Rod Lyall 04/06/2023
The undoubted highlight of an absorbing day’s cricket as the Topklasse T20 Cup got under way on Saturday was an astonishing innings from VRA’s Vikram Singh, whose unbeaten 64-ball 161 enabled his side to chase down an imposing HBS total of 223 for four.
Singh brought up his century from just 37 deliveries, almost certainly the fastest in the 17-year history of the Dutch T20 competition, and his complete innings was without question the highest individual score, eclipsing Tobias Visée’s 139 not out for HBS against HCC in 2020.
He struck 19 fours and eleven sixes, completely dominating the innings from the start, hitting six fours off Kyle Klein’s first over.
His partners were essentially spectators from 20 metres away, although he received valuable support from Teja Nidamanuru (24) in a third-wicket stand of 85.
The HBS innings had been more of a team effort, openers Reece Mason (52) and Tim Drummond (72) getting their side off to a good start, and Wesley Barresi (53 not out) and Nic Adendorff (32 not out) adding 72 in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership.
The extraordinary uncertainties of cricket were then illustrated when VRA took on Punjab in the second game of the Craeyenhout triple-header, when Singh, whose three wickets for 26 had helped his side dismiss their opponents for 154, fell to Mohammad Shafiq off the second ball of the VRA reply.
Zamaan Khan made 49 as the Amsterdammers pursued what in the context seemed a fairly modest target, but Punjab’s bowlers maintained the pressure, Shafiq finishing with three for 31, and VRA went into the final over still needing seven for victory.
Sikander Zulfiqar was able to restrict the scoring to four singles, and with Leon Turmaine run out trying to get Johan Smal back on strike, Punjab held on to win by two runs, Smal finishing unbeaten on 37.
Punjab then made it two out of two with a 12-run victory over HBS, a result which was made to seem closer than it really was by a spirited attack in the closing overs from Kyle Klein and Julian de Mey, who added 51 from the last three.
53 from Shoaib Minhas, backed up by 44 from Mohsin Riaz and 41 not out from Sikander Zulfiqar, had enabled Punjab to reach 207 for six against the young HBS attack, and although Mason again gave his side a good start with 42 and Tayo Walbrugh chipped in with a 30-ball 45, at 143 for six HBS had seemed to be heading for a thumping defeat before Klein and De Mey came together to narrow the margin.
If the batters were generally in the ascendant at Craeyenhout, the balance between bat and ball was more even in the other triple header, at De Diepput, and conditions may actually have favoured the bowlers.
The HCC attack certainly found that to be the case after Boris Gorlee had put Excelsior ‘20 in in the opening game, with the spinners Daniel Doram and Clayton Floyd conceding only 16 and 17 respectively in their four-over spells.
Roel Verhagen’s 23-ball 37 was the best effort in Excelsior’s innings, Stan van Troost contributing 31, but HCC’s chief destroyer was Hidde Overdijk, who picked up three wickets in the final over to finish with five for 25 as Excelsior ended on 155 for eight.
The Schiedammers’ bowlers were unable to create the same problems, Ratha Alphonse and Tonny Staal putting on 133 for the first wicket before Staal fell to Umar Baker for 51, and Alphonse went on to make an unbeaten, 56-ball 82 as HCC won by nine wickets with eight deliveries to spare.
Excelsior’s attack was much more effective against Salland, with Baker claiming four for 15 and fellow-spinners Lorenzo Ingram and Verhagen taking the remaining three as, with two run-outs, Salland were bowled out for 136.
Talha Khan’s 58 was the only substantial performance in the Salland innings, Victor Lubbers the next best with 22.
Again, the chase proved much easier, Verhagen (62 from 45 deliveries) and Tim Etman (50 not out from 43) adding 109 for the second wicket, and Excelsior won by eight wickets.
It was HCC’s turn to struggle with the bat when they faced Salland in the third game, and it took Hidde Overdijk’s 31-ball 47 to get them to 145 before they were all out, Ruan du Plessis taking three for 21 for the visitors.
But that turned out to be enough, Talha Khan’s 20 again Salland’s top score as they were bowled out for just 111; after Doram had taken two for 9 in three overs and Jan-Wieger Overdijk two for 20 in four, Patient Charumbira and Daniel Crowley cleaned up the middle and lower order, taking three for 15 and three for 8 respectively.
Leaders in the 50-over Topklasse, Voorburg made the most of the presence of five of their soon-to-be-Zimbabwe-bound internationals, and skittled VOC Rotterdam for 93 at the Hazelaarweg.
Ryan Klein led the way with three for 13, including both openers, and then wrist and paceman -spinners Philippe Boissevain and Shariz Ahmad and paceman Mees van Vliet picked up two apiece, Pieter Seelaar top-scoring for VOC with 18.
VOC’s bowlers struck back as Voorburg hastened towards their target, claiming five wickets, but Noah Croes stood firm with 33 not out, and Voorburg gained a potentially significant net run rate advantage by winning in just 12.4 overs.
It was much closer at the Bermweg, where ACC pipped Sparta 1888 at the post with only one delivery to spare.
Sparta’s 165 for six was built on Garnet Tarr’s 53 and a typically adventurous 28-ball 47 from Ali Raza, but Heino Kuhn, also about to take the plane to Zimbabwe as part of the coaching staff, batted throughout the ACC reply for 73 not out, sharing a 123-run partnership with Thomas Hobson (69 from 40 balls) to set up the win.
TKcricket 