As the tournament opener against Pakistan reached its climax, Logan van Beek could almost feel it - the payoff for preparation, the reward for belief, the validation of a plan unfolding exactly as intended. And then, as T20 cricket so often does, it flipped in a matter of five minutes.

"It was exciting because you're on the cusp of achieving what you wanted to achieve," van Beek reflected on Thursday (February 12) ahead of the USA fixture in Chennai. "We were in control of that game. And for five minutes of that game, for it to completely flip...it was a very tough pill to swallow."

Van Beek had arrived at the tournament ready. He had been playing cricket in New Zealand, fine-tuning his game, while the Dutch squad trained intensely in the lead-up. He felt prepared for the situation as it developed - closing overs, pressure mounting, opportunity knocking. But sport does not always reward readiness. "I'm in this team to finish games with bat and ball," he said. "To not be able to do that in that situation was brutal."

Van Beek framed the defeat as part of a larger education and instead chose to focus on retribution in the very next game. "The beauty about sport is that it always gives you another chance," he said. "You've got to pick yourself back up and turn up again." That opportunity for healing came quickly, in the form of a win over Namibia. The 35-year-old registered figures of 2 for 13 in 3 overs to set up a Dutch win that has kept their spirits alive. "It was some good healing in terms of reminding yourself that you still are a good cricketer. It's just T20 cricket. It happens a lot."

Now, with the USA next up and India looming thereafter, the Dutch stand at another set of crossroads. Two wins from two would have altered the equation considerably, but van Beek is pragmatic about where things stand. "What we have to do tomorrow night is put in a good performance against USA and then move into that India match with the spirit of we're going to do something special."

It is a mindset forged over 15 years in the game - one that sees cricket not merely as a profession but as a life tutor. "It's not only the experiences that you have on the field," he said. "It's a great life teacher... I really treasure that resilience piece that cricket provides." Resilience is a recurring theme in Dutch cricket. As recently as in 2023, they qualified against all odds for a 10-team ODI World Cup ahead of a few full member nations. Cricket is a sport that continues to grow against the current of football and hockey back home. Van Beek sees potential everywhere - in physique, in skill, in untapped athleticism.

"Dutch people are traditionally quite tall," he noted. "There's a lot of hockey played. Physically, we could make some brilliant fast bowlers. When it comes to batting, they could have these amazing sweep shots, reverse sweeps. Obviously India play a lot of hockey as well, and a lot of those, that skill comes out of hockey.

"So there would be a lot of skilled individuals that if they were exposed to cricket, they would pick that up quite naturally. And if you get a 6'5", tall Dutchman running in, similar to Paul van Meekeren, there's a lot of guys that are physically perfect for cricket and skill-wise as well. The tough thing is that the mentality in Holland is football and hockey is king. It's really hard to draw people away and say, 'Hey, come play a cricket game.' And no one's really watching your cricket game. If I could take them to India and bring them to a cricket match and see the opportunities that are presented here, then maybe that changes their mind."

Still, he remains convinced that the Netherlands are on the right path - a belief reinforced by the women's team qualifying for the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup. "That's a huge achievement," he said. "I'm so proud of them. For them to experience a T20 World Cup is massive for Dutch cricket as a whole, not only the women. It just means that we're moving in the right direction."

Progress for now is measured within white-ball boundaries. Despite being part of global tournaments regularly since 1996, the Netherlands are yet to gain ICC Full-Member status. Test cricket, van Beek insists, is not an immediate ambition - a sentiment that does make sense in the current climate. "There's no first-class cricket in the Netherlands," he pointed out. "No one plays red-ball cricket at all. There's only a couple of us that play first-class cricket in the squad. So I think right now, I think our focus is on T20 and 50 overs and making the final stages of these tournaments. And if we can make the final stages of these tournaments, then our push is that sponsors, funding, our ranking goes up, and we get more funding through that way. I think Test Cricket at this stage is not a focus because it could be one of those things where we do really well, we get qualified, and then we play one Test in two years, which doesn't help.

"For example, in my situation, I obviously play in New Zealand as a first-class cricketer, and if the Dutch get first-class or full-member status, then I will become an overseas (cricketer) in New Zealand. So then I can't play first class cricket in New Zealand. And then I have to only play one day and T20 for the Dutch. So I think right now it works well for the Dutch that guys can come in, play and then also go back to their kind of local nations, be a first-class cricketer. So maybe down the track, but right now T20 and one day it works well."

In the shorter formats, though, growth has been tangible - particularly in squad depth. When Ryan Cook took charge in 2022, van Beek recalls the player pool was limited. "It was like, these are the 15 guys, regardless of what happens," he said. Four years on, that landscape has shifted. Performances on the global stage have drawn attention from players with Dutch passports around the world. Competition for places has intensified. "Now that pool of players has got bigger," van Beek noted. "There have been guys who have just missed out on selection because of that competition. And we need that as a nation."

Depth remains a work in progress, but standards have risen. Outside World Cups, there has been a concerted effort to broaden the base. "One of our goals is not only to come here and compete, but we also want to be able to pick the best side. So it's a challenge, it's tough, but Cookie [Cook] and his group has, outside of World Cups, have made a big push to build that pool of players to be better cricketers. And so then when we come back and play the club cricket or there's the inter-squad series or the World Cricket League 2, guys have been given chances at different spots and to see if they can step up."

As the Netherlands prepare to face the USA - another team charting its own growth curve - van Beek's words echo beyond a single fixture. They speak of a cricketing nation striving for relevance while remaining grounded in terms of ambition. In a format that can turn in five minutes, resilience may yet prove to be the Dutch's most enduring asset.