VRA Amsterdam (Volharding RAP Amstels) is a cricket club in

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages o ...

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 ...

. It was founded on September 5, 1914 from the merger of Volharding (1889), RAP (1887) and Amstels C.C. (1885). In the early years the club played visiting English teams at locations like the

Vondelpark The Vondelpark () is a public urban park of 47 hectares (120 acres) in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is part of the borough of Amsterdam-Zuid and situated west from the Leidseplein and the Museumplein. The park was opened in 1865 and originally nam ...

Museumplein The Museumplein (; ) is a public space in the Museumkwartier neighbourhood of the Amsterdam-Zuid borough in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Located at the Museumplein are three major museums – the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and Stedelijk Museum � ...

and the Olympic Stadium. In 1939 VRA moved to the

Amsterdamse Bos The Amsterdamse Bos (English: ''Amsterdam Forest'') is an English park or landscape park in the municipalities of Amstelveen and Amsterdam. Although most of the park is located in Amstelveen, the owner of the park is the City of Amsterdam. The ...

, where it is located right next to the international

Wagener Stadium Wagener Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Amstelveen, Netherlands. It is currently used mostly for field hockey matches and hosted matches for the 1973 World Hockey Cup. The stadium holds 7,600 people. The complex has belonged to the Dutch ...

. The 14,500-capacity

VRA Cricket Ground VRA Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, the home of VRA Amsterdam since 1939. It has a capacity of 7000 spectators and regularly plays host to the Netherlands home games in the World Cricket League, Intercontinent ...

is one of the few grounds on the European mainland with a grass wicket and has become a hub of international cricket. VRA hosted the

2004 Videocon Cup The Videocon Cup was the name of the One Day International cricket tournament in the Netherlands during August 2004. It was a tri-nation series between Australia, India and Pakistan. All matches took place at the VRA Cricket Ground, Amstelveen. The ...

, a three-Nation tournament between

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

, which attracted tens of thousands of supporters and the

1999 Cricket World Cup The 1999 Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Cricket World Cup '99) was the seventh edition of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted primarily by England, with Scotland, Ireland, Wales ...

match between South Africa & Kenya. In July 2006 the Netherlands played their first ODI at the VRA ground against Sri Lanka and

Sanath Jayasuriya Deshabandu Sanath Teran Jayasuriya ( si, සනත් ජයසූරිය, ta, சனத் ஜெயசூர்யா; born 30 June 1969), is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a captain. He is credited for having revolutionized one-day in ...

(157) and Dilshan (117) laid the foundation for a score of 443 runs, a record score for an ODI. This record was only broken 10 years later. Currently, five men's teams play on Sunday and seven teams on Saturday, including the Women's Team and seven youth teams.

Honours

Men

*Dutch Champions: 19 Amstels CC: 1891, 1896, 1905, 1909
Volharding: 1904, 1908
VRA: 1924, 1937, 1981, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011

Women

*Dutch Champions 3 VRA: 2000, 2004, 2009

Notable players

Peter Borren Peter William Borren (born 21 August 1983) is a former Dutch international cricketer. He was the captain for Netherlands at international level, until he retired in April 2018. Early career He played in the 2002 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, U ...

* Tom Cooper *

Eric Szwarczynski Eric Szwarczynski (; born 13 February 1983) is a South African-born Dutch cricket player. He is a right-handed batsman. International career He made his debut for the Dutch national team in an ICC Intercontinental Cup game against Scotland ...

Ben Cooper Ben Cooper (September 30, 1933 – February 24, 2020) was an American actor of film and television, who won a Golden Boot Award in 2005 for his work in westerns. Stage Cooper appeared on Broadway in ''Life With Father'' (1939). He debuted in th ...

* Adeel Raja

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

Kampioenen van Nederland
Cricket teams in the Netherlands 1914 establishments in the Netherlands