Bertus de Jong 27/04/2024
It’s been a dispiritingly damp start to the Dutch season, with less than half the 320 overs of cricket scheduled for round one played last Saturday, and three matches washed out altogether. The question of when or whether the three matches that didn’t happen at Thurlede will be played has been tentatively answered in part, with Excelsior-VOC pencilled in for May 5th andExcelsior Punjab for the 10th. No word as yet on when VOC-Punjab will happen but it doesn’t look likely to be this weekend. That leaves us with the seven games scheduled for Round 2, though a glance at the weather forecast suggests we’ll be lucky to get those all played on Sunday too.
The day’s triple-header is slated to be hosted at VRA, though the fitness of the square at Amsterdamse Bos is also in question, with a pro-series game relocated to Westvliet on Tuesday and yesterday’s game abandoned owing to persistent damp patches at either end of the square. Whether VRA will be able to host Sparta and Hermes on the turf wicket is thus doubtful though the ever-optimistic word from the ground is that conditions underfoot should be alright if conditions overhead are too.
Be it on turf or mat VRA will be keen to get points on the board after a late surge from Wes Barresi and Kyle Klein last week saw HBS take the two on offer at Craeyenhout. The Amsterdammers nonetheless look in decent shape with the bat, Vikram Singh in the runs both in pre-seasona dn pro-series while Elijah Eales showed off some of his destructive potential last Saturday. They’ll be without Johan Smal again however, the deputy skipper out for at least four weeks due to an injury picked up on a soft outfield in pre-season. Containement with the ball also looks to be an issue, the new slow bowling section going at more than 2 runs a ball last week, though VRA’s bigger boundaries may help somewhat there.
They’ve a tough assignment for their first home series though, taking on Sparta 1888 in the morning game and then Hermes DVS in the evening. Sparta made light work of a bedraggled-looking Salland outfit at home last weekend, before cuccumbing to Voorburg in the afternoon. Their batting is a worry, succumbing at the first real test, but the seam attack especially looks a handful. Old international Ahsan Malik has clearly lost none of his guile, picking up six wickets last Saturday, while Belgium’s Khalid Ahmadi has also hit the ground running. If new overseas Riley Mudford can recover some of his pre-season form with the bat the Spartans have a serious shot at taking four points from the Bos, but they do look reliant on their top order.
Hermes too will fancy their chances of maintaining a perfect record, though they only had the one game on Saturday, and a rain-shortened on at that, the Sky Blue Schiedammers look right at home back in the top flight. Newcomer CP Klijnhans kicked off his Topklasse career with a blistering ton, ably supported by Spanish international Daniel Doyle Calle, who looks set to play akey role for Hermes again. Skipper Sebastiaan Braat also looked in fine form with willow in hand, and though the lower order didn’t get a run-out the monstrous 239-3 total in 19 overs against HCC doesn’t look like a one-off.
HCC meanwhile have two games to host at the ever accurately-named Diepput, welcoming first HBS Craeyenhout and then Excelsior ‘20 for the moning ang afternoon games respectively. Word is the ground is in worse shape even than VRA, and we may be in for an ECN-style situation on the second field bowling from one end only. The question of whether such innovation is technically permitted by the playing conditions is left as an exercise to the reader, but given the abysmal excuse for an April we’ve had this masthead’s position is “desperate times…
There’s not much to be gleaned from HCC’s abreviated opening games other than that the bowling is a vulnerability, with young Teun Leijer’s efforts with the ball the only positive to take from there trip to Hermes. HBS’ bowlers also took a pounding last week of course, and weather permitting we may well be in for something of a slog-off at de Diepput first up. Excelsior of course are entirely untested in competitive play this season, with both matches cancelled in Round 1 and none of the squad getting picked up for the Pro-Series, so we can only refer the reader to out pre-season preview there.
We’ve two more orphan matches in the afternoon to look forward too, which arguably have the best chance of actually getting played. First off VOC Rotterdam welcome Salland to Hazelaarweg, which we hear has weathered the weather rather better than some other grass clubs. VOC haven’t had a game yet either of course, though Arnav Jain got on the pitch for the Seafarers on Tuesday. He did basically fine, but his 4* off 3 with the bat and 2 wicketless overs for 15 tells us little really, so again the pre-season preview may be more illuminating on how VOC are shaping up. Salland’s two matches on Saturday tell us more, but little good. Skittle for 84 and 120 by Sparta and VCC, alland looked a long way from competitive in either game. Two positives did come in the form of the two newcomers we tipped in the preview, Acelan Pruss scoring a rearguard half-century against Voorburg and Shahir Malikzai bagging a couple of wickets against Sparta. All told though they’ll start every match this season as underdogs and their game against VOC is no exception.
Finally Punjab-Ghausia will take on Voorburg at the Zomercomplex, the former also still waiting on their first game while Voorburg are already two from two at the top of the table. Punjab have had three players involved in the Pro-Series during the week, though Saqib Zulfiqar’s 39 off 22 for the Seafarers was the only performance of note. Whether Shoaib Minhas and Jonathan Vandiar will be available Sunday is probably the biggest question hovering over the game, as one suspects Punjab will need all hands on deck to test the defending 50-over Champions. Voorburg will be without pace spearhead Viv Kingma, who is nursing a side-niggle, and though Ryan Klein has been bowling in the nets he’s unlikely to take the ball on Sunday. Logan van Beek is in town and on the list of course, but a surprise appearance for his old club would be just that. VCC have pace depth however, Mees van Vliet likely will presumably the new ball while youngsters Tom de Leede and Michael Molenaar may feature more prominently, with Michael Levitt also a dpendable option. It’s Levitt’s form with the bat that will worry Punjab more however, the Netherlands opener carrying his form from Nepal into pre-season, Pro-Series and Topklasse. Plenty of action to look forward to all told if the weather allows, but it’s hard to see Voorburg getting knocked off the top of the table this week.
Rod Lyall è in vacanza
TKcricket 