Author: tkcricket

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 10/07/20

Unsurprisingly, there were plenty of signs of rust when the Topklasse got under way last Sunday – the inclement weather may have contributed to that as much as the long, largely practice-free lay-off – but there were also some encouraging signs that, despite the absence of clear goals and menaces in this foreshortened season we may be in for some good, entertaining cricket.

RL: VRA Amsterdam, finding themselves with an unscheduled home start to their campaign and having celebrated with a comprehensive demolition of Dosti, will entertain HBS Craeyenhout in the Bos this week. The Crows found promoted side Punjab Rotterdam at full throttle last Sunday, and despite some solid resistance from new recruit Tim Drummond and some determined bowling from seamers Ferdi Vink and Najvit Singh they were unable to recover from a disastrous early batting collapse. VRA’s attack, even without Quirijn Gunning, was too much for Dosti, and they will be keen to demonstrate that that effort wasn’t a flash in the pan. HBS’s best hope might be to put the home side’s untested batting under early pressure, but that would need Tobias Visée to start by calling correctly.

BdJ: The Amsterdammers may have been forced by circumstance to blood a bevy of youth players earlier than planned, but Peter Borren’s confidence in his young charges seems to be well founded. While the batting indeed remains somewhat untested this season, the presence of Borren himself as well as Dutch internationals Vikram Singh and Ben Cooper, who were not required to bat last week, means it’s unlikely that the batting will be VRA’s chief concern, especially with HBS missing their top three wicket-takers from last season in Farshad Khan, Zac Gibson and Berend Westdijk. Visée and Drummond may be looking forward to getting stuck into a gifted but rusty or raw VRA attack, but it will likely require a serious score from one or the other to put VRA under real pressure.

RL: Having dominated HBS almost from start to finish, Punjab will take on last year’s champions Excelsior ‘20 at the Zomercomplex. Excelsior, of course, missed their match last week because their Thurlede pitch was unplayable, and have therefore not had a chance to settle before facing a buoyant Punjab side which has been reinforced by a full quartet of Zulfiqars. The Schiedammers do have Lorenzo Ingram, but they are without opener Tim Etman, who moved to Australia at the end of last season, and with just the one overseas player in the side will have a different balance from that which has seen them claim three titles in four years.

BdJ: If VRA are fortunate to be able to fall back on their youth in this unusual season, Punjab’s acquisition of the full set of Zulfiqars gives them still greater depth, and could not have been more timely. Though missing their intended overseas players this season, Steph Myburgh demonstrated that he remains a menace at the top of the order, and backed up by a quartet of Zulfiqars the Punjab batting looks a sound as any in the league this year. Despite skipper Tariq hitting the ground running with ball in hand, however, the bowling attack is as yet unproven and Excelsior are unlikely to prove as cooperative as HBS were last week, at least in terms of run-outs. Probably the toughest game to call this week, but with Ingram in the side it’s never safe to bet against the title-holders.

RL: The other unknown quantity is Sparta 1888, whose journey to Thurlede last Sunday was in vain. So their first outing, at the Bermweg, will be against VOC Rotterdam, who showed their lack of practice against Voorburg in their opening game. The main exception was Ayaz Durrani, who responded admirably to the increased responsibility of opening the innings, but VOC will need the top and middle order to weigh in more effectively if there are to set their opponents reasonable challenging targets. Sparta do, of course, have a proven match-winner in former international allrounder and new skipper Mudassar Bukhari, and will looking to their new acquisition Lenert van Wyk to anchor a batting line-up which was pretty brittle last year.

BdJ: With Sparta yet to bowl a ball in anger this season it’s hard to know what to expect when they take the field on Sunday, but on paper they look in decent enough shape. Among returning players, Bukhari was without question the MVP of the 2019 Topklasse, and if he can replicate that form this summer then Sparta will be serious title contenders (or would be if there was a title). VOC, conversely, are a long way off fielding a first choice eleven and the eleven they did field last week still underperformed. It will take a remarkable turnaround from Pieter Seelaar’s side if they are to put points on the board this Sunday.

RL: Voorburg looked impressive in their win over VOC, and in Viv Kingma, Ahmed Ali Qasim, Bas de Leede and Stef Mulder they arguably have the sharpest seam attack in the competition, even after the departure of Brandon Glover. They are at home to ACC this Sunday, and despite the initial success of their new opening pairing of Cameron Burnett and Charles McInerney the Amsterdammers seem likely to find it tough to recover from the loss of three Zulfiqar brothers and Shirase Rasool. There may be more questions about Voorburg’s batting than their bowling, and they needed a captain’s innings from Tom de Grooth to see off VOC. But Righardt Pieterse demonstrated that he can be a useful opening partner for his skipper, and with De Leede also in the top order and a clutch of other promising youngsters this could be a valuable team-building season for the Villagers.

BdJ: With the absence of the Smit brothers and Clayton Floyd’s departure, VCC certainly do have a rather longer tail this season than they’d like, but it’s questionable whether that will prove a problem against ACC’s attack. The arrival of Burnett and McInerney, at least on first showing, promises to alleviate the batting concerns somewhat, but ACC will need someone to step up on Sunday to do the same with the ball if they hope to take two points back from Westvliet.

RL: There may be no title at stake this year, but HCC did enough in beating ACC last Sunday that if there were they would be serious contenders. Admittedly, their attack had to labour for nearly 25 overs before claiming their first wicket, but once they had the breakthrough they never looked back. They are a well-balanced bowling outfit, all the more effective for the arrival of Damien Crowley, and his unbeaten 74 showed that he, like opener Musa Ahmad, is a great acquisition. It will take a huge effort for Dosti Amsterdam to recover from last week’s debacle on their visit to De Diepput, although skipper Vinoo Tewarie has some talented local players at his disposal and will give a better account of themselves second time around.

