Author: tkcricket

Rod Lyall 29/06/2023

Just fourteen matches remain to be played now in the round robin phase of this year’s T20 Cup, with half of them taking place this weekend. Perhaps the only thing we know for certain is that the outcomes at top and (possibly) bottom won’t be finally resolved this week, but by Sunday evening at least the remaining issues will have been clarified.

The most significant match of the weekend is probably VOC Rotterdam’s’s clash with HCC at De Diepput on Saturday: currently just outside the semi-final places but with a game in hand over rivals Excelsior ‘20 (who don’t have a game this weekend), Cup-holders VOC really need to take the points here to give themselves a crucial advantage going into the final weekend.

An HCC win, on the other hand, would virtually guarantee HCC a slot on the finals day, with at least a four-point margin over those battling for the fourth semi-final place.

Personnel changes have made little difference to the Lions’ performances so far, and even the absence of Hidde Overdijk did not prevent their victory over ACC last week, while VOC dropped vital points when they ended up short in their run chase against Excelsior.

That said, even without Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd the Bloodhounds have plenty of batting, and this game could be an absorbing encounter; it may be that it will be HCC’s attack which is the decisive factor, with Daniel Doram a key factor.

Missing half their first-choice side, Voorburg have had a pretty tough time over the past couple of weeks, although they did pull off a notable surprise by ending Punjab’s unbeaten run last Saturday before losing to Salland.

Saturday sees them taking on HBS Craeyenhout and ACC in a Westvliet double-header which completes their round-robin programme, and two wins would consolidate their mid-table position without, however, giving them a real possibility of reaching the finals day.

Musa Ahmad has virtually carried the side with his bat and to some degree with the ball, and his century against Punjab was a remarkable single-handed effort.

HBS shocked HCC in their last outing, but they, too, are very dependent on one individual in Tayo Walbrugh; man-for-man, though, they have more experience than their hosts, especially if, after their week off, they are again able to call on the likes of Ferdi and/or Stephan Vink, Tobias Visée and Navjit Singh,

With relegation still a possibility after Salland’s win against Voorburg, they have every incentive to put out a strengthened side against a Voorburg outfit which does look pretty vulnerable.

ACC’s position is a little healthier, but if they do not secure at least one more win in their last three games and other results go against them, even they could slip into the relegation zone.

They looked more solid last week with Chris Knoll in the side to support Thomas Hobson, but their bowling remains a source of concern and although Anis Raza has been giving sterling service with both bat and ball they will need early wickets against Voorburg if they are to have a decent chance of taking the points back north.

Of the clubs in the lower reaches of the table Sparta 1888 have the toughest day on Saturday, as they face first Punjab and then VRA at the Bermweg.

Although they have the cushion of the point they gained from their rained-off match against VOC, the unpredictable nature of T20 cricket means that they too will need to pick up at least one win from their last three games before they can breathe a little more easily, and given the strength of both Punjab and VRA it’s looking as if it may come down to their final match-up with HBS on 9 July.

Even the batting power of Ferguson, Tarr and Clark has not been enough to earn the Spartans more than a single victory so far, and with the Zulfiqars, Shoaib Minhas and Mohammad Shafiq among their first opponents and Johan Smal leading a talented VRA outfit, they will have to be at their very best if they are to cause an upset here.

For Punjab and VRA, of course, as for HCC, a victory on Saturday would make them virtually certain of a spot on the finals day, and that should be incentive enough.

Influential as some of these games may be in deciding who plays in next season’s Hoofdklasse T20 Cup, the real relegation battles will take place on Sunday, when HBS and ACC will travel to Deventer to take on Salland.

This is the last-chance saloon for Victor Lubbers’s side, whose programme will be completed by this double-header: two defeats would leave them irredeemably at the foot of the table, while even one win, especially against HBS, would keep a tiny window of hope open for them.

Should they win both the pressure on their rivals would then be enormous, even more so if they had lost to Voorburg on Saturday.

Those stakes should ensure that Salland put out a three-line whip for their German contingent, but even the efforts of Venkat Ganesan and Talha Ahmed Khan, backed up by the ‘official’ overseas players Finn Raxworthy and Fraser Bartholomew, have mostly been insufficient to earn them the points, and they will need to fire on all cylinders if they are to pull off a Great Escape on Sunday.

My picks: HCC; HBS, Voorburg; Punjab, VRA; HBS, ACC.

Rod Lyall 26/06/2023

VRA Amsterdam, HCC and Punjab Rotterdam all moved a step closer to the T20 Cup finals day on Saturday, but the biggest beneficiaries of the day were Excelsior ’20 Schiedam, who kept their hopes alive with fighting victories over VOC Rotterdam and Sparta 1888.

Both wins came in similar fashion, Excelsior performing their old 50-over trick of defending relatively modest totals with parsimonious bowling and committed fielding.

