Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 30/04/26
And they’re away! The Topklasse 139th (-ish, depending on how you count) season is up and running, and so far the trimmed-down competition’s started similarly to last year with VRA the only one of the 2025 opening round winners missing from the top half of the table after the first weekend. Despite hopes that the reduction to eight teams would increase competitiveness, there’s already some substantial net run rate gaps opening, and a bold prognosticator might suggest that come the end of the season the table likely won’t look too different to how it looks now. That’s a long way off yet though, and Round 2 may yet shake things up.
BdJ: The top table clash between Hermes DVS and the re-dubbed Rotterdam CC at the Loopuyt will undoubtedly be the match of the day, featuring two genuine title contenders and two of last week’s three centurions. Hermes are again making the early running this season courtesy debutant David Rushmere’s dramatic entrance on Sunday, but their bowling unit especially will face a sterner test in containing a batting line up anchored by fellow centurion Musa Ahmad that put up a total of 338 against VRA last week. Hermes’ attack struggled somewhat for penetration until scoreboard pressure allowed the spinners to profit against VOC, and Rotterdam’s batting card looks both deeper and more pressure-resistant than that of the Bloodhounds. Rotterdam may be more worried about their own bowling however, their record total last week looking like it might not be enough for at least the first 20 overs of VRA’s chase. While the Ostling-Doyle partnership that carried Hermes through the early season failed last week, it’s hard to imagine DDC will be kept quiet for long and the addition of Rushmere means there’s now three must-get early wickets for Hermes’ opponents.
RL: Skippers Sebastiaan Braat and Sikander Zulfiqar are certainly going to face some challenges in the field as they seek to cut into their opponents’ imposing top orders, and as m’colleague observes, the Hermes captain is faced, at least on paper, with a rather bigger task. With Burhan Niaz batting at seven last week and keeper Fawad Shinwari at nine, Rotterdam’s resources with the bat look a good deal more substantial than Hermes’. Their attack, too, with Muhammad Shafiq sharing the new ball with Carl Mumba, followed by Suleiman Tariq and the brothers Zulfiqar, will have better days than they did against VRA, while Braat may hope that Olivier Elenbaas will be able to contribute more than the three overs he managed last week after his splendid efforts with the bat. With Sahil Kothari in such outstanding early-season form, Oliver Herrington only bowled four overs and Aryan Dutt five, so it could be said that the Sky Blues have plenty in reserve.
BdJ: It’s back-to-back home games to start the season at Westvliet, where Voorburg will welcome HBS on Saturday. VCC had their youngsters to thank for their hard-fought victory over HCC last week; Mees van Vliet’s five wicket haul, Cedric de Lange batting through for an unbeaten century, and Aarav Swaroop’s back end acceleration seeing them home. They’ll want more from their seniors on Saturday though, and while Ryan Klein’s ten over spell was admirably frugal there remain slow bowling concerns, at least so long as Michael Rippon remains in South Africa. The Crows’ worries run deeper though, Lucas Del Bianco’s continued improvement with the bat the only significant positive to take from their season opener. Swapping out 2025 lead wicket-taker Jayden Rossouw for German/South African batting allrounder Kent Goedeke was intended to shore up the batting, but HBS will need more substantial contributions from him, and indeed newly Dutch-eligible skipper Tayo Walbrugh if they’re to push up the table.
RL: The promotion of Julien de Mey to open was only partially succesful for HBS last week, but one might also ask whether the side’s batting issues, especially in the absence of Wes Barresi, are not weighing heavily on the shoulders of skipper Walbrugh. More than two-thirds of his 4000-plus Topklasse runs, after all, have been made at three, and the lack of a reliable opening partnership, as well as the fragility of the middle order, inevitably put more pressure on the captain. (That said, he still averages over 80 in the opening role.) With Cedric de Lange rapidly emerging as one of the competitions most encouraging talents, Voorburg have fewer problems at the top of the order, but they will be hoping that Michael Levitt and Noah Croes contribute plenty of runs in the weeks to come. On the bowling side, HBS did reasonably well in containing a powerful Kampong line-up last week, with Goedeke and Benno Boddendijk bowling unchanged through twenty of the middle overs and Lehan Botha cashing in towards the end, and they will need to maintain that level against an equally-menacing Voorburg. For whom the untried new-ball combination of Jaynul Islam and Don Glover will be aiming to cause more mayhem among the Crows’ top order than they were able to do against HCC last Saturday.
