Rod Lyall 01/09/23
If the semi-final between Hermes-DVS and Quick Haag fortnight ago is any guide, then the Hoofdklasse grand final at Sportpark Harga on Saturday, which will determine which of the two sides returns to the Topklasse next season, should be a cracker.
Then it took a Nick Statham boundary off the final ball of the match to decide the outcome, Hermes winning by one wicket, and across the two formats the teams have been evenly matched all season, Hermes having won three of their five head-to-head meetings and Quick two.
Hermes have already secured a place in next year’s Topklasse T20 Cup, having beaten their rivals fairly comfortably in the final, and will be out to make it a double on Saturday.
Leading the charge will be two of their three overseas players: 19-year-old South African Ashley Ostling, the side’s leading run-scorer with 567 at an average of 43.62, and Spanish international Daniel Doyle Calle; New Zealander Will Hamilton is injured and will take no part.
But Quick’s attack will still need to contain Ostling and Doyle effectively if they are to have a realistic chance of taking the title and earning promotion.
Quick, though, have two outstanding overseas players of their own, not least Otago’s left-handed opener Cameron Jackson, whose 164-ball 223 last week snuffed out Kampong Utrecht’s hopes of making it to the grand final.
Jackson leads the Hoofdklasse batting aggregates with 890 runs at 68.46, closely followed by team-mate Beckham Wheeler Greenall with 768 at 69.82.
If the Hermes trio are crucial to their side’s chances, Jackson and Wheeler Greenall are scarcely less so for Quick, and early wickets will be vital in both innings.
One somewhat disturbing feature of the match is how little Dutch-produced young talent will be on display: of Hermes’ likely squad six were in the club’s side in or before their most recent appearance in the Topklasse in 2017, while in Quick’s case eight had played before their relegation in 2019.
The Father of the Hermes team is 48-year-old Statham, who made his top-flight debut in 1989 and who has notched up 11,175 runs in his 482 matches, while his opposite number at Quick is fellow former international Henk Mol, two years younger, with 7352 runs and 413 wickets in 365 games.
Mol is still taking wickets, his tally of 20 this season just one behind that of Quick’s leading wicket-taker Jeroen Brand, but the top wicket-taker in the competition is Hermes’ Sahil Kothari with 29.
With Dutch A-team captain Sebastiaan Braat – who also skippers the side – and brothers Olivier and Ralph Elenbaas in the attack, backed up by Roy Numair and Davey Verweij, Hermes probably have the more incisive bowling unit.
As against that, alongside Jackson and Wheeler Greenall Quick’s batting line-up includes skipper Daan Vierling, Lesley Stokkers, Bobby van Gigch, allrounder Brand and perhaps Henk Mol’s brother Geert Maarten, totalling close to a thousand top-flight matches between them, so there will be no lack of experience on either side.
Having taken the Hoofdklasse title last year, when there was no promotion to the Topklasse, Hermes have a point to prove, while Quick’s demolition of Kampong last week indicates that the Schiedammers are unlikely to have things all their own way.
TKcricket 