“Something special”. That’s the performance Bas de Leede had promised his teammates ahead of the Netherlands’ must-win clash against Scotland in the ICC (ODI) World Cup Qualifier in Harare.

The young seamer all-rounder then made sure he kept his promise, taking 5/52 and hitting a 92-ball 123 back on Thursday that earned the Netherlands the flight to India for this year’s World Cup.

De Leede became only the fourth player in men's ODI history to pick up a five-for and score a century in the same game. But what mattered more was winning the World Cup berth, that too with a team which did not have some of their regulars.

What pulled them through was their team culture, De Leede emphasised. “Obviously, it wasn’t ideal to miss key players in such an important tournament, but all those guys who were available have stood up and performed in moments when we needed,” De Leede, 23, told The Telegraph late on Saturday night.

“The team culture that has been built in the past couple of months has been amazing and has definitely been a key aspect to our success,” De Leede, who idolises former Netherlands and Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate, pointed out.

He had to miss Sunday’s final against Sri Lanka though, owing to his commitments with Durham. As per his contract with the county side, De Leede had to leave for England immediately after the Netherlands had qualified for the World Cup.

His country may lack cricketing infrastructure, but is not short in motivation, De Leede, whose father Tim played in the 1996 World Cup, said.

“The motivation part is quite easy. Everyone loves cricket and that is the main reason. To be able to play cricket internationally with ‘a group of mates’, as we call each other, is fantastic. We have a lot of detailed training sessions to prepare ourselves in order to achieve what we want in tournaments like World Cups,” De Leede, who is pursuing a course on business administration at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, said.