Rod Lyall 13/07/26
It’s not so long ago that a Schiedam derby between Excelsior ’20 and Hermes-DVS attracted a partisan crowd of hundreds, fully justifying the town’s claim to be the Cricket Capital of the Netherlands.
Those days may be gone, but those who turned up to Thurlede for the first Schiedam derby of the season as the T20 Cup got under way on Saturday – Excelsior having been playing in the 50-over Hoofdklasse until now – were rewarded with a low-scoring thriller which went into the final over.
Thanks to Ash Ostling’s unbeaten 54, Hermes had managed to reach 138 for eight, and at 115 for two with Roel Verhagen and Riley Ayre well set and five overs left, Excelsior seemed to be cruising to their second victory of the day.
But when Verhagen, on 38, was run out by Olivier Elenbaas, it triggered a collapse, and the home side went into the final over still needing eight for victory and only three wickets in hand.
Karson Edward hit a six to level the scores, but when Sebastiaaan Braat bowled him with his next delivery a tie remained on the cards (the KNCB having wisely refrained from introducing a Super Over in a league competition).
Gijs Kroesen was equal to the occasion, however, pushing the single which gave Excelsior the points with one ball to spare.
Earlier, Excelsior had celebrated their first Topklasse match of the season with a seven-wicket victory over HCC, Jack Wood’s 63-ball 111 not out guiding them past the Lions’ 171 for eight; Wood was again in form in the second game, his 20-ball 43 having started the chase in a hurry.
The double victory put Verhagen’s team on top of the table on Saturday night, but after Sunday’s matches they had been displaced on net run rate by Rotterdam, who followed up Saturday’s 36-run victory over Kampong with a last-ball defeat of Sparta 1888 by a single run.
Against Kampong, the 50-over champions had been rescued from a perilous 41 for five by an unbroken stand of 149 between Saqib Zulfiqar and Abdul Rehman Niazi, seeing them to 190 for five; Saqib’s 92 not out came from 57 deliveries with seven fours and six sixes, while Niazi contributed a 30-ball 53, including five sixes.
Kampong were never really in the hunt, skipper Alex Roy top-scoring with 33 as they battled their way to 154 for six against Rotterdam’s four-man spin attack.
Rotterdam won their 50-over title with dominant batting performances, and it therefore came as a shock when Sparta, who like Excelsior have been playing in the Hoofdklasse so far this season, dismissed them for just 120 on Sunday, slow left-armer Jochem Steenbergen claiming four for 41 and Shoaib Minhas top-scoring with 50.
Sparta looked promisingly placed at 52 for one, but then Rotterdam’s spinners against deployed their wiles, and by the time Sulaiman Tariq began the final over seven wickets were down and 11 were still required.
Three dots virtually sealed the issue, and although Nasrat Ibrahimkhil kept Sparta’s hopes alive to the final delivery, with four needed the batters were only able to manage a two and Rotterdam had survived.
It was, however, a much more encouraging effort from Sparta, who had started their campaign the day before with a 77-run defeat at the hands of Kampong at Maarschalkerweerd.
Putting the loss to Rotterdam behind them, openers Pierre Jacod (74 from 47 deliveries) and Max O’Dowd (71 from 51) had plundered 138 from Sparta’s attack in 15 overs before O’Dowd was dismissed, and the innings closed on 187 for three.
This was always likely to be too much for Sparta, and although keeper Deran Benta made a 28-ball 34 they were restricted to 110 for nine, Salman Yousufzai taking three for 24 from his four overs; a mark of Kampong’s control was that their opponents were unable to hit a single six.
At Westvliet on Saturday, Voorburg put their failure to take the 50-over title behind them with an authoritative eight-wicket victory over VRA.
They dismissed the Amsterdammers for 131, Aaditt Jain claiming three for 23, and then Bas de Leede (22 from 19), Michael Levitt (57 not out from 55) and Cedric de Lange (34 from 29) executed a well-paced chase to see their side home with 19 deliveries to spare.
And on Sunday HCC returned to Schiedam to post 202 for six against Hermes-DVS, Tonny Staal setting up that imposing total with a 35-ball 66.
David Rushmore’s 76 from 46 deliveries ensured that Hermes were up with the pace at the halfway mark, but then HCC’s bowlers asserted themselves, and as wickets began to fall the scoring lagged, so that an improbable 38 were required off the last.
They could only manage 14, and HCC won by 23 runs.
The luck of the draw means that Rotterdam and Excelsior will face off at the Zomercomplex next Saturday, but in the meantime the latter have ensured that they will be playing in the 50-over competition next season, having comprehensively beaten Salland by 124 runs in the Hoofdklasse play-off on Sunday.
TKcricket 