Ingrid van der Elst (born 4 May 1955) is a Dutch former sportswoman who represented her country in both

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 ...

and

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

. In hockey, she was a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for the Dutch national indoor team, while in cricket she 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 ...

, 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 and occasional

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

, and represented both

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 ...

and International XI, playing seven

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 ...

for the latter team at the

1982 Women's Cricket World Cup The 1982 Women's Cricket World Cup, known as the 1982 Hansells Vita Fresh World Cup for sponsorship purposes, was an international cricket tournament played in New Zealand from 10 January to 7 February 1982. Hosted by New Zealand for the first ...

. She played domestic cricket for

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

Sporting career

Born in

Bilthoven Bilthoven is a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of De Bilt. It has a railway station with connections to Utrecht, Amersfoort and Baarn. It is home to the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health an ...

Utrecht Province Utrecht (), officially the Province of Utrecht ( nl, Provincie Utrecht, link=no), is a province of the Netherlands. It is located in the centre of the country, bordering the Eemmeer in the north-east, the province of Gelderland in the east an ...

, van der Elst is first recorded as playing cricket for her country in 1977, when the Dutch team toured England. All of her early matches for the Netherlands were played against regional and underage English teams, as the side was not yet judged competitive enough for full internationals.Women's miscellaneous matches played by Ingrid van der Elst
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 June 2015. At the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

in New Zealand, van der Elst was one of two Dutch players (alongside Babette van Teunenbroek) to be selected for International XI, a composite team featuring players from several different countries. All seven of her ODI matches were played in the World Cup. Van der Elst was the team's number-three batter for the first five matches, but after a run of three consecutive

ducks Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

(against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

), she was pushed down the order for the rest of the tournament. Her best score was 16 * in the second game against Australia, made from number seven, and she finished the tournament with 28 runs at an average of 5.60. Despite being a regular bowler for the Netherlands, van der Elst did not bowl at all in the World Cup, and in her last game, against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, was asked to keep wicket in place of

Chris Miller Chris or Christopher Miller may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Chris Miller (writer) (born 1942), American comedy author and screenwriter *Chris Miller (animator) (born 1968), American voice actor and director * Christopher Miller (filmmaker) ( ...

, going on to effect a

stumping Stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket, which involves the wicket-keeper putting down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground. (The batsman leaves his ground when he has moved down the pitch beyond the popping crease ...

off the bowling of Gill McConway. In 1983, van der Elst played her first recorded internationals for the Netherlands, appearing 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 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and "Young Netherlands" in the one-off Centenary Tournament at

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd is a cricket ground in Utrecht, Netherlands. The first recorded cricket match on the ground came in 1967 when the Netherlands Women's Cricket Board XI played the Women's Cricket Association. The ground is also used by ...

. Her tournament included scores of 43 against Ireland and 70 against Denmark, the latter made from a team total of only 116. Later in 1983, van der Elst moved to New Zealand. For three seasons (1984–85, 1985–86, and 1986–87), she played for

in the Hansells Cup, and was also a member of the New Zealand national squad (without playing any matches).

Other activities

Van der Elst later returned to the Netherlands from New Zealand and continued to play club cricket and hockey for several more decades. Outside of her playing career, she worked as a sportswriter – in New Zealand she wrote for '' The Evening Post'' and '' The Dominion Post'', and in the Netherlands for the

Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau The Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau BV (ANP) is the largest news agency in the Netherlands. ANP was founded on 11 December 1934 by the association of Dutch newspapers (NDP). The news agency's founders sought to produce a fast, fair and accurate ...

(ANP) news agency and certain regional publications. She has also worked in administrative positions for the

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 ...

(KNCB), the governing body of Dutch cricket.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:van der Elst, Ingrid 1955 births Living people Cricket historians and writers Dutch expatriates in New Zealand Dutch female field hockey players Dutch sports journalists Dutch women cricketers Female field hockey goalkeepers International XI women One Day International cricketers People from De Bilt Wellington Blaze cricketers Sportspeople from Utrecht (province)