Anita van Lier

Anita van Lier (married name Beecheno-van Lier; born 19 April 1952) is a former Dutch international cricketer who represented the Dutch national team between 1978 and 1993, including as captain for a number of years.

Van Lier made her debut for the Netherlands in 1978, on a tour of England. Her first international appearances came at the 1983 Centenary Tournament in Utrecht (featuring Denmark and Ireland), by which time she had been appointed captain.[1] In August 1984, van Lier was named captain of the Dutch team for its maiden One Day International (ODI) match, a one-off fixture against New Zealand to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the national federation.[2] She opened the batting with Irene Schoof, scoring 45 runs out of a team total of 117 as the Netherlands lost by 67 runs.[3] At the 1986 Women's Quadrangular in Belfast, which included Denmark, England A, Ireland, and the Netherlands, van Lier was the overall leading run-scorer. She finished with 174 runs from three innings, including 56 against Ireland and 100 not out against Denmark.[4]

Captaining the Netherlands at the 1988 World Cup in Australia, van Lier made 159 runs from eight innings, with a highest score of 46 against Ireland. She was the only Dutchwoman to score more than 100 runs.[5] She also bowled the third-highest number of overs for her team, taking three wickets.[6] Van Lier relinquished the captaincy after the World Cup, and did not return to the national line-up until the 1993 World Cup in England, by which time she was 39.[2] However, she had lost none of her form from the previous tournament, finishing as her team's leading wicket-taker and third for runs scored.[7][8] Against the West Indies, she took 4/24 from 8.4 overs, helping the Dutch team to its only victory of the tournament.[9]