Rod Lyall 20/08/18
VOC Rotterdam underlined their position as newly-crowned Topklasse champions with an emphatic win over bottom-placed Punjab Rotterdam at Hazelaarweg on Sunday, and in doing so ensured that their opponents would, partly in the light of results elsewhere, be relegated to the Hoofdklasse next season.
The champions gave a demonstration of their batting strength by compiling an imposing 283 for five, with Dirk van Baren making 47, Max O’Dowd contributing 33, and then skipper Pieter Seelaar (62) and keeper Scott Edwards (72 not out) sharing a fifth-wicket stand of 102.
Stef Myburgh and Ali Raza once again got Punjab off to a flying start when they replied, but once Raza had gone Myburgh found it difficult to maintain the momentum, and he eventually fell to O’Dowd for 59.
O’Dowd then ran through the Punjab lower and middle order to finish with figures of six for 42, and with Jelte Schoonheim taking three for 33 the wooden-spooners were dismissed for 175, giving VOC victory by 108 runs.
At Craeyenhout, meanwhile, Quick Haag were putting themselves out of danger with an 18-run win against neighbours HBS, although they had some nervous moments along the way.
Their innings was something of a stop-start affair, but Sean Davey saw them through to a decent total of 243, making 79 himself and sharing in a 73-run stand for the fourth wicket with Lesley Stokkers (39) after Jay Bista had contributed 37 at the top of the order.
The wickets were shared among the HBS bowlers, with Wessel Coster, Farshad Khan, Ferdi Vink and Julian de Mey picking up a brace apiece.
After the early dismissal of the openers HBS were given a solid base by Adil Ahmed (43) and Navjit Singh, who put on 80 for the third wicket, setting the stage for a typically whirlwind knock from Tobias Visée, whose 69 came from just 29 deliveries and included seven fours and five sixes.
The Craeyenhout side seemed to be cruising, but Visée’s dismissal, the first of three victims for former international seamer Edgar Schiferli, returning to Quick’s first team after a three-year absence, was the cue for a dramatic collapse in which seven wickets fell for 24 runs.
Singh went for 79, bowled by Davey, and Wesley Barresi, batting at eight, ran out of partners as his side was dismissed for 225. Schiferli finished with three for 45.
The other possible candidates for relegation, ACC lost to HCC at Het Loopveld West, but were relieved of any remaining peril by Punjab’s defeat.
In a match reduced to 48 overs after overnight rain had left the pitch damp and slippery at first, ACC were unable to take advantage of skipper Saqib Zulfiqar’s decision to bat first, and were dismissed for a disappointing 121.
Opener Rehmat Zulfiqar batted almost throughout for his 38, while veteran Ahmed Zulfiqar added a run-a-ball 27 before he was run out.
Ryan Ninan took three for 27 for HCC, and also took three catches, one of them off his own bowling.
Sikander Zulfiqar removed both openers when HCC replied, but Tonny Staal and Bryce Street set about righting the ship, and after Staal had been run out Street and Boris Gorlee saw their side home to a seven-wicket victory, Street finishing on 59 not out and Gorlee on 30.
Excelsior ’20 Schiedam reinforced their claim to a top-four place by overwhelming Sparta 1888 at Thurlede, thanks in large measure to an unbeaten 142 from Tim Etman, who batted throughout the innings as the home side ran up 250 for six.
Remarkably, Excelsior then bowled Sparta out for 41, exactly the same total they had themselves been dismissed for in the corresponding fixture in Capelle a/d IJssel in June.
Only Atse Buurman, with 27, reached double figures in the Sparta innings, which included six ducks. Gijs Kroesen claimed two early wickets, but the main destroyers were James Hilditch and Lorenzo Ingram, with four for 15 and four for 9 respectively.
Like the match at Het Loopveld, Dosti United’s game against VRA Amsterdam was also rain-affected, and reduced in this case to 45 overs.
Batting first, Dosti made 202 for seven, Mohammad Hafeez making 60 before hitting a return catch to Peter Borren, who claimed three for 24 and brought his tally of wickets in the competition to exactly 300.
Hafeez was supported by Kuldeep Diwan (32), who has against joined Dosti as an end-of-season replacement for Taruwar Kohli.
Ben Cooper then steered VRA to a five-wicket victory with an unbeaten 84, he and Mitch Lees adding 66 in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand.
TKcricket 
Hi Rod, Kuldeep Diwan was the overseas players for Dosti 2 this season. So I guess he has just moved up a team to accomodate the vacant space made by Kohlis departure.
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