Former international player Engelbrecht to succeed Scholte as Board Member High Performance Royal Dutch Cricket Association KNCB

Engelbrecht (36) had an atypical cricket career. He was born in Johannesburg in 1988, played for South Africa U19, but a persistent shoulder injury seemed to shorten his cricket career.

In 2021, he moved to the Netherlands to work for investment company Fairtree. Sybrand has ten years experience in financial services as an investment specialists with eight years working for Fairtree.

In addition, he rediscovered his passion for cricket at Voorburg CC, where he performed so well that he was selected for the Dutch team in 2023. He played at the ICC men’s Cricket World Cup in India in 2023 and the T20 World Cup in the United States and the West Indies in 2024. Eventually Engelbrecht played twelve ODIs (av. 35.00) and twelve T20Is (av. 31.11) for the Dutch national team.  

Sybrand comments: "When the opportunity came around to serve the institution and people who gave me an opportunity to realise my cricketing dream, I was excited and grabbed it with both hands. Serving on the Board in the capacity for High Performance, I am excited to work closely with all the stakeholders in Dutch cricket, to improve the development pipeline, and drive performance across the men’s and women’s game.”

“We have a lot of work to do and there are a lot of challenges, but implementing a values-based approach and acting with integrity and excellence will be the only way we can drive the business forward. Dutch cricket has potential, but our goal as a collective will be to professionalise, commercialise and implement strong organisational structures, that will create an environment for all involved to realise their dreams. Let’s get to work!”

Photo credit: ICC/Getty images