Why was the Kenya v South Africa match of the 1999 Cricket World Cup played in Amstelveen?
The first answer is only partly correct. There was only one single solitary game played in the Netherlands during the 1999 World Cup… namely the one mentioned at Amstelveen, just outside of Amsterdam. I know ‘cos I was there! The ground is in a large public park, and is very pleasant, with a high quality wicket. Apparently there is a pretty substantial local club cricket scene in Holland. The reason the match was played in the Netherlands was part of the ICC’s ambition to spread matches in the WC to non-Test playing near-by nations. The same thing happened in 2003, when a couple of matches were played in Kenya. The reason that South Africa were allocated to play in the Netherlands was almost certainly due to the fact that many of the SA team have Dutch heritage through the Boers, and it was felt that their presence in the country might spark interest amongst Dutch locals.
