Rod Lyall 08/07/24
With three of the weekend’s eight fixtures abandoned due to the rain which had fallen during the week and which persisted into Sunday, leading sides Punjab-Ghausia and HBS Craeyenhout were able to consolidate their position at the top of the table with comfortable victories on Saturday.
In a match at the Zomercomplex reduced to 38 overs because of a wet outfield, Punjab dismissed HCC for just 148 and cruised to a 6-wicket victory with nearly fifteen overs to spare.
The Lions’ innings never really got going, nobody scoring more than Jed Wiggins’ 22, and after Ahmad Shafiq removed both openers it was the brothers Zulfiqar who again did most of the damage, seamer Sikander taking two for 29 and leg-spinner Saqib claiming four for 39.
Shoaib Minhas (42) and Musa Ahmad (25) gave their side a great start with an opening stand of 71, but the win was sealed by Jonathan Vandiar’s 37-ball, unbeaten 56, a knock which included four fours and six sixes.
It was a bit more of a stretch for second-placed HBS, after Sparta 1888 had posted their best batting performance of the competition so far to reach 197 in a rain-interrupted innings.
Despite useful contributions from Sam Ferguson (40), Shaquille Martina (38) and Juandre Scheepers (33), the Crows attack had reduced their visitors to 163 for seven when rain drove the players from the field, and although they were able to add another 34 after the resumption, DLS set the HBS target at 191 from 43 overs.
Julian de Mey took three for 31 for HBS, and there were two wickets apiece for Lehan Both and Benno Boddendijk.
Botha set the tone of the reply with 52 from 28 deliveries, and then stand-in skipper Tayo Walbrugh guided his side home with an assured 68 not out, adding 60 with Matt de Villiers(29) and a further 43 with Kyle Klein, whose 37 not out came at exactly a run a ball.
Voorburg made the most of their visit to Amstelveen with a 63-run victory over ACC, Gavin Kaplan taking his aggregate for the competition to 433 with a knock of 64 which helped his side to 191 for nine in an innings reduced to 40 overs after a long break for rain with Voorburg on 155 for six.
Here the DLS calculation worked against the chasing side, ACC being faced with a target of 203, and when Mees van Vliet and Michael Molenaar combined to reduce them to 66 for six it seemed that the Amsterdammers would again be dismissed for a paltry total.
Izhaan Sayed, however, who had taken three for 23 when Voorburg batted, put up some spirited resistance, making 44 and adding 60 for the seventh wicket with Sahil Kothari, and the home side managed to reach 148 before they were all out, Van Vliet finishing with three for 26.
Much of the interest on Saturday centred on the return of the Schiedam derby, and the match at Loopuyt Oval turned out to be an absorbing if low-scoring battle between old rivals Hermes-DVS and Excelsior ’20.
In a game initially cut to 40 overs a side, Excelsior’s batters found the going tough against a persistent Hermes attack, opener Derek Mitchell needing 82 balls for his 38, and although former overseas allrounder Brett Hampton contributed a run-a-ball 40 not out they had only reached 137 for five when more rain ended the innings two overs from its scheduled conclusion.
DLS set a target of 146 for Hermes, and they found the conditions no more conducive to rapid scoring, with Ash Ostling’s 47 coming from 92 deliveries as Excelsior once again battled to defend a low total.
Jason Ralston picked up three more wickets, but CP Klijnhans’ 45 not out saw Hermes home with seven balls to spare, helped by skipper Sebastiaan Braat’s cameo 10-ball 13 which swung the momentum his side’s way.
The most frustrated team of the weekend must have been VRA Amsterdam, who twice got a start but who managed a total of only 14.2 overs: VOC Rotterdam had reached 24 for one in the Bos on Saturday before proceedings came to an end, and at the Loopuyt Oval on Sunday VRA had raced to 42 without loss in seven overs against Hermes-DVS before that game, too, was washed out.
The two points from the two abandonments kept VRA in third spot on net run rate, but they will feel that they missed two opportunities to keep pace with their principal rivals.
With the game between Excelsior ’20 and ACC abandoned without a ball being bowled, the only completed match on Sunday was that between HCC and Sparta 1888 at De Diepput, where the sides – and the umpires – prevailed over the weather and HCC came back from Saturday’s disappointment with an 8-wicket victory.
Sparta’s innings was badly disrupted by the rain, but HCC had seized the initiative, reducing them to 42 for three when a long break saw a 38-over innings further cut to 22 overs, and despite a fighting 39 from Riley Mudford they could only get to 115 for six, extended to 121 on DLS.
Martijn Snoep’s side badly needed early wickets when HCC replied, but Conor McInerney and Tonny Staal put on 58 inside six overs before the Sparta skipper removed first McInerney and then Staal.
That brought Boris Gorlee and Jed Wiggins together, and they ensured that there was no further loss, the winning runs coming in the 14th over to improve HCC’s NRR and leave Sparta firmly in the relegation zone, though still three points ahead of ACC.
With three, or in some cases two, matches left to play in the first phase, the top six is beginning to acquire a more settled look, although Hermes and VOC are only two points behind Excelsior and HCC and could, with a strong finish and the right results elsewhere, still squeeze into the championship pool.
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TKcricket 