Rod Lyall 24/05/26
A tied cricket match tends to raise the question of whether it involves a point gained or a point lost, not only in terms of the course of the game itself, but also with respect to the teams’ respective positions in the competition. And sometimes these two considerations can lead to opposite conclusions.
Saturday’s encounter between Voorburg and Hermes-DVS at Westvliet was no exception: on the run of play, Voorburg could take some satisfaction from the fact that they had avoided defeat after posting a relatively modest 228 all out, but the point dropped leaves them at a slight disadvantage compared to their main rivals for the Topklasse title.
Conversely, every point matters for Hermes as they try to stay clear of the league’s one relegation spot, but they will regret not having taken full advantage of their bowlers’ efforts in keeping Voorburg’s batting within bounds.
That Voorburg, having won the toss, reached 228 was largely due to half-centuries by Noah Croes (59) and Ryan Klein (61), although after they lost four wickets for just five runs towards the end of the innings they were rescued by a last-wicket stand of 36 between dubutant Tanveer Khawaja and last man Jaynul Islam.
Much of the damage was caused by spinner Hikmatullah Jabarkhail, who picked up four for 49.
Islam then removed Ash Ostling with the fourth ball of Hermes’ reply, but 36 from Daniel Doyle and 44 from David Rushmere before he fell to a stunning catch by Klein at point – mirroring an equally remarkable effort by Sebastiaan Braat to remove Croes – took them at 117 for four at the halfway point of their innings.
But then Voorburg applied the pressure, and it was left to Olivier Elenbaas, in company for a time with his captain Braat, to steer Hermes towards their target.
Braat departed for 25 with 24 still needed from 26 deliveries, but Islam and Don Glover conceded just 11 from the next two overs, and as Mees van Vliet started the final over Elenbaas and his brother Ralph required eight more for victory.
They managed a string of five singles, then Olivier turned the final delivery to leg and they ran two to level the scores.
Voorburg appealed for a run-out which would have given them victory, and while the not-out decision was being discussed between fielders and umpires the brothers tried running a third; the ball was, however, ruled dead and the tie confirmed, Oliver finishing on 74 not out.
Voorburg’s dropped point enabled Kampong Utrecht to go back to the top of the table by virtue of their 82-run victory over HCC at De Diepput.
Their total of 232 for seven was built on a steady 63 from Pierre Jacod and an unbeaten 90 from Scott Edwards, who between them rescued their side from a perilous 74 for four; dropping Edwards down to six proved a wise move, as he plundered 22 from the last two overs of the innings, undoing much of the good work of HCC’s pace trio of Josh Brown (three for 29), Thijs Vrolijk and Justin Trijzelaar.
Kampong’s new-ball pairing of Shashank Kumar and Alex Roy, however, ensured that the Lions’ reply never really got off the ground, taking four for 35 and three for 13 respectively, and it took an unbeaten 36 from Brown to get their total up to a still-disappointing 150.
Still one win behind the leaders pending a decision on the outcome of their abandoned match against HBS, Rotterdam posted their fourth 300-plus total of the campaign against Rotterdam rivals VOC, although it seemed for much of their innings that they would have to settle for a good deal less.
Their innings was transformed by skipper Sikander Zulfiqar who, coming in at 94 for four with 27 overs left, pulverised a tiring VOC attack and smashed an 84-ball 126 which included nine fours and five sixes.
He was initially supported by Mohsin Riaz, who made 63 from 65 deliveries, but thereafter it was largely a solo effort which put the target well beyond VOC’s reach.
Their reply began promisingly with a 97-run opening stand between Samir Butt (51) and Caleb Montague (44), but once they were dismissed the innings fell away in the face of Rotterdam’s spinner, Musa Ahmad claiming four for 29 and Muhammad Gondal and Saqib Zulfiqar picking up two apiece, and they were all out for 202.
VOC’s position at the foot of the table was exacerbated by HBS Craeyenhout’s four-wicket victory over VRA.
The Amsterdammers made 261 all out, opener Vikram Singh making 52 and Johan Smal, back from injury, celebrating with an 85-ball 88; for the home side seamer Benno Boddendijk took four for 51 and spinner Kent Goedeke three for 44.
The Crows’ batting has not always been completely convincing this season, but here Lehan Botha belted a characteristic 25-ball 40, and then Goedeke and Lucas del Bianco added exactly 100 for the fourth wicket in 19 overs to keep their side in the hunt.
Goedeke eventually fell to Shariz Ahmad after making 82 from 69 deliveries with six fours and four sixes, but Del Bianco continued, and he and Kyle Klein put on 57 for the sixth wicket and carried HBS to within a couple of runs of victory.
Del Bianco ended on 61 not out as HBS won with 21 deliveries to spare.
There will be a further round of matches – the last of the first half of the campaign – on Monday’s Pentecost holiday.
TKcricket 