Not many employees at Tata Steel’s Velsen-Noord office had realised that their new colleague, who joined as a trainee in August 2025, was a former captain of the Netherlands women’s cricket team. Cricket remains a niche sport in the Netherlands. Heather Siegers’ achievement, hence, went unsurprisingly unnoticed.
“My colleagues weren’t aware of my background and any form of cricket, really. Cricket isn’t very big back home and only a few of my colleagues know much about cricket,” Siegers told The Indian Express.
That anonymity, though, would soon end. Her colleagues eventually found out about her alternate identity, and that is when the questions began.
“They were very surprised. They found it really cool. I get a lot of questions about it all the time. Now that I’m back playing, they’ve put up a TV in the break room, where they watch all the games. So it’s very cool,” she said.
In October 2025, Siegers faced a difficult decision. With her dual identity lifestyle proving to be unsustainable, she had to let go of one. It was cricket. With 1,081 T20I runs and 28 wickets to her name, Siegers bowed out of the game in the immediate aftermath of an unbeaten 106 against Germany.
“It was quite tough to combine the two,” she said. “I felt like my social life and my family didn’t get enough of my time and efforts. So choosing a career outside of cricket meant having to give up cricket to be able to be present for my family.”
“I had a lot of free time where I could explore new activities and do more with my family and friends. I picked up dancing classes, which I really enjoyed, and I hope to pick them back up when I retire again from cricket,” she said.
It did not take long for the 29-year-old to withdraw the retirement decision. The Netherlands’ Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier campaign in Nepal, held earlier this year, changed everything.
Retirement reversal
The spark behind the reversal came from Heather’s sister, Silver.
“She reminded me that it was a dream that I’ve had for a very long time, as well as the team performing very well and being in good form,” Siegers said. “And on top of that, the pool that we had for qualification looked very favourable. Therefore, it kind of felt like all the pieces were there to make something good happen.”
Making that comeback also required the backing of an employer willing to accommodate an international athlete chasing one final opportunity.