Dutch national coach Paul-Jan Bakker has sprung a surprise by including VRA's 33-year-old leg-spinner Mangesh Panchal as a replacement for Muhammad Kashif in the side for next week's Intercontinental Cup match against Canada at King City, Ontario.

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Panchal has been in The Netherlands since 1997. He played first for Bijlmer, and then for Dosti when the two clubs amalgamated in 2006, moving to VRA last winter.

His bowling this season has been a revelation, and he has been among the Hoofdklasse's leading wicket-takers: he currently tops the national averages with 19 wickets at 10.89.

Panchal's selection for the ICup match is a bold move, and is surprising because he comes from outside the Dutch training squad announced by Bakker just a couple of weeks ago. But with four wickets in each of his last three games, his form makes him an obvious choice.

Because of business commitments, Panchal will return to Amsterdam after the four-day game, missing the two ODIs which follow. But with Billy Stelling and Darron Reekers available for those matches two players from the ICup game are in any case likely to miss out.

Paul-Jan Bakker said on Thursday that he was delighted that Panchal was available.

'Spinners can have a huge impact on these games,' he said, 'and we need somebody who can get into a groove and bowl a lot of overs if necessary.'

Bakker added that he was impressed by Panchal's control and variation, and that he was willing to look outside the list of established players in order to bring in anyone who was performing well at club level.

'We want the clubs to be more active in drawing possible candidates to our attention,' he said. 'We need specific players for specific situations, and with Kashif's withdrawal Panchal is a player in form who can fill the gap.'