There is no reason why we can't knock Bangladesh off tomorrow: Tom Cooper
And Bangladesh is one of the teams other than Zimbabwe that Netherlands target to beat, revealed Cooper.
Netherlands' experienced batter Tom Cooper oozed with confidence to beat Bangladesh in their first game of the Super 12s tomorrow at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart and also insisted that if they win the game, it shouldn't be tagged as upset.
He said, Netherlands came here to compete, not just to increase the number of the teams.
"We come into this tournament looking to compete. We snuck through with a bit of luck on that final day. But now that we are here in the Super 12s, we are looking to compete. Hopefully we can start off well against Bangladesh tomorrow," Cooper said here today.
And Bangladesh is one of the teams other than Zimbabwe that Netherlands target to beat, revealed Cooper.
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"There are some strong sides in the Super 12s stage, but we like our chances [against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe]. We've come off a few competitive games, and Bangladesh are just starting out. They have had a game washed out, and just one practice game," he said.
" We will hit the ground running. You guys suggested it will be an upset, but we don't see it that way. We are here to compete. We have gotten close against these guys in the past. I don't see any reason that we can't knock them off tomorrow."
Like the Australian land, Netherlands journey to the Super 12s was also a rocky one as they were not supposed to make it. Instead Namibia were the strong contenders after upending Sri Lanka in the first game. Netherlands however beat Namibia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) and then got a touch of luck when UAE beat Namibia to help them go through the next round.
"There's no such thing as an easy game. We will take a lot of confidence from the competitive games (in the first round), and this being their first game, hopefully we can catch them a bit off-guard, and start our campaign off nicely in the Super 12s stage," Cooper disclosed.
"We come here with a lot of confidence. We played a lot of cricket against the big teams this summer. We had the chance to knock them off, so we are taking that experience into this tournament. We are here to compete, not just to make up numbers. It starts with Bangladesh."