BdJ: One of the tougher games to call this round is HCC’s first home fixture against VRA, both sides went down fighting last weekend, and neither necessarily look destined to stay in the lower half of the table. The visitors’ chief concern, like most sides that give up 300+ runs in their first game, will be the bowling. The loss of both Peter Ruffel and Ben Fletcher has left the pace attack looking rather toothless, and the VRA seconds’ nine-wicket hammering at the hands of Rood & Wit at the Bos on Saturday suggests there’s no ready solutions to be found there either. The Amsterdammers managed to bag more wickets than HCC did last week though, with Teun Leijer’s 3-28 the only real bowling highlight for the Lions at Westvliet. It’s fair to say that neither side really played to their potential first up though, and it’s notable that the new or returning overseas didn’t quite come off for either team. Zach Worden has plenty of Topklasse pedigree, and Sam Cassidy was well on course for a pre-season ton when he was retired against Rotterdam a couple of weeks ago, so there’s a decent chance the outcome on Saturday will come down to which of the two is first to find their feet again.
RL: Though neither managed to bag the points, these sides lost in contrasting ways last week: chasing 338, VRA’s top order gave their opponents a scare, Teja Nidamanuru, Vikram Singh and Johan Smal all posting half-centuries, while HCC, batting first, never really got out of second gear and were reliant on some heroics from the tail to reach 230 for nine. On the other side of the ledger, the Lions’ attack had their moments, reducing Voorburg to 8 for two and 70 for four, while VRA were mercilessly put to the sword by a dominant Rotterdam. On their own bijou ground, Boris Gorlee’s side will fancy their chances with the bat against the Amsterdammers’ restructured – and depleted – bowling unit, while an attack which includes Hidde Overdijk, Daniel Crowley, Josh Brown, Clayton Floyd and Teun Leijer certainly cannot be underestimated. Whoever wins the toss at De Diepput will have an interesting choice to make.
BdJ: Finally defending champs Kampong welcome VOC to Maarchalkerweerd for what ostensibly looks like the easiest game of the round to call. Indeed Kampong arguably have the advantage of a somewhat soft start to the season, and after their comfortable win over HBS will be keen to consolidate a place at the top end of the table again. VOC did show some admirable resolve in the face of Rushmere’s onslaught, but Tim de Kok cycling through eight bowling options to little effect does suggest the absence of the brothers Jain will be keenly felt this season. New overseas Ethan Price going wicketless is a particular concern, and it’s hard to see the Bloodhounds picking up points without the slow southpaw picking up some scalps. The top order at least all got to double figures, and keeper-bat Caleb Montague impressed, but the early evidence suggests a tough season ahead for the Rotterdammers. The title-holders’ season began inauspiciously with a first baller for senior international Max O’Dowd, but given that they’ll be without him and Scott Edwards for at least a few games this season it’s arguably a good sign that they’re not entirely reliant on contributions from the Netherlands’ ODI lead run-getter. Pierre Jacod and Alex Roy both look in particularly fine form, and if it stays that way Kampong’s prospects of doubling up look rosy.
RL: That’s a big call given some of the opposition, but it’s true that it would take a very significant reversal of form for VOC to head back to Rotterdam with the points on Saturday evening. A side which boasts Max O’Dowd, Scott Edwards and Lorenzo Ingram, all of whom average 42 or better across their Topklasse careers, backed up by the hitting power of Damien van den Berg and the skills of Jacod and Lachlan Bangs, demands nothing but respect, and this week O’Dowd and Edwards have the additional incentive of facing their former team-mates of VOC. None more so than the veteran Pierce Fletcher, who emerged from the seconds to spearhead the attack against Hermes last week. The Hazelaarweg pitch admittedly had some of the qualities of a road, but as concerning for the Bloodhounds as Price conceding seven an over and failing to take a wicket was the cavalier fashion with which Ostling and Rushmere treated Ahsan Malik, taking 32 off his initial four-over spell, including seven boundaries. Having survived a relegation play-off last season, VOC may be in for another tough campaign.
BdJ’s tips: Hermes, Voorburg, VRA, Kampong.
RL’s tips: Rotterdam, Voorburg, HCC, Kampong.
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