Rod Lyall 17/07/23
A maiden Topklasse century by opener Francois Fourie was insufficient to earn VOC Rotterdam the points at the Hazelaarweg on Sunday, as Heino Kuhn’s ACC side dismissed their hosts for 210 and went on to win by five wickets.
The defeat was a blow to VOC’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals, but with four rounds of the second phase still to be played and little separating five of the top six sides, there is still plenty of time for the Rotterdammers to turn things around.
Matters looked even worse for VOC at one stage, when after Fourie and Arnav Jain had given the side a solid start with an opening stand of 52 Anis Raza (three for 54) and Devanshu Arya (three for 34) ran through the middle order, reducing them to 106 for seven.
With Fourie holding things together, though, the last three wickets almost doubled the score, and when the opener was ninth man out for a 102-ball 103 Max Hoornweg and Pierce Fletcher added another precious 21 runs.
Then the home side hit back, and at 45 for four ACC were in trouble in their turn.
They were rescued by Kuhn and Raza, who added exactly 100 for the fifth wicket, and after Kuhn had been dismissed for 55 Raza (57 not out) and Fergus Wegener (39 not out) knocked off the 69 that were still required.
At Westvliet runaway leaders Voorburg reinforced their position with a 23-run victory over HCC, but they had to work hard to see off the Lion’s robust challenge.
They could thank opener Nehaan Gigani (76) and captain Sybrand Engelbrecht (49) for their total of 231, Hidde Overdijk taking three for 42, but although Patient Charumbira, promoted to open, and Tonny Staal gave them a good start and Teun Kloppenburg made 59, HCC were eventually dismissed for 208.
Mees van Vliet claimed three for 35 for Voorburg and Shariz Ahmad three for 50, with Philippe Boissevain taking three for 15.
Punjab Rotterdam improved their chances of gaining a semi-final spot with a comprehensive win against Sparta 1888 at the Zomercomplex, dismissing their visitors for 157 and taking only 27.4 overs to complete an eight-wicket victory.
Saqib Zulfiqar celebrated his return from international duty with four for 34, and then made an unbeaten 31 to secure the points, assisting his brother Asad, who was also not out on 62.
In the relegation battle VRA Amsterdam and HBS Craeyenhout took significant steps towards survival with low-scoring wins against Excelsior ‘20 and Salland respectively.
At Thurlede Aryan Duty, another returnee from Zimbabwe, took four for 24 as VRA bowled Excelsior out for 175, almost everyone in the Schiedammers’ line-up getting a start but Roel Verhagen’s 28 the highest score.
But VRA also struggled despite Zamaan Khan’s 48, and at 147 for eight it looked as if Excelsior might again defend a modest total.l
They were denied, however, by Udit Nashier and Eduard Visser, who guided their side to a two-wicket victory.
Events followed a similar course at Craeyenhout, where HBS dismissed Salland for 172, Victor Lubbers top-scoring with 51.
Ferdi Vink claimed three for 37, Nic Adendorff three for 32 and Julian de Mey three for 23.
HBS then took just 32 overs to reach their target, Tobias Visée making 36 and Tim Drummond 44, with Kyle Klein and De Mey together at the end as the home side won by three wickets.
TKcricket 