In an alternate timeline in the space-time continuum, Ian Holland and Matthew Breetzke might be USA teammates. Instead, neither the Washington Freedom nor the Seattle Orcas star are playing for USA, albeit for very different reasons.   

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
The back end of Friday night’s 2026 Major League Cricket doubleheader at Grand Prairie Stadium provided a curious contrast in the fortunes of a star player on each side of the field: domestic allrounder Ian Holland of the Washington Freedom and South African overseas batter Matthew Breetzke of Seattle Orcas. In an alternate universe, both may have represented USA at the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. But in the modern-day reality of this weekend in Texas, neither is the case albeit for different reasons. 
 
When it comes to Holland, his journey to international cricket is a fairly unique one. Born in Wisconsin to an American mom and an Australian dad who also held British heritage, Holland is a rare three-passport holder and somehow none of those are tied to his nickname, “Dutchy”. His family moved to Australia when he was a baby and he was raised in Victoria and it was there that he first achieved notoriety as a 21-year-old through a reality TV cricket talent search called, “Cricket Superstar”. 
 
But over the last 15 years his career has been more of a journeyman than superstar. While getting sporadic opportunities playing in Victoria’s Under-23 side and against some overseas touring sides such as the England Lions, he couldn’t make it as a regular in the state first XI. Having already spent several summers as an overseas pro in the UK playing just north of Blackpool at Fleetwood CC, he continued to utilize his British passport to secure County opportunities and has been a fixture on the County cricket scene over the last decade while hopping between Hampshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. 
 
Then came the autumn of 2019, just after USA had secured ODI status at WCL Division Two in Namibia, when Holland and fellow Victorian dual-national Cameron Stevenson were picked to represent USA for the first time at the CWI Super50 tournament in Trinidad. A few months later, Holland made his ODI debut in Nepal. On a tour most often remembered for USA’s embarrassing 35 all out nadir in the final ODI loss to Nepal in the last match they played before the Covid pandemic halted international cricket, Holland was one of the few USA squad members who could hold his head high after receiving a standing ovation from a partisan Kathmandu crowd at Tribhuvan University Stadium while walking off the field after top-scoring with a gritty and defiant 75 in a separate USA loss to Nepal when USA’s next best score on the day were the team’s 20 runs in extras. 
 
Such performances portended a long and fruitful run for Holland in the USA side, at least when available around County cricket commitments. In his debut T20I tour for USA when they went to Antigua for an ICC Americas Regional T20 World Cup Qualifier just after Covid, Holland was arguably USA’s player of the tournament when they topped Bermuda, Canada and others to win the qualifier where he took 10 wickets at an average of 8.90 in six matches with a 3.86 economy rate across 23 overs. 
 
Mystifyingly, his debut T20I tournament with USA in 2021 is also the only time he’s ever been picked to play for USA in the format, and he hasn’t played for USA at all since touring Namibia in November 2022. 
 
“To be honest, it’s probably not on my radar,” said Holland in Friday night’s post-match press conference when asked if being snubbed by USA selectors was a source of motivation for him as he continues to perform well in MLC for the Freedom, having taken 2 for 20 off 3.4 overs, a 5.45 economy rate on a night where every other Freedom bowler leaked runs at more than twice his rate while Orcas chased a target of 217 with 14 balls to spare. 
 
“I was quite bullish probably this time last year leading into the World Cup and then I guess post MLC, [had] some conversations and I don’t feel like that door is open for me unfortunately. I’ve been involved in the USA setup. I’m hopeful that things might change for the good especially for the good young players coming through in the future because there is so much local talent. But I think for me personally, unfortunately my time is probably done with the USA cricket team.”
 
For those who were living in a cave during MLC 2025, Holland was an indispensable part of the defending champion Freedom side’s march back to the tournament final where they eventually fell short in the final over by five runs to MI New York. Holland took 11 wickets in ten innings at an average of 16.63 and an economy of 7.32 across 25 overs. Among domestic pace bowlers, he finished second behind only LA Knight Riders allrounder Shadley van Schalkwyk, who took 14 wickets but also had a much higher average (26.07) and economy rate (10.52). 
 
As most people who tuned in for the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup are already well aware, van Schalkwyk wound up being a tournament sensation after bagging back to back 4 for 24 performances against India and Pakistan to start off the event. While some might view Holland and van Schalkwyk as competing for the same role in the team as a middle overs change of pace option behind Saurabh Netravalkar and Ali Khan, there’s no reason why they could not have played alongside each other in tandem.
 
Instead, Holland was left at home. According to multiple sources at the time the USA World Cup squad was announced, a justification given for not picking Holland was that he would not commit to playing for USA if it conflicted with County commitments whereas USA wanted Holland to make himself available for all USA matches and not just the World Cup. 
 
However, when asked on Friday night in Texas if he wanted to still play for USA but the feeling was not being reciprocated to him by USA team management, Holland took a pause before blurting out a slightly choked up, “Yeah, that’s correct,” into the microphone on the podium
 
If so, it’s disheartening situation and one lacking foresight from those in charge, but also a situation not entirely surprising considering the extensively documented history of American cricket administrative malpractice. Holland is only 35, two years younger than van Schalkwyk. But more importantly in the context of the LA 2028 Summer Olympics, Holland is an American citizen while van Schalkwyk is not. The same is true of others such as Netravalkar, Shubham Ranjane and Ehsan Adil who have been bowling the bulk of USA’s pace overs on recent ODI tours but will not be able to play for USA in Los Angeles based on the difference between ICC eligibility and IOC eligibility to represent a national team. 
 
