Alexei Nicolaas Kervezee (born 11 September 1989) is a former Dutch

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er who was born in

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

Domestic career

In late September 2006,

Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded ...

announced that they had signed Kervezee to play

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

on a two-year contract. The county's chief executive Mark Newton called him "a very accomplished and exciting young talent", while Dutch bowling coach

Ian Pont Ian Leslie Pont (born 28 August 1961) is an English former cricketer and current International Coach, specialising in T20 as a Head Coach and developing the speed of fast bowlers across all formats. Known for a powerful throw and a brief foray in ...

claimed that the youngster's story had "shades of

Graeme Hick Graeme Ashley Hick (born 23 May 1966) is a Zimbabwean-born former England cricketer who played 65 Test matches and 120 One Day Internationals for England. He was born in Rhodesia, and as a young man played international cricket for Zimbabwe. H ...

" about it. Kervezee himself said that he was "looking forward to learning from such great players and coaches". Kervezee was given several opportunities in the second half of the 2009 season and made an impression with some assured displays. He scored his first half-century for the club on 30 June 2009, making 66 in the second innings of the game against Durham. Kervezee was a permanent fixture in the Worcestershire side throughout the 2010 season and consistently impressed with the bat, scoring quickly and showing stroke-making abilities of the highest order. Having fallen one run short of his maiden first-class century in the game against

Leicestershire County Cricket Club Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the coun ...

, he scored 130 in the following game against

Derbyshire County Cricket Club Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Falco ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

where his parents had travelled from

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

to watch him play. In the return fixture at Derby, he improved his highest score, hitting 155. He is only the fourth Dutch player to hit a first-class century in English cricket, following in the footsteps of

Roland Lefebvre Roland Philippe Lefebvre (born 7 February 1963), is a Dutch former international cricketer who captained the Netherlands national cricket team in One Day International matches. Domestic career Lefebvre made his first-class debut with Somerset ...

Bas Zuiderent Bastiaan Zuiderent (born 3 March 1977) is a Dutch former international cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He is one of very few Dutch cricketers to have appeared in six International Cricket Council eve ...

and current

Essex County Cricket Club Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 w ...

and Netherlands international

Ryan ten Doeschate Ryan Neil ten Doeschate (; born 30 June 1980) is a Dutch cricket coach and former cricketer. He is currently one of the assistant coaches of Indian men’s cricket team. Born in South Africa, he played for the Netherlands national cricket team ...

. He signed a five-year contract with

in July 2010 In 2012, Kervezee signed a deal worth $35,000 to play for

Dhaka Gladiators The Dhaka Capitals is a professional franchise cricket team that plays in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). They represent Dhaka Division. The team plays their home matches at the SBNCS. Dhaka is one of the most successful BPL franchises, ...

Bangladesh Premier League Bangladesh Premier League (), also known as Dutch-Bangla Bank BPL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Bangladesh organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). It was formed in 2011 by the BCB, after the su ...

. He missed most of the 2012–13 English County season due to a broken finger. The injury occurred during

's match in the Friends Life T20 cup, against

Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Somer ...

International career

Kervezee rose rapidly and smartly through age-group cricket in the Netherlands, and in late July 2005, aged only 15, he made his first-class debut for his national team against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the

Intercontinental Cup Intercontinental Cup may refer to: Football * FIFA Intercontinental Cup, an association football competition involving the club champions of the six confederations of FIFA * Intercontinental Cup (1960–2004), an association football competition o ...

. This game was badly affected by the weather and Kervezee did not get to bat, but the following month in the same competition he scored 46

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He also played against

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in March 2006. In April 2006, Kervezee played his first

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

matches, for Netherlands A against

India A The India A cricket team is a national cricket team representing second-tier cricket of India national cricket team. The matches played by India A receive first-class and List A classification. It is a developmental team, domestic players who ar ...

and

Pakistan A The Pakistan A cricket team, or Pakistan Shaheens, is a national cricket team representing Pakistan. It is the second-tier of international Pakistan cricket, below the full Pakistan national cricket team. Matches played by Pakistan A are not cons ...

cricket teams at Sheikh Zayed Stadium,

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

. The Netherlands A team were badly beaten in both games, but Kervezee's scores of 26 and 25 were among the highest in each Dutch innings. His bowling was singularly unsuccessful, however, with his four overs going for 39 runs. On 4 July 2006 he made his

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

debut against the

Sri Lankan cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, (; ) nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It is a full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test cricket, Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T ...

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, with a population of 95,996 as of 202 ...

VRA Ground VRA Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, the home of VRA Amsterdam since 1939. It regularly plays host to the Netherlands home games in the World Cricket League, Intercontinental Cup and CB40. This ground was fir ...

. It was a chastening experience overall for the Dutch team as Sri Lanka piled up 443/9, a world record ODI score, but in the Netherlands' reply Kervezee played well for 47, putting on 69 (the highest partnership of the innings) with

Tim de Leede Timotheus Bernardus Maria de Leede (born 25 January 1968) is a Dutch former cricketer who had a One Day International (ODI) career of 11 years for the Dutch national side. A right-handed all-rounder, he played for the Netherlands at the 1996, 2 ...

. Two days later, against the same opponents, he made 18. Kervezee played several Under-17 and Under-19 matches over the following days, as well as one game against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in the

European Cricket Championship The European Cricket Championship was a national team cricket tournament for the European countries associated with the International Cricket Council. The tournament was played as a league system, where the teams were split into divisions. The ...

, then in early August he returned to ODI action with small scores against Scotland and Ireland. In April 2013, Kervezee announced his decision to retire from the Dutch National Cricket Team. He stated his desire to focus on playing for his county Worcestershire and with a view to hopefully play for England internationally.Kervezee quits Netherlands to commit to Worcestershire
/ref> The hope to play for England did not com true.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kervezee, Alexei 1989 births White Namibian people Afrikaner people Dutch cricketers Netherlands One Day International cricketers Netherlands Twenty20 International cricketers Living people Worcestershire cricketers Dutch people of Namibian descent Sportspeople from Walvis Bay Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Dhaka Dominators cricketers Expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh Shropshire cricketers