Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 15/07/23
No sooner are we done with the T20 Cup than we plunge into the second phase of the 50-over Topklasse, with a full round of fixtures scheduled for Sunday in both the Championship and the Relegation pools.
Having made it into the top six, the teams in the Championship pool will now be doing battle for a place in the semi-finals (a.k.a. the first Qualifying Final and the Elimination Final), due to be played on 19 August, and the situation could scarcely be tighter: behind Voorburg, four points clear of Sparta 1888 in second place, there are four sides currently level on points, two of which will ultimately fall by the wayside. Brace yourselves for lots of four-pointers!
RL: The first of these will be at the Hazelaarweg, where VOC Rotterdam will take on ACC. The hosts have the most favourable net run rate at present while the Amsterdammers have the worst, and VOC will also welcome back Max O’Dowd and Scott Edwards from international duty. Their influence, though, great as it could be, may be less significant than the return of Heino Kuhn for ACC, since his influence was sorely missed during a T20 campaign which saw the side relegated. That said, Tim de Kok’s outfit is man-for-man more experienced and more dependable than that of ACC, who punched above their weight in the first phase and may struggle to squeeze into the top four. But Shreyas Potdar is more suited to the longer format, Thomas Hobson will be looking to reproduce his form of last season, and Rahil Ahmed and Mahesh Hans have had the opportinuty during the T20 Cup to mesh more effectively into their new side. Nevertheless, it is VOC who will start as favourites, both here and in the wider struggle for a top-four place (and perhaps even the double chance of reaching the grand final which comes with a spot in the top two).
BdJ: It’s probably worth noting that the disparity in net run rate between the two sides is in large part down to the utter drubbing that VOC administered to their opponents in the first phase, when Edwards and O’Dowd took VOC to 321 before ACC collapsed to 61 all out. Though Kuhn’s return will add some stability to the batting and it’s hard to imagine him falling for single figures again, VOC’s batting has only strengthened as the lower order has had a hit-out in the internationals’ absence. They will certainly have to do without O’Dowd, however, who leaves for Canada tomorrow for the GT20. Edwards is also in doubt, with the Dutch skipper carrying a hmastring niggle.
RL: Beginning the second phase with a two-point insulation from the chasing pack, Sparta 1888 will travel to the Zomercomplex to play Punjab Rotterdam. The Spartans will reportedly be without new-ball bowler Ahsan Malik for the rest of the season, and he leaves a big gap even although Mudassar Bukhari seems to have recovered from his injury worries, bowling a couple of impressive spells in the T20 Cup campaign. A couple of defeats could see Sparta’s position in the top four under threat, and Punjab at the Zomercomplex is perhaps not the ideal place to start. But the top order of the three overseas Sam Ferguson, Garnett Tarr and Will Clark has consolidated during the T20 competition, and Punjab’s bowlers will be looking to make early inroads in order to put the rest of the batting under pressure. Punjab’s own batting can be a fearsome proposition on their own ground, and with international Saqib Zulfiqar slotting back in they will surely start as favourites here.
BdJ: Though Sparta closed out a fairly comfortable victory at Bermeg in phase one (when the departing Malik notably took four wickets), the sides’ recent form does indeed suggest Punjab will be heavily favoured come Saturday. Rehmat and Asad Zulfiqar, both of whom had a quiet first phase, seem to have hit themselves into a degree of form during the T20s. With four Zulfiqars looking in good touch and Shoaib Minhas also in the runs, Punjab look close to recapturing their championship-winning form of 2021.
RL: Like the first phase, the second will start with a match between HCC and Voorburg, although this time at De Diepput. Whether it also involves reduced overs and a DLS result will depend on the state of the gound after Saturday’s predicted rain, while the composition of Voorburg’s side following the return of the national squad will also be a source of interest. The Voorburgers’ performances in the T20 Cup underlined how heavily they rely on their international contingent, Musa Ahmad’s heroic efforts notwithstanding, and although they have a four-point cushion at the top which almost guarantees them a semi-final slot, they will want to make sure that the side is back to being a well-oiled machine before the play-offs start. HCC took a little time to get going back in April/May, but with Jonathan Vandiar at home in the 50-over format, Ratha Alphonse reliable at the top of the order, and a varied attack, the Lions have everything they need for a sussessful defence of their title. And here they may have one of the best opportunities to upset the leaders.
