Ryan ten Doeschate Cricketer
Ryan Neil ten Doeschate (born 30 June 1980) is a South African-born cricketer who plays internationally for the Netherlands due to his Dutch ancestry. He has played cricket for Essex since 2003. He matriculated at Fairbairn College in Goodwood, near Cape Town in 1998. Whilst at school, he excelled at both rugby and cricket. As of 19 February 2012, ten Doeschate has a One-Day International batting average of 67.00 from 33 matches. This is presently the highest batting average in ODI cricket by a batsman with more than 20 innings, a considerable margin ahead of second place (Hashim Amla, who averages 56.35), although his average is substantially skewed by the fact that the Netherlands seldom plays ODIs against top teams. Nevertheless, his record against Test playing nations is still very good, an average of 51.67 from eight matches, and he holds the record for the highest individual innings by a player from an Associate Nation playing against a Test Nation, 119, scored in Nagpur against England during the 2011 World Cup. He also possesses a List A average of 45.83, which is inside the top twenty in history; and, since it was largely attained in English and South African domestic competition, is much less skewed than his ODI average. ten Doeschate was discovered by Essex when they went on a pre-season tour of South Africa. His all-round abilities for Western Province caught their eyes. He is qualified to play county cricket by virtue of holding EU citizenship. He is a big-hitting right-handed batsman and he bowls right-arm medium-fast deliveries. In successive innings in international matches for The Netherlands in the ICC Intercontinental Cup competition in 2005 and 2006 he scored 84, 158, 138, 100 and finally 259 not out in the victory over Canada in December 2006. This latter innings set a new record for the competition, breaking the mark of 247 established by Bermuda's David Hemp earlier in the same tournament. ten Doeschate was selected in the Netherlands squad for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. In a warm-up match prior to the World Cup, he captured five wickets against a strong India team. His haul included the wickets of Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. In 2008, ten Doeschate became one of the cornerstones of a strong Essex team and enjoyed success with them by winning the Friends Provident Trophy and Pro40 Division 2. In the opening match of the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, he contributed to the shock defeat of the host nation, England, by the Netherlands by bowling the opening batsmen, Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright and being the not out batsman with a score of 22. During a Clydesbank Pro40 match against the Derbyshire Falcons, ten Doeschate managed 109 not out as the Essex Eagles won on the Duckworth-Lewis rule. With his success at Essex in 2010, Ryan signed to play in domestic Twenty 20 tournaments during the English winter for Mashonaland Eagles from Zimbabwe, Canterbury Wizards from New Zealand and Tasmanian Tigers from Australia. On 6 October 2010, ten Doeschate was named Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year at the ICC Awards in Bangalore. He had previously won this award in 2008. During the qualifying period, he made one century and three half centuries in ODIs. In January 2011, ten Doeschate was picked by the Kolkata Knight Riders team in the IPL 2011 Auction for $150,000. His selection made ten Doeschate the second Dutch player after Dirk Nannes to play in the Indian Premier League. He even continued his form in the 2011 Cricket World Cup where he also scored two centuries.
