Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 10/07/25
At time of writing all eyes may still be on the Europe T20 Qualifier at Voorburg, but by the weekend we’ll know whether the Dutch national team are off to the World Cup in the cauldron of Sri Lanka and India, or headed to sub-regionals on the mat wickets of who-knows-where, and attention will turn back to the business of the Topklasse, which could all but settled over the weekend.
BdJ: If other results go their way, Kampong could well be crowned champions as early as Saturday with a win over HCC, and the prospect of celebrating at home will doubtless serve as extra motivation. Whether they’ll be quite back to full strength is not certain, but even without Edwards and O’Dowd the Kampong batting unit is a formidable one, while the HCC card has looked increasingly brittle of late, failing to chase even VRA’s modest total at De Diepput last week. Away from home the Lions have generally been still less reliable, though one imagines they will be confident of welcoming back Hidde Overdijk, who’s spent the Qualfier on the bench thus far. A neutral observer might reasonably hope for an HCC victory to keep some tension at the top for the back end of the competition, but they’d be brave to bet on it.
RL: Every Topklasse season seems to produce a Jekyll and Hyde outfit, and HCC are strong candidates for that role this year. At their best they have been among the most impressive, capable of chasing down big targets and boasting one of the competition’s most effective bowling units, but on a bad day they are fragile enough to make the Diepput faithful weep. Often, as last week, the transformation seems to come at the innings break, a fine performance with the ball let down by an inept one with the bat. Kampong, on the other hand, have been relentless all the way, with just a couple of lapses to keep things interesting. It might be excessive to anticipate third successive nine-wicket victory, but form suggests that HCC will need to raise their game significantly to keep the battle – and their own chances of ending as runners-up – alive.
BdJ: The second match that could still influence the outcome at the top will be playing out at the Zomercomplex, where second-placed Punjab-Ghausia take on sixth-placed Voorburg. The defending champions realistically need a win to keep their fading hopes alive, while VCC will be keen to consolidate their mid-table position, having drifted toward the danger zone after a heavy loss to HBS last weekend. Punjab have built a bit of momentum with wins over teams in the lower reaches of the table of late, but will face a sterner test against a Voorburg side expected to have most of their internationals back. Viv Kingma remains sidelined, however, and depending on how things go this week said internationals may not be in the best of mindsets. Sikander Zulfiqar’s return to bowling has left Punjab less reliant on piling on scoreboard pressure, though they retain a top order perfectly capable of doing so. Whether refocusing after celebration or disappopintment, VCC will need their returning internationals to be on top of their game if they’re to snuff out Punjab’s hopes of retaining their title.
RL: So much of cricket is, indeed, played between the ears, and Noah Croes and Gavin Kaplan will have a big job on their hands to gear their side up for the run in. Not much went right for the makeshift version last week, or indeed the week before, and while encountering Brett Hampton and Lehan Botha in their most lethal moods in successive matches might be regarded as very bad luck, it does suggest a degree of vulnerability in the Voorburg attack. Michael Levitt has bowled more overs and taken more wickets for the national side this season than he has on his five appearances for his club, and we might expect him to be pressed into service here, in a mid-overs containing role if nothing else. Punjab have the batting to exploit any weakness in their opponents’ batting, and while since the departure of Jonathan Vandiar they don’t have anyone with quite the destructive power of a Hampton or Botha, they have been piling on the runs pretty solidly since they returned to winning mode.
BdJ: While third-placed VRA are not mathematically out of the running for the championship, given the start to their season they’ll be happy enough with safety at this point. They travel to Craeyenhout to take on HBS on Saturday, and the Crows will be desperate to secure a similar measure of safety. Lehan Botha’s exhibition on the second ground at Westvliet took HBS to a massive win in a somewhat farcical match last week, but with just two points separating them from a resurgent VOC their situation remains serious. VRA’s bats will also have happy memories of Craeyenhout of course, though perhaps their bowlers less so. If we are to have another madcap bomb-comp at Craeyenhout on Saturday though, it’s fair to say Botha’s the man in form.
