At Saturday's KNCB general members meeting, held at the Huis van de Sport in Nieuwegein, a comparatively congenial meeting was somewhat overshadowed by uncertainty regarding the financial situation in 2016. Though far from the principal focus of discussion, the gap in the budget left by the end of TAPP funding and the loss of dutch cricket's two principal sponsors, ABN AMRO and SMT Shipping, was by some distance the most significant issue to arise at the meeting.

Following a minute's silence to commemorate those the dutch cricket community has lost in the past year, Chairman Jacques Mulders' opening remarks took in the highlights (Bangladesh) and lowlights (New Zealand) of the international season, as well as sundry domestic developments. Having caused such a stir at the April ALV, the beleaguered plan for a National Performance Centre at Kampong, now understood to be indefinitely on hold, was adroitly glossed over.

The distribution of awards and champions certificates passed without incident, though the annual presentation of the venerable Kleefstra Almanac was accompanied by a sternly worded dressing down directed at clubs from the Archives Committee's Ted Hartman, prompted by the less than reliable submission of scorecards. An exasperated detailing of the difficulties of compiling the almanac in the absence of said data was met with a familiar declamation on the shortcomings of e-cricket, the system currently in use for the submission of scorecards. The matter was taken under advisement.

Other matters to feature prominently at the gathering were the confirmation of Mulders in his position as chairman, reelected by acclaim to another year-long term, and the affirmation that Anton Roux's position as head coach of the national side was likewise secure, at least up until the conclusion of World Cricket League Division Two in January of next year, and that no active search was being conducted for a replacement.

Vice Chairman Rod Lyall and Development Manager Marike Dickmann presented the second phase of the Youth Plan, along with a review of the first phase - generally seen as a qualified success - though the difficulties of retaining introducees, involving parents, and building links between clubs and schools were raised again. The previous phase fell short of its ambitious targets in overall youth numbers - where it had envisaged a 50% increase - though the more modest growth achieved was nonetheless a marked improvement on the decline of preceding years. The next phase is equally ambitious, envisaging a 10% year-on year increase in number of teams and players, to reach the target of 1,500 youth players by 2018, and bolstering the flow of players from junior sides to into senior competition.

The plan certainly generated a great deal of interest, and though responses ranged from the cautiously enthusiastic to the skeptical, the level of scrutiny certainly demonstrates that the importance of youth development is broadly recognised. Indeed the €25,000 youth fund, made available to clubs in the last plan (of which a substantial portion went unclaimed) was one of the most discussed points of Amit Parulekar's budget presentation.

The previous ALV in April had not featured an explicit budget presentation, an omission made inevitable by the lack of certainty regarding the future extent of ICC funding following the Netherlands loss of ODI status, and the likely exit of ABN AMRO as the KNCB's main sponsor. Parulekar's budget confirmed what was already widely known, namely that 2015 would be the last year of the ABN AMRO deal, and that secondary sponsors SMT Shipping would also be parting ways with the KNCB. Also entering its last year is the ICC's TAPP funding, which at $500,000 currently makes up a significant chunk of the KNCB annual budget. As yet it remains unclear what programmes, if any, will replace TAPP. Though a revised and expanded scorecard grant is rumoured to be in development, little concrete information has leaked out of Dubai thus far.

The financial forecast and budget only went as far as 2015, detailing the minor contraction in the budget and the various belt-tightening measures taken to ensure a modest surplus would nonetheless be maintained. The question of the forecast for the following year was raised only once following the presentation. In a deft display of circumlocutory panache, the soon-to-be-reconfirmed chairman avoided giving any substantial comment on the issue except to say that speculation at this stage was of little value given the dependence of the KNCB's position viz-a-viz the ICC on the result to emerge from WCL2 in Namibia next January.

Though none of those present seemed inclined to further press the matter, nonetheless the 2016 budget remained the elephant in the room. With TAPP funding entering its final year, and ABN AMRO also parting ways with the KNCB in 2015, an $~800,000 hole appears in the budget, and at this point there is little to fill it but speculation. The search for a sponsor to replace AMRO and SMT is ongoing, and the Member of the Board for Marketing & Sponsoring - Leo de Jong - assured the assembly that an experienced professional is dedicated full-time to the task (though de Jong declined to name him directly, this is understood to be Dutch Team and Sponsorship Manager Ed van Nierop). In this regard however, the inherent uncertainty in the international calendar makes the task difficult in the extreme. Without any assurance of making the next cycle of the World Cricket League division one, the value of a national team sponsorship deal is difficult to estimate.

Likewise on-field success or failure will inevitably dictate in some measure the extent of future funding from the ICC, though at this stage it is impossible to be sure exactly how. Doubtless TAPP will be replaced with some manner of funding structure for top Associates; if rumours are to be believed a revised and extended scorecard grant, split into development and performance components, is the most likely format. No details are currently known however, and the comparative nature of the scorecard system implies that an element of competition with other associates both on and off the field will introduce still greater uncertainties.

The upshot of all this is thus a critical but currently still nebulous financial dependence on the outcome of the coming tournament in Namibia and, should the new scorecard structure finally be adjusted to take some account of T20 performance, the WT20 qualifier in Scotland and Ireland next summer.

The equanimity with which the delegates received these worrisome developments is no doubt to an extent due to the fact that none of them were remotely unexpected. Nonetheless the lack of questions from the floor on the progress of the hunt for sponsors or the future of ICC funding could equally be seen as a reflection of clubs' lack of investment and interest in, or worse still cynicism about, the national set-up in general - which in and of itself is as much a cause for concern as any possible future financial tribulations.