Rod Lyall 10/07/26
Like the 50-over competition, this year’s T20 Cup will comprise a double round-robin, and for the first time there will be no finals day: the side topping the table after 14 games will be the champion. As with the longer format, this will likely remove the chance of any mid-table scramble for third and fourth, possibly reducing the interest in the closing rounds, about which there will doubtless be differing opinions.
Having been relegated last year, there will be no VOC or HBS in this competition, with Sparta 1888 and Excelsior ’20 participating instead.
Defending champions VRA have had an up-and-down season so far, and they have clearly been missing last year’s new-ball pairing of Ben Fletcher and Paul Ruffell, and more recently surprise spearhead Vikram Singh, although Sharad Hake has been effective in their stead. Singh’s explosive batting can also be a key factor in T20, and although openers Sam Cassidy and Lovepreet Padda can score quickly, the Amsterdammers’ batting has sometimes let them down in tight situations in the longer format. They do have a varied spin attack, but it would be a surprise if the holders were to go back-to-back this time.
HCC headed the table after the league phase last year, losing to VRA in a rain-reduced final. They have been competitive again this season, only dropping out of the championship race over the last, for them disastrous weekend, and they have a well-balanced side with a very effective attack. They suffered for much of the 50-over campaign from the loss of allrounder Hidde Overdijk, but he is likely to be fit again soon, and will add even more experience to a pace attack which includes Josh Brown, Daniel Crowley and the new boy on the block Justin Trijzelaar. With the spin of Tim Pringle as well as Clayton Floyd and Teun Kloppenburg, they will make life difficult for opposing batters, while Kloppenburg’s hard hitting, along with that of Tonny Staal, makes them serious contenders for the title.
On paper a Team of All the Talents, Voorburg have proved something of an enigma, losses at crucial moments costing them the 50-over championship. At their best, as when they posted 235 for two against Rotterdam in a 25-over match, they have seemed invincible, and they will be hoping to achieve that level more consistently in the shorter format. The leading wicket-taker over 50 overs despite having played only 11 games, Jaynul Islam has proved a valuable acquisition, as has Aaditt Jain now that he is in the side. Part of Voorburg’s problem is picking the right eleven, juggling their various overseas to stay within the limits of the new player-points system. On the other hand, the youngsters they have pulled in have proved useful, and in Bas de Leede, Noah Croes, Ryan Klein, Michael Rippon and the rest they have plenty of potential match-winners.
Surprise semi-finalists last year, Hermes-DVS had a difficult campaign in the longer format, partly because Daniel Doyle-Calle, their leading run-scorer in both formats in 2025, has had a relatively quiet season so far. Against that, the arrival of David Rushmere has strengthened the top order, and he has shown that if he gets a start he is a fine and potentially fast-scoring bat. The real key to the side’s success in last season’s Cup, however, was the bowling of Sebastiaan Braat and Olivier Elenbaas, who claimed 35 wickets between them and averaged 11.89 and 15.31 respectively, and if they can repeat that form the Sky Blues should stay well clear of the relegation threat in the shorter format.
Having carried almost all before them in the 50-over competition, Rotterdam may well start as favourites here as well. Ominously for their rivals, brothers Saqib and Sikander Zulfiqar had strike rates of 135.29 and 129.11 in the 50-over competition, while opener Shoaib Minhas, Mohsin Riaz and Burhan Niaz all went at over 100, and leading run-scorer Musa Ahmad can be expected to up his rate from just under 80 when he only has 20 overs to contend with. Saqib, along with Ahmad Shafiq, is also the side’s leading wicket-taker, and with Muhammad Gondal, Musa and Minhas all offering differing varieties of spin, the Rotterdam attack is equally not to be taken lightly. It’s the batting, though, that the the key to the team’s success, and we might see some T20 records broken if they get going in the next few weeks as they have over the past months.
Sparta 1888 did much better in T20 last year than they did in their 50-over campaign, as as a consequence of which they have been playing in the Hoofdklasse until now. There they finished second behind Salland in their group, but they will no doubt find the step back up to the Topklasse a considerable additional challenge. Newcomers this season are the former Queensland under-19 captain Judd Markham, whose 91-ball 150 against Quick Haag suggests that he has what it takes for T20, and South African Ruve Louw, a seasoned campaigner in franchise leagues who, like allrounder Juandre Scheepers, hit five half-centuries in the 50-over competition. The bowling has a more familiar look, with Umar Baker their leading wicket-taker, followed by Joost Martijn Snoep and allrounder Khalid Ahmadi, whose 232 runs came at a strike rate of 132.63. Sparta, then, have sufficient resources to make things uncomfortable for some of their Topklasse opponents.
The same applies to Excelsior ‘20, who won the other Hoofdklasse group by a distance and will also face Salland this weekend in a play-off for the title and a return to next season’s 50-over top flight. Their overseas include three Australians: pace-bowling allrounder Riley Ayre and opener Jack Wood, and South African Charl Prinsloo, but as well as Ayre’s 38 wickets at 8.79 the side’s success has owed a good deal to the further progress made by Jens Blankestijn and Karson Edward, while Roel Verhagen, Stan van Troost and Tim Etman have all contributed with the bat. That said, Excelsior finished seventh in the ten-team T20 competition last year, and it may be the overseas contingent who need to make the difference this time round.
Finally there is Kampong Utrecht, who gained promotion last season having just missed out the year before. After a slightly disappointing defence of their 50-over title they will have every motivation to repeat in this other format the trick they pulled last year, winning the 50-over championship immediately after being promoted. There’s no doubt they have the potential: the explosive opening of Danien van den Berg and Max O’Dowd, the experience of Scott Edwards and Lorenzo Ingram, and the allround skills of Pierre Jacod and Alex Roy form a solid core, although it must be said that the attack looks less effective in the absence of Shashank Kumar, who last played on 13 June.
TKcricket 