New ZealandĀ Cricket š (NZC) will be announcing the schedule for the 2020-2021 domestic season soon, with the season expected to get under way in the month of December, with first-class competition fixtures.
The domestic teams are waiting for the announcement, which is expected to be out, once the international calendar has been worked out by NZC, as Covid-19 pandemic has made planning difficult on both counts. NZC are expected to announce the schedules for tours by West Indies and Pakistan.
Otago, one of the domestic teams, have already started their preparations with the team playing couple of games against Canterbury thia past week, and the squad featured two Netherlands internationals, Maxwell O’Dowd and Michael Rippon.
While Rippon has been part of the Otago set-up for quite some time now, and last featured for Netherlands during their home ODI/T20I series against visiting Nepal in 2018, he is eligible now to play for the Blackcaps. Rippon was also adjudged the Otago Volts player of the season for 2019-2020 in the recent Otago Cricket Awards ceremony.
Another Dutch International is expecting to follow on Rippon’s footsteps this season is Max O’Dowd, who has joined the squad ahead of the 2020-2021 season, and played the T20 match against Canterbury, and made significant contributions to the team’s total. O’Dowd guided Otago Volts to victory with an unbeaten knock of 83 runs, as his side chased down 163 put up by Canterbury, with an over to spare.
O’Dowd’s experience will be crucial for Netherlands head coach Ryan Campbell’s plans, as they are scheduled to tour New Zealand during 2021-2022 for their ICC CWC Super League series of 3 ODI matches. This will be his second stint in New Zealand’s domestic season, having played for Auckland’s “A” squad during the 2014-2015 season.