The reality is that USA may need Holland, and quite badly, in two summers from now when all eyes in the cricket world will be on the new cricket venue in Pomona, California. But judging from Holland’s comments, it sounds like that bridge to Holland has not just been burned by American cricket officials but positively napalmed. Time will tell if it can somehow be rebuilt over the next 24 months because if Holland continues to perform like he did in Freedom’s first match of 2026 the way he did across the summer of 2025, his continued exclusion by USA will only look worse and worse. 
 
“Personally, I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity with the Washington Freedom over the last couple of years,” Holland said. “The coaching staff have been great in upskilling me with my plans and that sort of execution has probably taken a bit of time. My first year with the Freedom, I wasn’t quite where I am at the moment. But I think I’ve got real clarity with the sort of way that I bowl through the middle and a lot of confidence instilled from the coaching staff and my teammates. So I’m really enjoying just the clarity and for whatever reason they seem to be going my way on the scorebook.”
 
On the other side of the field, an identical situation has unfolded in recent years with Orcas batter Breetzke but with the roles slightly reversed. In 2021, ACE and MLC officials were in the early stages of a high level recruitment spending spree as they sought to lure first-class cricketers from other parts of the world to uproot themselves and sign what were initially three-year contracts worth in the neighborhood of $80-100,000 annually to be a part of the MLC vision and potentially go on to represent USA after satisfying the three-year ICC residency qualification period. 
 
MLC officials were able to successfully ink the likes of former India U-19 World Cup winning captain Unmukt Chand, whose first-class career had hit a wall in India, as well as Sami Aslam who had fared in limited opportunities with Pakistan by scoring seven half-centuries in 13 Test matches. 
 
A much bigger talent pipeline was being generated through South Africa. Rusty Theron, who had made his USA debut in 2019 after previously representing South Africa, played a key role in brokering conversations to encourage several of his native countrymen to take a leap of faith and join what was at that stage more of an American dream than a tangible reality with regards to MLC. Among those who signed to make the move were van Schalkwyk, Andries Gous, Cody Chetty, Calvin Savage, Dane Piedt, Corne Dry, Carmi Le Roux and Obus Pienaar. 
 
Breetzke could have joined them too. At that stage, he was a 22-year-old player on the rise in South Africa having been part of his country’s U-19 World Cup squad where he played alongside Gerald Coetzee among others. However, he had yet to make a genuine breakthrough in first-class cricket and was some way off the South Africa senior team radar. 
 
Ultimately, he decided to turn down a three-year contract offer from MLC and stick it out in South Africa. Meanwhile, guys like Gous, Savage, Dry and Chetty – who had all followed a similar South Africa U-19 World Cup pathway without ever making enough of a splash in first-class cricket to crack the senior side – decided to pursue a new life in America. 
 
“It’s a difficult question to answer because in that time I was in a mindframe of wanting to leave and go,” said Breetzke in the post-match press conference on Friday night when asked about his fork in the road moment five years ago. Less than 60 minutes earlier, Breetzke was wrapping up a blistering 66 off 36 balls with six fours and four sixes in his MLC debut innings to help Orcas to victory. In an alternate timeline in the space-time continuum, Friday’s knock might have been at the start of Breetzke’s fourth season in MLC as a local star rather than a first-time overseas signing from South Africa. 
 
“Obviously my primary goal was to play for South Africa and I couldn’t really see that,” said Breetzke. “But just in those initial phases when they were recruiting players, it was still a little bit unsure.” 
 
Breetzke’s decision to bet on himself to come good in South African green rather than chase American greenbacks wound up paying off in the end. In the 2022-23 CSA first-class season, Breetzke finished as the leading scorer with 727 runs for Eastern Province at an average of 60.58 with a competition-leading three centuries and four fifties. Not only did he go on to make his South Africa T20I debut in September 2023 against Australia – and has subsequently represented South Africa in both ODIs and Tests as well – he was scooped up by Lucknow Super Giants in the 2025 IPL Auction and made his debut for them against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2025 season, an opportunity that most certainly would have never come about had he moved to the USA. 
 
It’s easy to say in hindsight that Breetzke would have eventually forced his way into the USA team and been a prolific contributor just like Gous and van Schalkwyk have been for their adopted home. Potentially, Breetzke could have also been lining up alongside Holland in red, white and blue too instead of only facing Holland and Gous on the opposite side of the pitch in neon green franchise colors as he did on Friday night. 
 
But there’s also every possibility that Breetzke may have never made a USA debut based on how he may have adapted and instead been stuck on the periphery alongside a group of almost but not quite senior international players like Chand, Dry, Le Roux, Pienaar and Savage. It was a gamble that Breetzke was not willing to take. Things managed to work themselves out in the end in Breetzke’s pursuit of a South African cap rather than a USA one, and the 27-year-old right-hander has no regrets. 
 
“For me it was, I’m gonna put my head down and work hard to play for South Africa,” Breetzke said on Friday. “That was my mindset. In hindsight, I think it’s been the right call. But yeah I was obviously close and they were trying to recruit me but yeah I decided against it.”
 
Having said that, Breetzke’s arrival to American soil for the first time as an overseas player signing for MLC 2026 has been better late than never based on his initial knock for the Orcas. It’s one that Orcas fans are hoping to see more of, and the man himself sounds keen to make sure that it may be his first but definitely not his last time coming to America. 
 
“Obviously it’s a great opportunity to come to America and play cricket,” Breetzke said. “We’ve seen the past couple of seasons have been awesome. I’ve chatted to the overseas players, Quinny [de Kock] and all these guys that have been here and they’ve loved every minute of it. And so have I. I’ve been here 10 days and I love America. So hopefully I’ll be back, but yeah it’s been awesome so far.”