Author: tkcricket

Rod Lyall 27/08/18

It was the time of year on Sunday when new names appear in Topklasse scorecards and established names appear in new roles as with all the major issues settled clubs give younger players a chance to demonstrate what they can do.

As luck would have it, every match pitted teams against their nearest rivals, and the result was a couple of adjustments in the final ordering of the table.

VRA Amsterdam’s victory over champions VOC Rotterdam in the Amsterdamse Bos may not have produced any change in the rankings, but it did confirm that with a little more consistency the home side could have run the Rotterdammers closer than in fact they managed.

Batting first, VRA took full advantage of the absence of Fred Klaassen and the decision of Pieter Seelaar not to take the ball himself or to give it to Max O’Dowd, and ran up a resounding 273 for five. Vikram Singh (74) and Dan ter Braak gave them an excellent start with a stand of 97, and after Singh departed having made his highest Topklasse score Ben Cooper contributed 75 and Eric Szwarczynski an unbeaten 49.

There were two wickets apiece for Umar Baker and, remarkably, international wicketkeeper Scott Edwards, who completed a useful 10-over spell.

Quirijn Gunning removed Max O’Dowd in his first over and Sebastiaan van Lent in his second, but then Dirk van Baren (41) and Edwards (78) contributed a third-wicket stand of 107. Both fell to Adeel Raja, however, and thereafter the innings fell away quickly as with two batsmen absent through injury VOC were dismissed for 151, Raja finishing with three for 29.

At Craeyenhout, HBS claimed third place with a comprehensive 175-run win over Excelsior ‘20, who ended their season with another dramatic collapse.

Chasing an HBS total of 244 in which Tobias Visée contributed a characteristic 31-ball 69 and Wesley Barresi, again batting at eight, a 46-ball 65, Excelsior were routed by seamer Navjit Singh, who took six for 17 in just 28 deliveries as the Schiedammers were dismissed for 60.

Earlier, Tom Heggelman had a season’s-best return of four for 37 and Lorenzo Ingram claimed three for 56, but the batsmen had no answer to Singh, who ensured that his side jumped ahead of the former champions.

HCC,, too, leaped over of their nearest rivals, Dosti United Amsterdam with a 142-run victory at De Diepput, and moved into fifth place.

Their total of 272 for six, built on a 129-run second-wicket stand between Ryan Ninan (73) and Tonny Staal (68) and extended by 45 from Bryce Street and 32 not out from Hidde Overdijk, always seemed likely to be beyond the reach of Dosti, for whom Mohammad Hafeez took four for 41 and thus confirmed his position as the season’s leading wicket-taker.

Rahil Ahmed led the chase with an aggressive 48, but once he and Hafeez (32) had gone the innings folded fairly quickly, and Dosti were all out for 130. Reinier Bijloos was another who achieved his best figures of the season with five for 35.

The pattern of chasing sides falling short was repeated in both the remaining matches, with ACC beating Sparta 1888 at Sportpark Bermweg and Quick Haag inflicting a final defeat on already-relegated Punjab Rotterdam at Het Zomercomplex.

Opener Rehmat Zulfiqar capped a fine season with 77 and Sikander Zulfiqar and Shirase Rasool chipped in with 35 and 30 respectively as ACC posted 211 for eight, Faisal Iqbal the best of the Sparta bowlers – who were missing both Mudassar Bukhari and Warren Bell – with four for 50.

Only Atse Buurman batted with any conviction for Sparta, and despite his 71-ball 74 the home side were all out for 120, with Chris Knoll taking four for 23 for ACC.

Punjab did rather better against Quick Haag, but their total of 175 was still 58 runs short of Quick’s 233 all out.

Sean Davey top-scored for Quick, and he and Geert Maarten Mol (41) put on 120 for the third wicket, while Punjab skipper Suleiman Tariq took three for 41.

Davey’s dismissal of Stef Myburgh off the first ball of the Punjab reply was a huge blow, and although Ali Raza made 35 and Momeen Latif 31, the Rotterdammers never seemed likely to mount a successful chase.

Veteran returnee Edgar Schiferli claimed three for 22, taking his tally of wickets in the top flight to 469 and proving that he is still a force to be reckoned with.

