Bertus de Jong 16/04/2024
Just three years on from winning the title, this season’s VRA Amsterdam side are all but unrecognisable. Of the side that lifted the T20 Cup at the end of the summer of 2020, fewer than half are still on VRA’s books, and of those most are unlikely to feature much for the first XI this year.
Netherlands all-rounder Teja Nidamanuru, who takes on the captaincy full-time this season, recognises the challenge of reshaping a side still emerging from the long shadow cast by his predecessor Peter Borren. “For us this season it’s about firmly establishing and our identity and way of playing” he tells TKcricket. Nidamanuru isn’t quite starting with a clean slate, there’s a few survivors from the previous era, not least sometime captain and Netherlands bat Vikram Singh, his opening partner Shirase Rasool, and left arm seamer Ashir Abid, but the trio will be in the minority as the Amsterdam club rings the changes.
A host of new arrivals will replace or displace some familiar faces at the Bos, with Aryan Dutt departing for Hermes, Mitch Lees and Quirijn Gunning retired to Bloemendaal, while club stalwart Leon Turmaine leads a substantial contingent down to strengthen the seconds; Jack Balbirnie, Luke Scully, Debrup Dasgupta and Udit Nashier amongst those slated to spend much of their season turning out for the twos.
In their place come Dutch international spinners Clayton Floyd and Shariz Ahmad, transfering from HCC and VCC respectively, while overseas bat Johan Smal returns alongside new three new in signings Sint Maarten-born keeper-bat Demari Prince, seam all-rounder Elijah Eales and left-arm quick Ben Fletcher. Prince will take over the gloves from Lees and Scully, while Fletcher (also a Dutch passport-holder) will likely open the bowling alongside Abid. Meanwhile Eales, a right-arm seam all-rounder (and son of former Australia rugby captain John Eales) has already demonstrated an ability to hit a very long ball in pre-season.
Despite the strength of the squad on paper, Nidamanuru is not looking at silverware as the first yardstick of success, “we’re of course going to look to put ourselves in a position to play for championships, but the priority is not to put a team together for one season. A lot of these guys are Dutch passport-holders and will be looking to push on to higher honours, so while there’s been a lot of changes we’re hoping to keep this team together for a long time.”
Young prospects: Though the influx of talent will likely keep many of VRA’s youth players out of the side at least as long as they’re at full strength, there’s no shortage of youngsters waiting in the wings. “In the starting squad, Shirase Rasool is one to watch out for this season” says Nidamanuru, “the guys coming up – Ibaad (Zaidi), I like what I’m seeing – he’s got a lot of time when he bats. I don’t understand how he hasn’t played age group. He’ll play for sure if we lose a few players to World Cup duty. Adam Constant will likely be batting three for the seconds, he averaged around forty last year, he’s one that could definitely step up too.”
T20 Record: 2023 GS (5th) | ’22 QF | ’21 QF | ’20 TKC | ’19 QF | ’18 QF | ’17 QF | ’16 QF | ’15 RU | ’14 SF
Despite their recent success in the longer format, VCC have rarely been more than also-rans (if that) in the T20 competition. The Topklasse 50-over champions have moreover seen something of an exodus over the winter, and despite boasting an admirable depth and youth production line, the Voorburg club does look to be heading into something of a transitional season for 2024.
They will do so under new leadership, with keeper-bat Noah Croes taking over the captaincy from SA Engelbrecht. While the pair’s fellow Netherlands international Logan van Beek remains on the roster, it’s not clear how much the all-rounder will play this summer. Similarly legspinner Flip Boissevain’s availability is likely to be limited as he pursues as career in New Zealand, and Karl Niuewoudt has hung up his boots too.
Brothers Musa and Shariz Ahmad have also departed, the former for Punjab and the latter for VRA, opening further gaps both at the top of the order and in the spin section. Former HBS overseas Gavin Kaplan arrives to fill the former, while long-serving legspin understudy Floris de Lange will be shouldering more responsinbility with the ball, as may former Dutch youth all-rounder Nehaan Gigani.
VCC retain the services of in-form opening bat Michael Levitt as well as seam pair Vivian Kingma and Ryan Klein, though the latter’s fitness is a worry ahead of the season and all three are in contention for national call-ups at the back end of the competition. Rangy right-armer Mees van Vliet may well feature more prominently for the first team to cover, and indeed there’s more than a few young players who will likely get the chance to cement a a spot in the senior side this season.
“We’re quietly confident,” Croes says, “we’ve still got the core and a really good squad, with the experience of some of our Dutch guys over the last months out in South African and Nepal we’ve got a lot of good players in form, and Ryan Klein back from injury is a big bonus. It’s a good mix of younsters and senior guys, we’ll be in amongst iot for sure and hopefully holding some more silverware at the end of the T20 season.”
Young prospects: As a reliable supplier of talent to both the Netherlands age-group and senior teams, VCC are almost spoilt for choice in terms of young talent to fill the gaps that have opened in the senior side. Of the de Leede clan, Tom and perhaps Stijn look set to make the step up to the senior side, while Alejo Nota is also pushing for a spot.
Opening bat Cedric de Lange has already appeared for the firsts on more than a few occasions, and joining him back at Voorburg this season will be his Dutch under 19s team-mate Michael Molenaar, returning to the old country from South Africa, who Croes also tips to impress. “For us a a club it’s great to see the youngrsters coming up through the ranks; Molenaar, de Leede, de Lange, Nota are all really exctiting prospects for us as a club and I think you’ll be seeing those names over the course of the season, which is really exciting for Dutch cricket.”
T20 Record: 2023 GS (6th) | ’22 QF | ’21 GS | ’20 SF | ’19 QF | ’18 ⅛F | ’17 GS | ’16 N/A | ’15 GS | ’14 GS
TKcricket 