Rod Lyall 27/08/23
Those who came to Westvliet on Saturday anticipating a close finish or a repeat of last year’s upset HCC victory went away disappointed, but there was no doubt about the home club’s elation as Voorburg simply steamrollered their way to their first championship win in twenty-one years, and the second in their history.
There was, though, no shortage of skill on display, not least from the ground staff, who after heavy rain in the early morning worked like Trojans to get the ground ready for an 11 o’clock start.
There were, it is true, a few moments in the opening overs when the defending champions could have thought that Voorburg skipper’s Sybrand Engelbrecht’s decision to bat first might misfire.
Hidde Overdijk bowled Nehaan Gigani in the third over, his 200th Topklasse wicket, and with the pitch showing early signs of vertical inconsistency as well as lateral movement, Michael Levitt and Musa Ahmad were beaten several times, Levitt at one point, immediately after unleashing a back-foot cover drive off Overdijk which probably remained the shot of the day, hazardously edging the bowler between keeper and first slip.
But the batters gradually took control, their partnership steadily mounting, and it would be the 38th over before HCC succeeded in breaking through again, by which time Levitt and Musa had put on 183 and the former had reached his fourth century of the season.
It was Musa who was the first to go, cutting at Patient Charumbira and well caught by Clayton Floyd at point, who knocked the ball upwards and took it at the second attempt; Musa had made 78 from 106 deliveries and hit six fours and a six.
The six had come off Daniel Doram, a potential match-winner for HCC, and that blow and the four which followed next ball had forced skipper Boris Gorlee to pull the tall left-arm spinner out of the attack.
He returned as soon as Musa had gone, however, and with the first ball of the next over bowled Levitt for a 119-ball 102, which had included twelve fours and a six.
Two wickets in seven balls must have given the Lions some hope, but it was quickly snuffed out by Engelbrecht, who contributed a 10-ball cameo of 20 before he was trapped in front by Doram, and by Noah Croes, whose 36 ensured that the total kept motoring towards 300.
Although he was eventually caught by Charumbira off Overdijk, 50 runs came from the last five overs, Ryan Klein adding 24 of them before skying a return catch to Overdijk, and the innings closed on a very imposing 295 for seven.
Overdijk’s three wickets had come at a cost of 78, while Doram picked up two for 49, Henrico Venter was the most economical of the HCC attack, his eight wicketless overs costing just 30 runs.
It was a demanding chase against a Voorburg bowling unit which included four internationals, and Viv Kingma and Karl Nieuwoudt gave little away in their opening exchanges with Jonathan Vandiar and Tonny Staal.
The decisive moment came when Vandiar, who had just creamed Kingma for four through extra cover in his first real sign of aggression, clipped the next delivery hard to short midwicket, where Engelbrecht took a superb low catch.
Staal and Ratha Alphonse added 34 before Klein bowled Alphonse, and in his next over the paceman removed the other main threat, Staal pulling him down the throat of Musa on the midwicket boundary and departing for 36.
That pretty much pricked HCC’s balloon, and when Shariz Ahmad came into the attack and almost immediately bowled Teun Kloppenburg, Voorburg were well on their way to a comprehensive victory.
Gorlee, assisted by Clayton Floyd, continued to resist, but with boundary opportunities few and far between the asking rate began its inexorable rise, and soon HCC were needing in excess of eight an over to have any chance of turning the game around.
Eventually Kingma returned to bowl Floyd, but it was left to Klein, bowling full, fast and straight, to finish things off, dismissing Gorlee and Charumbira with successive deliveries and then, after a brief flourish by Overdijk which ended when he was well stumped by Croes off Shariz, repeated the trick by bowling first Crowley and then Venter, to end the innings on 155.
Klein finished with a career-best six for 15, while Shariz’s two for 24 brought his tally for the season to a remarkable 47 wickets at an even more remarkable average of 10.66.
As if this were not enough, Voorburg’s women’s team, after being bowled out for 87, dismissed Quick Haag for 75, Dutch international Eva Lynch taking five for 9, making Voorburg the first club since Kampong Utrecht in 1992 to win both the men’s and women’s titles in the same year.
TKcricket 