RL: Teja Nidamanuru returns to a side which is in a happier place than it was last time he came back to them, the relegation neurosis which hangs over the Bos at the faintest sign of trouble firmly dispelled for now. But VRA are about as clear of danger as they are in the running for the title, and need a couple more wins to make sure of avoiding a tricky play-off. HBS at Craeyenhout is never a straightforward proposition, but there is no better place for the likes of Vikram Singh to rehabilitate a club campaign which has been pretty disappointing so far. If the revival of his opening partnership with Shirase Rasool was more than a one-off this would be a great opportunity to take advantage, although the return of Kyle Klein for the Crows will add cutting edge to an attack which has been heavily – and very effectively – reliant on spin in recent weeks. This has the potential to be one of the most attractive games of the round, and it could genuinely go either way.
BdJ: Down at the bottom end of the table Sparta 1888’s hopes of earning even a chance of survival via the playoff are becoming increasingly fanciful, but a win against incumbent 8th-placers VOC Rotterdam would be a big step in that direction. Recent form is against them however, with the Bloodhounds showing some late-season fightback; having won three of their last five matches. Sparta, by contrast, have suffered something of a reversion to their abject mean. Injuries and unavailabilities haven’t helped, but a return to sub-100 totals suggests that hope has given way to resignaton at Bermweg. With the VOC top order finding form, most notably young overseas Scott Janett and Chris Oberholzer, the Rotterdammers should be reasonably confident of picking up at least couple of points this weekend and if not securing saftety, then at least staying ahead of the belaguered Excelsior – their nearest rivals for the play-off spot.
RL: The transformation of VOC from no-hopers to a side with a decent chance of climbing to safety has been one of the stories of the season, and while they still have a lot of work to do to avoid that play-off, there’s no better place to start than at home to a seriously dispirited Sparta. Without Ahsan Malik (and last week Kyle Klesse as well) Joost-Martijn Snoep’s side were indeed chanceless against Kampong, but then strong outfits than they have been made to look ordinary or worse by the champions-in-waiting. The Bloodhounds’ attack recovered well from its mauling by Punjab, Jelte Schoonheim adding bite as well as experience, and is likely to relish the opportunity to take Sparta apart in what was once the Rotterdam Derby. Janett and Oberholzer apart there do remain a lot of questions about VOC’s batting, and that’s where Sparta will need to hit hard if they are to have any chance of taking the points back to the Bermweg. Either way, Juandre Scheepers is likely to be key, but that’s a lot of weight to put on one man’s shoulders.
BdJ: Saturday’s final match sees sometime frontrunners Hermes DVS head across the park to take on Excelsior ‘20 at Thurlede, in what both sides will know might well be the last Schiedam Derby for some time if the hosts can’t turn their season around. The departures of overseas Brett Hampton and Antum Naqvi prompted the return of some familiar faces in Tim Etman and Rens van Troost last week, but their presence only added to the vaguely funereal feeling around Excelsior’s late season showing. While Hermes themselves have fallen away somewhat since their early unbeaten run, they remain firm favourites over their old rivals even away from home – a testament to the marked reversal of the two clubs’ fortunes since Hermes’ return to the top flight.
RL: Nelson is still on the board for the Schiedam Derby after the encounter at the Loopuyt Oval was washed out, but it remains to be seen who’s luck will be out at Thurlede. It may already be too late for Excelsior, for whom a play-off is now probably the best they can hope for, and even that would become a big ask if they were to lose here and VOC were to beat Sparta. The only team to have conceded 3000 runs so far this season, Excelsior are a shadow of the side which once made a specialty of defending low totals, and the batting has been, almost literally, hit or miss. Hermes’ dependence on the Ostling/Doyle opening partnership has been a recurring theme on these virtual pages, but it remains true that the batting falls away a good deal once they have departed, a deficiency which has often been compensated for by a very effective attack. That bowling unit will doubtless test the hosts’ batting to the full, but few sides have as strong a motivation to end the season with a winning run than Excelsior.
BdJ’s picks: Kampong, Voorburg, HBS, VOC, Hermes
RJ’s picks: Kampong, Punjab, VRA, VOC, Excelsior.
TKcricket 