the Netherlands at both the 1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, ...

for runs scored. In the sixth game, as the ninth player brought on to bowl, she finished 2/13 from five overs – her first ODI wickets and what were to be her best bowling figures. In 2003, Rambaldo moved to South Africa to study sport science at

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

. She continued to play for the Netherlands throughout her degree, but also played cricket for her university and for Boland in the South African provincial set-up, until graduating in 2006. In July and August 2007,

went on a tour of the Netherlands, playing three ODIs and a Test – the first (and so far only) Test match played by any Dutch team, men or women. The Test was Rambaldo's first international match as captain, with Carolien Salomons having stepped down the previous year. She would remain the side's captain until she stepped down prior to the 2012 season."Helmien Rambaldo stopt als captain"
–

Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond The Royal Dutch Cricket Association (Dutch: Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond, KNCB) is the governing body of cricket in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was formed in 1890 and received a Royal charter in 1958. The KNCB is responsible for the ...

. Retrieved 29 June 2015. At the 2008 World Cup Qualifier in South Africa, Rambaldo played a key role in helping the Netherlands to a semi-final. In a group-stage game against

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

, she was player of the match, scoring 59 from 55 balls opening with

Violet Wattenberg Violet Cornelia Elizabeth Wattenberg (born 5 December 1978) is an Indian-born Dutch former cricketer who played as a right-handed batter and wicket-keeper. She appeared in one Test match, 19 One Day Internationals and 11 Twenty20 Internationals ...

, and helping the Dutch team to a 196-run win. Later in the tournament, in the semi-final against Pakistan, Rambaldo caught Pakistani number-eleven batsman

Sadia Yousuf Sadia Yousuf (born 4 November 1989) is a Pakistani former cricketer who played as a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. She appeared in 58 One Day Internationals and 51 Twenty20 Internationals for Pakistan between 2008 and 2017. She played domestic ...

at short cover to give

Lotte Egging Lotte Egging (born 8 June 1988) is a Dutch former cricketer who played as a right-arm medium-fast bowler. She appeared in one Test match, 12 One Day Internationals and two Twenty20 Internationals for the Netherlands between 2005 and 2008. She ...

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

, the first by a Dutchwoman. Rambaldo only recorded one half-century in her ODI career, 67 against Sri Lanka in the 2010 Women's Cricket Challenge in South Africa. Her next-best had been 46 against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the

2003 IWCC Trophy The 2003 IWCC Trophy was an international women's cricket tournament held in the Netherlands between 21 and 26 July 2003. Organised by the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC), it was the inaugural edition of what is now the World Cup Qual ...

. Rambaldo finished her career with 723 runs from 46 ODIs, in both cases behind only Pauline te Beest and Carolien Salomons for the Netherlands. She captained the Netherlands in one Test, 25 ODIs, and ten T20Is, with the team winning only a single match under her captaincy in those formats – an ODI against Ireland at the 2011 European Championship, by two wickets.(17 August 2011)
"Netherlands prevail in tense match"
– ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 29 June 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rambaldo, Helmien 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from The Hague Stellenbosch University alumni Dutch expatriates in South Africa Dutch women cricketers Netherlands women Test cricketers Netherlands women One Day International cricketers Netherlands women Twenty20 International cricketers Dutch women cricket captains Dutch cricket coaches Boland women cricketers 20th-century Dutch women 20th-century Dutch people 21st-century Dutch women