The Royal Dutch Cricket Association (KNCB) has appointed Ashley Noffke as Head Coach, Netherlands Men’s Cricket Team, to lead the side into the 2027 ODI and 2028 T20 World Cup qualification. He succeeds Ryan Cook, who is stepping back to spend more time with his family. Noffke has signed an initial two-year contract to the end of 2028.
Noffke, 49, played international cricket for Australia and built a first-class career across Queensland, Western Australia, four English counties: Durham, Middlesex, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire and with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first ever Indian Premier League match in 2008.
Noffke scored 3,766 First Class runs and took 386 wickets, and remains only the third Australian to complete a season double of 500 runs and 50 wickets, a feat that earned him State Player of the Year.
As Head Coach, Noffke won a WBBL title and back-to-back Coach of the Year awards with Brisbane Heat, a WNCL championship with Queensland Fire, and a maiden trophy for London Spirit at The Hundred.
He later led Otago’s men’s programme in New Zealand, extending a coaching career that has spanned Asia, the UK and Australia, before joining the PCB as Assistant Coach and Bowling Lead of Pakistan’s men’s cricket team in 2025, where he worked with Head Coach Mike Hesson to guide the side to the T20 World Cup Super 8s and an Asia Cup final.
Wherever he’s coached, Noffke’s teams have been defined by the same conviction: connection before tactics, culture before results.
Ashley Noffke: “I’m looking forward to working with the Dutch men’s team, which has become a fixture at the T20 World Cups. This is a talented, motivated group, and my goal is to help continue that development and move the programme forward. My approach starts with connection, before the tactic or the plan. I can’t wait to get started.”
KNCB’s CEO Huib van Walsem: “Noffke brings global experience and fourteen championships to this role, and his belief that connection comes before tactics will resonate with this group. We thank Ryan Cook for the huge strides he made with the men’s programme, technically, tactically and in terms of fitness. Noffke doesn’t inherit talent and hope for the best. He builds the environment that talent needs to last, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have him leading that work.”
