The Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond (Royal Dutch Cricket Board) awarded central contract to three players in January 2010. The board had never before given its players contracts and was a step towards making the team professional, so that players could spend more time honing their skills without having to balance another job. Along with captain Peter Borren and batsman Eric Szwarczynski, de Grooth was one of the three players. The England Cricket Board launched a new one-day competition, the Clydesdale Bank 40, in 2010. As well as the 18 first-class teams from England and Wales, two overseas teams were invited to participate. The Netherlands and Scotland made up the final two teams. The Netherlands lost all but two of their twelve matches; they won one and the other was ended in no result. From the five matches he played in de Grooth scored 34 runs from three innings.