Maartje Alexander Köster (born 3 March 1975) 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 ...

. 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) ...

and 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 ...

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 1995 and 2007, including playing at the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and 2000 World Cups and in the Netherlands' inaugural Test match. Born in

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 ...

, Köster made her One Day International (ODI) debut for the Netherlands at the age of 20, playing two matches in the 1995 edition of the European Championship, hosted in Ireland.Women's ODI matches played by Maartje Köster
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 October 2015. At the 1997 World Cup in India, she played in all of her team's matches, but scored only 31 runs from four innings. Köster remained a fixture in the Dutch team throughout the rest of the decade, and began to be used higher in the order, including on several occasions as an

opening batter In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

. During the Dutch tour of Sri Lanka in March 1999, she scored what was to be her only ODI half-century, making 58 * from 89 balls coming in fifth in the batting order. At the 2000 World Cup in New Zealand, Köster featured in five of a possible seven matches, scoring 65 runs. Against

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 ...

, she topscored with 36 from 85 balls, opening the batting with

Caroline de Fouw Margaretha Everdine Caroline de Fouw (born 12 May 1966) is a Dutch former cricketer who played as a right-arm off break bowler. She appeared in one Test match, 35 One Day Internationals and 6 Twenty20 Internationals for the Netherlands between ...

. Outside of the European Championship, Köster's next international tournament for the Netherlands was 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 ...

, the qualifier for the 2005 World Cup. At that tournament, she scored 111 runs from five innings, but was dismissed only twice. Her consequent

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 55.50 was the second-best overall at the tournament, behind teammate

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 ...

. In two matches, Köster was the top-scorer for the Netherlands, making 40 * against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

and 49 against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. 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. Selected in the Test squad, Köster scored 29 runs from 178 balls in the first innings, and added nine more runs in the second. Her match total of 38 runs was surpassed by only wicket-keeper

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 ...

, who made 52. In the ODI series, Köster played in only the first match, which was her last international game – she was selected in the squad for the 2007 European Championship, but did not play. She finished her career with 46 ODI appearances, behind only Pauline te Beest for the Netherlands, although that mark has since been equalled by

Helmien Rambaldo Helmien Willie Rambaldo (born 13 November 1980) is a Dutch former cricketer who played as a right-handed batter and occasional right-arm off break bowler. She appeared in one Test match, 46 One Day Internationals and 10 Twenty20 Internationals ...

and beaten by

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, ...

. Köster is one of only five Dutchwomen to pass 500 runs in ODIs.Netherlands Women / Records / Women's One-Day Internationals / Most matches
– ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koster, Maartje 1975 births Living people Dutch women cricketers Netherlands women Test cricketers Netherlands women One Day International cricketers Sportspeople from Utrecht (city) 20th-century Dutch women 21st-century Dutch women