BdJ: Though Burnett and McInerney’s opening stand on Sunday does raise some questions about the effectiveness of HCC’s seam attack without Qasim and Street, nothing about Dosti’s display at the Bos lost week suggested a team equipped to take advantage. The absence of Taruwar Kohli , Mohammad Hafeez and Anees Davids was keenly felt, and now also lacking Rahil Ahmed, Dosti’s batting looks threadbare indeed. Mashesh Hans and skipper Vinoo Tewarie will need to provide contributions commensurate with their senior roles in the side if they are to compete against an HCC side that looks scarcely weaker than the one that challenged for the title last year.

Rod Lyall’s tips: VRA, Punjab, Sparta, Voorburg, HCC.

Bertus de Jong’s tips: VRA, EXcelsior, Sparta, Voorburg, HCC.

Rod Lyall 06/07/20

Global pandemics may come and go, but the Dutch climate is eternal. So it did not come as a surprise that the weather at the weekend rained on the KNCB’s parade, causing one Topklasse match to be abandoned without a ball being bowled, another to be reduced to 33 overs a side, and two more to start an hour late.

Ironically, or perhaps logically, the only game to escape unscathed was the one at Hazelaarweg, which had already been cut to 40 overs a side by agreement between the captains because VOC Rotterdam were unable to raise a team for an 11 o’clock start.

The Rotterdam club, national champions two years ago and reigning Twenty20 Cup-winners, have already had to pull their second team out of the competition because of declining player numbers, and were one of a small minority of clubs who preferred a T20 format to 50-over cricket. Even so, it was a further sign that all is not well with one of Dutch cricket’s proudest clubs.

The first day of top-division cricket saw several newcomers thrive, not least 14-year-old Luke Hartsink, whose three wickets for 19 runs from seven overs helped VRA Amsterdam reduce a makeshift Dosti side to 55 all out.

His partner in crime was former international Adeel Raja, 25 years his senior and a veteran of 250 matches, who returned the remarkable figures of 6 – 3 – 6 – 4.  Only two Dosti batsmen reached double figures, and despite losing a wicket off the opening delivery of their reply VRA needed just seven overs to complete an eight-wicket victory, Shirase Rasool making 27 not out on his first outing with his new club.

Also in a hurry to claim the points were newly-promoted Punjab Rotterdam, who needed only 21.1 overs to overhaul HBS Craeyenhout’s disappointing total of 126.

It could have been a good deal worse but for a knock of 49 from South African Tim Drummond, who in his first Topklasse match helped his side recover from 45 for six in partnerships with Ferdi and Steven Vink before he became the third HBS batsman to succumb to a run out.

Skipper Sulaiman Tariq took three for 24 for Punjab, and when his side began their chase Stef Myburgh raced to a 36-ball 51 and shared a brisk 74-run opening stand with Rehmat Zulfiqar, the eldest of the four brothers who are now reunited in the Rotterdammers’ gold and green.

Navjit Singh and Ferdi Vink picked up two wickets apiece as Punjab briefly faltered, but Sikander Zulfiqar ensured that they marked their return to the top flight with a comfortable win.

Newcomers made significant contributions on both sides of the encounter between ACC and HCC at Het Loopveld, which resulted in a six-wicket victory for the visiting Leeuwen.

Fielding only five players who turned out for the Amsterdam club last season, ACC got off to a promising start after being put in to bat, their new opening pairing of New Zealander Cameron Burnett and Charles McInerney sharing in a stand of 89 before Italian international Damien Crowley, on his first Topklasse appearance, had Burnett caught behind for 53.

Clayton Floyd, a transfer over the winter from Voorburg, then accounted for McInerney for 35 with the total on 109, and the remaining ACC batsmen were able to muster only another 57, seasoned campaigner Olivier Klaus collecting four for 37 and Floyd three for 30 as the home side collapsed to 166 all out.

HCC’s reply was built on a promising knock of 42 from opener Musa Ahmed, who has joined the Diepput club from Hoofdklasse side Groen en Wit, and an unbeaten run-a-ball 74 from Crowley, whose experience ensured that there would be no corresponding collapse by the Hagenaars.

The closest match of the round was that delayed, reduced-overs encounter between VOC Rotterdam and Voorburg, with Voorburg skipper Tom de Grooth posting the highest score of the day with a splendidly controlled 87 not out as his side chased down VOC’s 152 all out.

The VOC total owed much to 56 by Ayaz Durrani, promoted to open the innings, whose maiden Topklasse fifty was a combination of patient defence and some powerful aggression against the spinners, international Philippe Boissevain going for three lusty straight sixes.

But he received little support apart from a solid innings from Arnav Jain and a spirited one towards the end from Corey Rutgers – who arguably would be better placed somewhat higher up the order – while there were three wickets apiece for Voorburg’s international pacemen Viv Kingma and Bas de Leede.

The VOC total never seemed likely to be enough, and although there was a mid-order stumble from Voorburg, who went from 123 for two to 145 for six, as Jain, Pieter Seelaar and Jelte Schoonheim collected a brace of wickets apiece, De Grooth’s composure ensured that they got home with ten deliveries to spare.

The greatest disappointment of the day was for Excelsior ’20 and Sparta 1888, who arrived at Thurlede for the first match of the Schiedam club’s centenary season to discover that the covers had blown off overnight and the square was unplayable. Dutch weather can never be taken lightly.