RYAN ten Doeschate will make flying visits back to take up one day skipper duties at Essex during the IPL.

The South African-born Dutch international has taken over the captain’s armband in both the 50 and 20 over versions of the game from James Foster for the 2014 season.

However the 33-year-old’s schedule will also see him play for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the glitz and glamour of the Indian Premier League which runs from April 16 until June 1.

This clashes with the first three fixtures of the new T20 Blast competition Essex have.

But ten Doeschate said he would be happy to make the 4,920 trip back to Chelmsford if the Knight Riders are not playing.

Ten Doeschate said: “Ideally I want to be here for every game and if an opportunity comes up, even if it is a difficult task, then I will be looking to fly back in order to lead the team.

“We’ll have to wait and see though as it has to be right for both teams and fit with the schedules, but hopefully we can do it.”

Looking ahead to the season which will be ten Doeschate’s 11th with the Eagles, the all-rounder said he is excited by the challenge of being captain for the first time in cricket since his university days back in South Africa.

He praised the job done before by Foster, who will retain captaincy in the County Championship, saying he has inherited a good ship.

“James did a great job but we felt we needed to freshen things up a bit,” he said.

“I’m not looking to change things around a lot, maybe I’ll just change the atmosphere in the dressing room and how we address preparation, but I don’t think there is a lot to be changed.

“The aim, as always, is to win a trophy particularly in Twenty20 as we’ve been in Finals Day a few times but never made it over the line, so it would be great to do it this year.”

Ten Doeschate arrived in Chelmsford yesterday straight from New Zealand where he had been playing for the Otago Volts.

During his time abroad, the Dutchman helped his side reach the final of the HRV Twenty20 tournament for the second year in a row. But the Volts were unable to defend their crown as they were beaten by five wickets by the Northern Knights.

Echo:

The Netherlands celebrate beating England at the World Twenty 20

TEN DOESCHATE: NETHERLANDS JUST NEED CONSISTENCY NOW

CONSISTENCY is what The Netherlands’ cricket team must work on after beating England according to Essex’s Ryan ten Doeschate.

On Monday the Dutch humilated Stuart Broad’s men as they beat them by 45 runs in the World T20 Cup in Bangladesh.

It comes four years after they beat England at Lords in another World T20 Cup group match which ten Doeschate played in.

He said it was a great feeling to win then and it will be similar for those involved on Monday.

But ten Doeschate believes Holland need to keep building on these successes.

Ten Doeschate said: “I didn’t see the match as I was flying back from New Zealand, but after I saw the scorecard while at Hong Kong airport I sent a couple of the guys tweets to say well done.

“For the Dutch, if you look at past results they’ve shown they can compete and the fact a few players playing professionally has helped.

“To beat any international team is a big feather for the Dutch but now we have to look at becoming more consistent as you don’t want to see international sides get bowled out for 39 like they did earlier in the tournament.”