They owed their defeat of VOC very largely to the brothers Etman, Tim making an unbeaten 46 and sharing a valuable fifth-wicket stand of 59 with pace-bowling allrounder Niels, who then proceeded to take three for 14 in four overs as Excelsior defended their total of 133 for five.

VOC skipper Tim de Kok battled hard with a 25-ball 34 before he was run out by Tom Heggelman, but the lower order were unable to fashion the 40 that were still needed from the last five overs after his departure, and Excelsior hung on to win by 11 runs.

The second match at Thurlede was even closer, the home side managing to recover from 16 for three to reach 125 for six thanks to Lorenzo Ingram’s 60 not out from 56 deliveries, and even an even 50 from Will Clark, made from 38 deliveries, wasn’t enough to see Sparta home.

21 were still required from just nine deliveries when he was caught off the bowling of Jens Blankestijn, and that proved too big an ask, Sparta finishing six runs short of their target.

With their last two matches at home to ACC and HBS on 8 July and rivals VOC having to play leaders VRA and Punjab on the same day, Excelsior now have a very good chance of squeezing through to the semi-finals.

VRA retained their position at the top of the table on net run rate with a seven-wicket victory over ACC at Het Loopveld, Tyler van Luin’s three for 10 in four overs having been instrumental in slowing down the home side’s progress every time they seemed likely to gain serious momentum.

Opener Chris Knoll made 32 and Thomas Hobson 37 before Van Luin removed both of them, and he then took three catches as ACC subsided from 107 for two to 137 for eight.

The Australian then got VRA’s reply off to a great start with a 25-ball 38 before being run out, and it was left to Johan Smal and Jack Balbirnie to knock off the remaining runs as the leaders got home with three and a half overs to spare.

Earlier, ACC had battled their way to 103 for nine against HCC, Shreyas Potdar top-scoring with 28, but that was not enough to trouble their opponents greatly; their reply did, however, extend into the 19th over before they completed a five-wicket win.

Tonny Staal’s 44 was the foundation of the victory, but Hobson, Knoll and Devanshu Arya in particular bowled tightly, and HCC needed a steady 28 from Damian Crowley to steer them home.

The other leading side, Punjab, had a mixed day, losing their first match of the triple-header at Het Zomercomplex to Voorburg, but their subsequent win against Salland was enough to keep them level with their main rivals.

Voorburg’s win came from a superb 100 not out from captain Musa Ahmad, made from 63 deliveries and including seven fours and five sixes; he received support from Laurens Boissevain, who made a rapid 25, but otherwise it was essentially a lone effort which enabled his side to chase down Punjab’s 164 for eight and win by three wickets.

Shoaib Minhas had again given Punjab a great start with a 29-ball 44, and although Mees van Vliet pegged them back with three for 38, Rehmat Zulfiqar’s unbeaten 45 ensured that they were able to set a reasonably demanding target.

Musa, however, was not to be denied, despite a Mohammad Shafiq hat-trick to reduce his side to 122 for seven, and his innings was sufficient to inflict a first defeat of the competition upon the hosts.

Punjab bounced back later in the day, beating a battling Salland by five wickets with just three balls to spare.

The Overijssel side had seemed set for a big score when Venkat Ganesan (40) and Finn Raxworthy (41) had taken them to 130 for three, but then Sulaiman Tariq, Minhas and Mohammad Shafiq combined to claim the last seven wickets for 13 runs as Salland suffered another of their implosions.

Tariq took three for 24 and Minhas and Shafiq picked up two wickets apiece, and an innings which had promised better ended on 143.

Another rapid 40 from Minhas led off Punjab’s reply, but it was a 61-run stand for the fifth wicket between Asad Zulfiqar (37 not out) and his elder brother Rehmat (34) which took the home side to the brink of victory,

Victor Lubbers did his best to haul his team back into it with two wickets, but his intervention came too late, and Punjab made sure of the points.

In between, Salland had given themselves some hope of avoiding relegation with a six-wicket win against Voorburg, whom they dimissed for just 119.

Fraser Bartholomew, Gul Ahmad Nasir, Elam Bharathi and Victor Lubbers each claimed two wickets, Nasir grabbing the vital scalp of Musa Ahmad for 11, and Voorburg’s decline from 90 for three to 119 all out was almost as dramatic as Salland’s in the following game.

Piyaranga Ottachchige’s 38 and Raxworthy’s 37 were the key to Salland’s successful run chase, but it was left to Sajjad Naqash and Bartholomew to complete the win with almost four overs to spare.

With an inferior run rate Salland will need to win at least one of their last two matches to have any chance of staying up, but HBS, who did not play this weekend, have two games in hand, while Sparta are one point above their rivals and have three still to play.