BdJ: It’s certainly a tough assignement first up for the current frontrunners, though the return of league lead wicket-taker Shariz Ahmad along with Croes, Kingma and Levitt makes this a very different side than the one that underwhelmed in the T20. HCC also welcome back Clayton Floyd of course, while fellow left-arm spinner Daniel Doram has been a stand-out in the short format in recent weeks. The internationals will of course have to re-adjust to the very Dutchest of conditions at what is likely to be a soggy Diepput, while Boris Gorlee and Tonny Staal have had the chance to play themselves into a degree of form and Overdijk’s excellent season has carried over into the T20s. All told one might almost make HCC favourites here, though close call in my book.
By contrast with the Championship Pool, where sides play each other once, the four teams fighting to avoid relegation will take each other on both at home and away, meaning that there are twelve points up for grabs.
RL: Three defeats on the trot cost VRA Amsterdam a place in the T20 finals day and did nothing to dispel their reputation as a Jekyll-and-Hyde outfit, and they will be keen to show their civilised face when they take on Excelsior ‘20 at Thurlede. They will presumably be strengthened by the return of Vikram Singh, Aryan Dutt and Teja Nidamanuru, all of whom distinguished themselves in Zimbabwe, while in their absence Johan Smal grew in stature with the bat and young Aaditt Jain reinforced his claim to a regular place in the side. On paper VRA are much too good a team to find themselves battling to stave off relegation, but they will need to string together a series of more consistent performances to ensure their safety. Excelsior, on the other hand, demonstrated that they still have the fighting qualities which took them to three titles in four seasons between 2016 and 2019, and they are unlikely to prove an easy mark for the home side, even if VRA turn out to have too many guns.
BdJ: VRA? More like dis-RA amirite? (ha ha ha). While the Amsterdam sides’ youngsters have all improved markedly as individual players in recent years, the team itself seems to have gone backwards. While they are at least at the top of the bottom half of the table, they went through the back end of their T20 campaign just one win away from finals day, and the thought seemed to do little to concentrate minds. Conversely Excelsior are coming off the back of a successful few weeks in the short format, restoring a degree of confidence after a late slide in phase one. The Schiedammers remain reliant on the veteran Lorenzo Ingram, but Roel Vehagen has found some form of late and they remain a disciplined side that gives little away, especially at home. VRA still have several players that could entirely take the game away from the hosts of course, but a win for the Amsterdammers would be against the run of the summer.
RL: Having got out of jail in the final stages of the T20 Cup round robin, both HBS Craeyenhout and Salland, who meet in Den Haag on Sunday know that they now have to do it again in the longer format. Centuries from Tayo Walbrugh and Wesley Barresi (and a third-wicket stand of 222) were enough to ensure a comfortable victory for the Crows when these sides met back in May, and with Nic Adendorff having consolidated his place in the side and the prospect of Ferdi and/or Stephan Vink bolstering their young attack, in which Elmar Boendermaker gains in confidence with every outing, they undoubtedly have the potential to put an early end to fears of relegation. As always, Salland’s prospects are conditional on how many of their German contingent are available, and with Germany involved in the European T20 Qualifier in Scotland from 20-28 July, that will be a real worry for skipper Victor Lubbers, and will put additional pressure on overseas players Finn Raxworthy and Fraser Bartholomew.
BdJ: The state of Salland’s net run rate puts them under extra pressure ahead of the second phase, and the prospect of three crucial rounds coinciding with international duty for the German contingent will test what has looked to be a pretty bare bench so far this season. HBS remain in something of a transitional phase, but Vink’s return for the T20s did much to shore up an otherwise callow bowling attack. Adendorff’s late acclimatisation to Dutch conditions and the addition of Drummond combined with Reece Mason’s form has also meant HBS are less reliant on Walbrugh and Barresi for runs, which is just as well given that the latter is also in doubt for tomorrow. Both teams were candid at the start of the season, saying that their first target was top-flight survival, and Saturday’s game could well prove decisive in that respect.
RL’s picks: VOC, Punjab, HCC; VRA, HBS.
BdJ’s picks: VOC, Punjab, VCC, Excelsior, HBS.
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