Rod Lyall 20/08/18

VOC Rotterdam underlined their position as newly-crowned Topklasse champions with an emphatic win over bottom-placed Punjab Rotterdam at Hazelaarweg on Sunday, and in doing so ensured that their opponents would, partly in the light of results elsewhere, be relegated to the Hoofdklasse next season.

The champions gave a demonstration of their batting strength by compiling an imposing 283 for five, with Dirk van Baren making 47, Max O’Dowd contributing 33, and then skipper Pieter Seelaar (62) and keeper Scott Edwards (72 not out) sharing a fifth-wicket stand of 102.

Stef Myburgh and Ali Raza once again got Punjab off to a flying start when they replied, but once Raza had gone Myburgh found it difficult to maintain the momentum, and he eventually fell to O’Dowd for 59.

O’Dowd then ran through the Punjab lower and middle order to finish with figures of six for 42, and with Jelte Schoonheim taking three for 33 the wooden-spooners were dismissed for 175, giving VOC victory by 108 runs.

At Craeyenhout, meanwhile, Quick Haag were putting themselves out of danger with an 18-run win against neighbours HBS, although they had some nervous moments along the way.

Their innings was something of a stop-start affair, but Sean Davey saw them through to a decent total of 243, making 79 himself and sharing in a 73-run stand for the fourth wicket with Lesley Stokkers (39) after Jay Bista had contributed 37 at the top of the order.

The wickets were shared among the HBS bowlers, with Wessel Coster, Farshad Khan, Ferdi Vink and Julian de Mey picking up a brace apiece.

After the early dismissal of the openers HBS were given a solid base by Adil Ahmed (43) and Navjit Singh, who put on 80 for the third wicket, setting the stage for a typically whirlwind knock from Tobias Visée, whose 69 came from just 29 deliveries and included seven fours and five sixes.

The Craeyenhout side seemed to be cruising, but Visée’s dismissal, the first of three victims for former international seamer Edgar Schiferli, returning to Quick’s first team after a three-year absence, was the cue for a dramatic collapse in which seven wickets fell for 24 runs.

Singh went for 79, bowled by Davey, and Wesley Barresi, batting at eight, ran out of partners as his side was dismissed for 225. Schiferli finished with three for 45.

The other possible candidates for relegation, ACC lost to HCC at Het Loopveld West, but were relieved of any remaining peril by Punjab’s defeat.

In a match reduced to 48 overs after overnight rain had left the pitch damp and slippery at first, ACC were unable to take advantage of skipper Saqib Zulfiqar’s decision to bat first, and were dismissed for a disappointing 121.

Opener Rehmat Zulfiqar batted almost throughout for his 38, while veteran Ahmed Zulfiqar added a run-a-ball 27 before he was run out.

Ryan Ninan took three for 27 for HCC, and also took three catches, one of them off his own bowling.

Sikander Zulfiqar removed both openers when HCC replied, but Tonny Staal and Bryce Street set about righting the ship, and after Staal had been run out Street and Boris Gorlee saw their side home to a seven-wicket victory, Street finishing on 59 not out and Gorlee on 30.

Excelsior ’20 Schiedam reinforced their claim to a top-four place by overwhelming Sparta 1888 at Thurlede, thanks in large measure to an unbeaten 142 from Tim Etman, who batted throughout the innings as the home side ran up 250 for six.

Remarkably, Excelsior then bowled Sparta out for 41, exactly the same total they had themselves been dismissed for in the corresponding fixture in Capelle a/d IJssel in June.

Only Atse Buurman, with 27, reached double figures in the Sparta innings, which included six ducks. Gijs Kroesen claimed two early wickets, but the main destroyers were James Hilditch and Lorenzo Ingram, with four for 15 and four for 9 respectively.

Like the match at Het Loopveld, Dosti United’s game against VRA Amsterdam was also rain-affected, and reduced in this case to 45 overs.

Batting first, Dosti made 202 for seven, Mohammad Hafeez making 60 before hitting a return catch to Peter Borren, who claimed three for 24 and brought his tally of wickets in the competition to exactly 300.

Hafeez was supported by Kuldeep Diwan (32), who has against joined Dosti as an end-of-season replacement for Taruwar Kohli.

Ben Cooper then steered VRA to a five-wicket victory with an unbeaten 84, he and Mitch Lees adding 66 in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand.