Category: Preview

Preview Round 7

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 27/05/2025

Last Saturday’s wetwash has left things pretty much as they were, although some teams will doubtless be regretting a lost opportunity to steal a march on their nearest rivals. But it now appears that the rainy season has finally arrived in the Netherlands, and our Ascension Day previews are written in the full awareness that Thursday may turn into a Descension Day instead. Since there are enough imponderables already without taking the weather into consideration, what follows assumes that there’s a match-sized gap in the eastward-flowing bands of rain.

RL: Still unbeaten, leaders Hermes-DVS face a tricky trip to the ironically-named Zomercomplex to take on Punjab-Ghausia. These two sides have had contrasting campaigns so far: Hermes, short on big names, have gone on winning thanks to determined team efforts and a remarkably effective attack, while Punjab, with most of the team which carried all before it last season, have struggled. Injuries undoubtedly haven’t helped, and they will be overjoyed to have Saqib Zulfiqar back in the side, especially if he is now fully fit. But the absence of his brother Sikander from the attack has perhaps been an even greater loss of cutting edge, and Punjab will be hoping that bolstering the attack with Tehzeeb Haider will make a difference to their fortunes. Hermes, on the other hand, will know that the men in green are always a tough proposition at the Zomercomplex, and will be looking to their bowlers, who until now have equally been without Oliver Elenbaas but have prospered nevertheless, to contain a potentially devastating top order.

BdJ: An away trip to visit the defending champions will be a significant hurdle if Hermes are to continue their remarkable unbeaten run, even if Punjab have looked off the boil all season. Both the remaining Zulfiqars are expected to play on Thursday too, both having got game time during last week’s pro-series fixtures, though Sikander notably wasn’t bowling and didn’t look at his quickest between the wickets either. With the Belgian national team in action this weekend Punjab will likely also have to do without the services of Burhan Niaz for one if not both of their upcoming games, leaving their seam attack looking still thinner. Hermes’ losses to international duty will hit even harder, however. With Daniel Doyle-Calle captaining the Spanish 50-over side in Denmark and Hikmatullah Jabarkhail headed to the Mdina Cup with Belgium, the front-runners will be losing both their lead scorer and the league’s leading wicket-taker for their trips to the Zomercomplex and then Westvliet. If they can make it through the extended week-end with their lead intact they may seriously start thinking about silverware, but it’s fair to say the odds are against them.

RL: Leading the chase, Kampong Utrecht will welcome HBS Craeyenhout to Maarschalkerweerd for what will be another crucial match for both teams. Just one match behind the leaders, Alex Roy’s men (a) need to prevent the gap from getting any bigger, and (b) will be keen to capitalise fully on the availability of their internationals while they have them. The Crows are likely less affected by the latter, although Kyle Klein is a key member of their line-up, but for them the former is even more significant, since they are already four points off the pace and another defeat would leave them fighting for the best possible place mid-table. Significant as O’Dowd and Edwards are for Kampong, the club made the most of their winter, and Lane Berry, Lorenzo Ingram and Lachlan Bangs, alongside Damien van den Berg, give the Utrecht side a top six as menacing as any in the competition. HBS, it’s true, are very good at making the most of what they have, and no team which includes Klein, Tayo Walbrugh, Wes Barresi and Lehan Botha can be written off. Kampong will need to be at their very best to make sure of the points.

BdJ: Given the availability issues that Kampong are likely to encounter deeper into the season, they can ill afford to drop points when they are at full strength, much less at home. HBS have always been stronger on their own (lack of) turf, and have yet to pick up a win on a natural wicket this season. The Crows have struggled to shake a reputation as mat-specialists in a competition where grass wickets are becoming the norm, and indeed have only won four matches on turf in the past three years. That said, three years and a day ago they did take two points home from Maarschalkerweerd, albeit against a very different Kampong side. The current HBS squad is less a product of Craeyenhout than previous seasons too, and one which on paper might be expected to travel better. All told an upset is not out of the question, though if it does happen one imagines Kyle Klein will have a key role in it.

RL: Currently third and fourth on net run rate, VRA and Voorburg will lock horns in the Amsterdamse Bos in what is undoubtedly one of the day’s four-pointers. Again, one tends to think first of the big names – Singh, Smal, Nidamanuru and Shariz for the home side, Levitt, Kaplan, Croes and perhaps Boissevain for the visitors – but games like this are often swung by the contributions of their team-mates, and Voorburg will be boosted by the performances so far of Cedric de Lange and, more recently, Patient Charumbira. The occasion will also be enlivened by the return to the Bos of Udit Nashier, yet to fit fully into his new outfit but capable of making a significant impression. For VRA, the new-ball attack of Ben Fletcher and Peter Ruffel is likely to be a key factor, although the spin of Shariz and Leon Turmaine can’t be discounted either. The winner here will stay in the hunt for the championship, while life will become much, much harder for whoever drops the points.

BdJ: It’s not been a great season so far for recent champions, and neither VRA (whose memories of 50-over silverware are admittedly somewhat distant now) nor 2023 winners Voorburg have looked their best this season. Voorburg’s enviable batting line-up has been let down somewhat by a bowling unit unsettled by availability and injury issues, and those issues are likely to continue. If they can squeeze another weekend out of Boissevain before he has to go back to New Zealand to make his days as a local there it would certainly be a boon, but one suspects the timer’s already buzzing on that front too. VRA’s bench strength has served them somewhat better, with the likes of Turmaine, Hake or Abhinay stepping up admirably when called up from the seconds, while the front-line seam attack of Fletcher, Ruffel and Abid has been consistently effective. The battle at the top of VCC’s innings where that trio are pitted against the competitions’ most productive opening pair may well prove decisive.

RL: Perhaps even more important for both teams, the meeting between Excelsior ‘20 and Sparta 1888 at Thurlede brings together two sides desperate to move clear of the depths of the relegation zone. Sparta’s keenness to get a crack at VOC last Saturday was very obvious, and no-one perhaps had more reason to be disappointed by the arrival of the rain. At least on paper, Excelsior are a much more serious proposition, with Raynard van Tonder and Antum Naqvi capable of scoring freely against any attack. The local players, too, have chipped in usefully at times, and one has a sense that if they put it all together they could ease clear of the danger zone. Sparta, by contrast, have become skilled at making the most of relatively limited resources, and in Ahsan Malik they still have a pace bowler with match-winning capabilities. The batting has so far been over-dependent on Kyle Klesse, but Juandre Scheepers proved last year that he, too, is able to play important innings, and if ever there was a must-win fixture, this is it.

BdJ: Excelsior had assembled a remarkable roster for the washed-out Schiedam Derby last week, with not only van Tonder and Naqvi lining up but Brett Hampton also ready to take the field in the game that never came, they’re unlikely to look as strong again however. Hampton will presumably be back at Hampshire come Thursday, and there’s questions hanging while the continued availability of Naqvi and van Tonder for the full season is also in doubt. Anything but two points at home to popular relegation-picks Sparta on Thursday would likely see the 2019 Champions supplant Sparta as bookie’s co-favourites to go down along with the hapless VOC. Indeed it would be bitterly ironic if the Schiedammers were to slip out of the Topklasse just as the likes of Stan van Troost and Joost Kroesen were beginning to look at home there. Sparta may claim to be sanguine about their own risk of relegation, but they’ve shown no signs of rolling over this season, and it’s telling that they were one of the two sides to wait the longest last week before giving up on getting a game in…

RL: No less threatened with a spell in the Hoofdklasse, bottom side VOC will entertain HCC, currently sixth on the table and themselves not entirely clear of relegation anxieties. There’s no two ways about it: in terms of firepower with both bat and ball, the Lions have a distinct advantage over the Bloodhounds, although the latter did spring a surprise when their bowlers were too sharp for an out-of-sorts Punjab on 10 May. There’s plenty of talent, if rather less experience, in VOC’s attack, but they are clearly suffering from the largely-unremarked departure of Asief Hoseinbaks, their leading wicket-taker last season but now back at Hoofdklasse club Dosti. Their visitors’ batting has blown a little hot and cold so far, as their position on the table attests, but Roman Harhangi and the brothers Jain, as well as overseas Scott Janett and Christiaan Oberholzer, will need to be at their most effective if they are to keep HCC’s batting to within bounds that their own somewhat shonky batters will be able to match.

BdJ: There’s little question that VOC are outmatched on paper in this encounter, and will be hoping to catch HCC on an off-day, but when those have come for Lions this season they really have been very off indeed, and even this depleted Bloodhounds squad still have the quality to take advantage. That said, while VOC are not the only club affected by Dosti getting the old gang back together this season, I’d have to agree the impact of the loss of Hoseinbaks has received too little attention from the Topklasse commentariat (which I guess is mostly just us really, so our bad there). This week they’ll also have to do without Monty Singh, who’s on duty with Denmark for the first of several engagements, leaving the batting still more dependent on new overseas Scott Jannet, unless someone else in the top order happens upon some kind of form. Playing as they have been VOC will be underdogs if HCC manage more than 150 runs, which they’ve done on three out of five attempts this season.

RL’s picks: Punjab, Kampong, Voorburg, Excelsior, HCC
BdJ’s picks: Punjab, Kampong, VRA, Excelsior, HCC

Preview Round 6

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 22/05/2025

Well the first burst of the international summer is behind us, and so we’re all free to concentrate on the serious business of club cricket as the Topklasse approaches the end of the first third. The table remains in a somewhat amorphous state at this early stage, with Hermes making the early running but every club having put points on the board. All to play for still then as we head into round six.

BdJ: The match of the round is without a doubt the Schiedam Derby, where a real reversal of recent years sees Hermes DVS flying high unbeaten at the top of the table as they welcome old rivals Excelsior ‘20 to the Loopuyt Oval. Encouragingly for the frontrunners, they fought their way to a win against VOC last week despite a rare failure from Daniel Doyle-Calle, discipline with the ball and especially the spinning triple threat of Dutt, Kothari and Jabarkhail underpinning their success so far. Excelsior’s failure in the face of Punjab’s slow-bowling last week bodes ill for them in that respect, Raynard van Tonder’s efforts in vain at Thurlede on Saturday as they slumped to a 32-run defeat. That said, they still boast a stronger line-up than VOC, and one suspects Hermes will need more runs than they have managed thus far to extend their remarkable winning streak.

RL: The old adage that the best teams have the knack of winning even when they’re not playing at their best certainly applies to Hermes, who demonstrated against VOC that they have acquired Excelsior’s old ability to defend low totals. Even without the incisiveness of Olivier Elenbaas, the Sky Blues’ attack has had an outstanding start to the season – insiders tell us that if they win again on Saturday it will be the second time in their history that they’ve won their first six games of a campaign – and in a competition rich in imported batting they will present a real challenge to Excelsior’s distinguished but so far inconsistent top order. The visitors’ bowling, by contrast, has lacked the sharpness it had last year, although Joost Kroesen’s re-emergence as a wicket-taking leg-spinner has been a feature of the last two rounds. A fine century against Voorburg apart, we have yet to see the best of Antum Naqvi with either bat or ball, but he, too, could prove a trump card on the Loopuyt Oval wicket. Form clearly points to a home win, but if Excelsior get their act together they could yet spring a surprise.

BdJ: Hermes’ nearest rivals Kampong CC face a tricky trip to De Diepput to face the mercurial HCC on Saturday. Kampong have looked imperious at home so far, but will be playing on artificial for the first time this season against a side that’s already knocked over the much-fancied Voorburg when the latter visited in round three. HCC’s home record has otherwise been spotty, but with Gorlee averaging over 100 in his last three outings on artificial wickets it’s hard to judge what a safe score may be at HCC. Kampong have yet to defend a sub-300 total this season, though it’s worth noting they’ve only had to try once, either passing 300 or looking like they could have done comfortably in their other four outings so far.

RL: Boris Gorlee’s form with the bat has been one of the feature’s of HCC’s start to the season, but another has been a rejuvenated Hidde Overdijk, who has looked a much hungrier pace bowler this year. With a dozen wickets in five games he’s up near the top of the bowling averages, although he and the rest of the Lions’ bowling unit will need to be at their best against Kampong’s explosive top order. The presence of Lane Berry at three gives openers Damien van den Berg and Max O’Dowd licence to go for their shots in the powerplay, and Lachlan Bangs has shown that he can build powerfully on a good start – not to mention the lurking menace of Scott Edwards. De Diepput’s short square boundaries are an open invitation for aggressive batting, and if the rain holds off and Deepwell doesn’t live up to its ominous name, the home side’s fielders could spend a lot of time and energy retrieving the ball. But equally, HCC are not without batters capable of exploiting the peculiarities of their home ground, not least opener Tonny Staal, who has hinted in previous games that he may not be far away from one of those match-turning innings. If the Lions lack Kampong’s fire-power overall, they are formidable opponents in a scrap, and they will be keen to put last week’s collapse, their second of the campaign, firmly behind them.

BdJ: Third-placed VRA meanwhile enjoy a second consecutive home game after a long long absence from the Bos, welcoming HBS Craeyenhout to Amselveen on Saturday. The Fluffers will do well to be wary of the Crows, who also knocked over Voorburg last week. The return of Navjit Singh, as well as the (still mostly just lurking) menace of Toby Visée at the top of the order, and especially Kyle Klein back from national duty has added some substance to a side that had previously looked all-too dependent on Tayo Walbrugh and Wes Barresi for runs. Conversely a four-wicket haul for Leon Turmaine on return from the Twos last week is illustrative of the depth of the bench at the Bos. And while VRA looked a bit wobbly with the bat on an admittedly tricky track against HCC, they’ve not really looked like dropping a game at home yet. For HBS this will be only their second game on grass this season, and they didn’t look at all convincing against Hermes. Kyle Klein at least has had had plenty of success on turf wickets this season though, and one suspects he’ll be key if the Crows are to throw off their reputation as mat specialists and stake a claim to a place in a league where artificial surfaces are becoming the exception rather than the rule.

RL: If this year’s competition isn’t going to turn rapidly into a two-horse race, it’s teams like VRA and HBS who hold the key: both are currently four points behind the leaders, and even with only a third of the season gone a six-point deficit would be a lot to make up. So this is another four-pointer, with the winners still in a position to take advantage of any slip by the top two and the losers slipping back into the mid-table churn. Both sides have plenty of class in both batting and bowling: with Vikram Singh, Johan Smal, Teja Nidamanuru and Shariz Ahmad in their top six, VRA are equipped to post big totals, and they need to do so when they have the services of their internationals. If Visée’s brief cameo last week was more than a one-off, HBS are scarcely less well off, while the pace units of Ben Fletcher, Peter Ruffell and Ashir Abid on the one hand and Klein, Lehan Botha and Benno Boddendijk on the other will fully test top orders which yet to produce a really dominating performance. A lot may depend on how the pitch plays: if it’s similar to last week’s, it may be the bowlers who hold most of the cards.

BdJ: Few would have predicted that the first meeting between the 2024 and 2023 Champions this season would be a mid-table clash, but so it will be when Punjab-Ghausia head to Westvliet to take on Voorburg on Saturday. Punjab’s woes this season can be attributed at least in part to the fitness struggles of their remaining Zulfiqar twins, the bowling especially having lacked for penetration so far. The slow bowling was enough to choke out Excelsior last week, with Musa Ahmad and Shoaib Minhas functioning almost as bowling all rounders this season, but even against a Voorburg batting card that’s looked less than the sum of its parts at times it’s difficult to see them taking ten wickets on Saturday. Voorburg’s own bowling is not what it was either of course, with Viv Kingma likely sidelined for a fortnight at least while leggie Peter Hatzalogou got a call from the Multan Sultans last week. While Patient Charumbira has proved a smart acquisition for the Villagers, the rest of the front-line attack (bar the prodigal Flip Boissevain) are all averaging over 30 with the ball this season. On paper then, expect a run-fest. Which of the two sides will be able to turn their season around from here though is tougher to call.

RL: Already two points further back, Voorburg and Punjab’s immediate concern will be to get themselves firmly established in the mid-table’s upper reaches, well away from this season’s expanded relegation zone. That both have the resources to do so comfortably is beyond question – Voorburg are, after all, By Appointment Suppliers of Players to the National Squad as well as having one of the competition’s most prolific and reliable batters in Gavin Kaplan. And in Jonathan Vandiar, Shoaib Minhas and Mohsin Riaz Punjab have three players who last year were instrumental in propelling them to the club’s first national title. As m’colleague observes, however, neither side’s bowling, in conditions which have largely favoured the batters, has been equally effective; injuries and national team demands have played their part in this, no doubt, but both will be looking for more cutting edge from here on in. The same factors have deprived both captains of a settled eleven, but these are clubs with proud recent records, and too much quality to be struggling for long.

BdJ: At the bottom end of the table, Sparta 1888 versus VOC Rotterdam looks pretty do-or-die, with the loser surely favourites for relegation even at this early stage. Both clubs are coming off heavy losses again, admittedly against the two leading sides in the competition, though of the two defeats VOC’s failure to capitalise on bowling out Hermes for just 140 must have stung rather more. Sparta’s attack got taken to pieces by the Kampong top order last week, but the same is true of most of the teams that have come up against the newly-promoted title contenders. While nobody’s beaten Hermes yet this season, VOC were arguably in a better position to do so than anyone has been, before collapsing in a heap in the face of the sky blue spinners. While it’s fair to say that Sparta have been repeatedly bested and at times clearly outclassed this season, they have rarely rolled over in the way the Bloodhounds have.

RL: VOC have shown signs in their last two games of more spirit than they mustered at the start of the season, albeit in flashes rather than across a whole game. Roman Harhangi has bowled some fine spells, and has deserved greater reward than the six wickets he’s picked up so far. Brothers Arnav and Aaditt Jain and Siebe van Wingerden, the latter getting a prolonged run in the first team, also form part of a promising bowling unit, but they need more support from a batting unit which has too often tended to be more a procession than a line-up. In Kyle Klesse Sparta have a batter who has proved to be encouragingly difficult to dislodge, but he’s spent too much time standing alone against a surge of wickets at the other end. With only three half-century partnerships in five matches Sparta could do with a lot more stickability at the crease, but then, VOC have managed no more, and they owe much to transient Danish international Monty Singh. In current form, both clubs can anticipate Hoofdklasse cricket next season, but a few victories could change all that, and barring a tie or lots of rain one of them will leave the Bermweg having doubled their haul of points.

BdJ’s picks: Excelsior, Kampong, VRA, Punjab, Sparta
RL’s picks: Hermes, Kampong, VRA, Voorburg, Sparta.

Preview Round 5

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 15/05/2025

If last week’s matches proved anything, it’s that predicting outcomes in the Topklasse is a mug’s game. But it also confirmed, in large part, that so far this season it’s much more fun being a batter than a bowler: with 11 centuries in the first 20 matches, compared with eleven in the whole of last season, and 13 totals in excess of 250, conditions have certainly favoured batting. With the good weather expected to extend into the weekend, that at least is a trend which might be expected to continue.

RL: Having broken their duck with a remarkable victory over Punjab, VOC Rotterdam now have to take on the current leaders, Hermes-DVS Schiedam. They will at least be at home at the Hazelaarweg, but that won’t be much of a bonus unless they can sort out the ills which continue to afflict their batting. Christiaan Oberholzer stood virtually alone against Punjab, and it was the bowlers, led by young Siebe van Wingerden and the rather less young Jelte Schoonheim, who manufactured the Bloodhounds’ surprise victory. Hermes, it is true, have some batting worries of their own, but with Ash Ostling and Daniel Doyle-Calle in supreme form at the top of the order and Asad Zulfiqar contributing his first significant knock in the win against Kampong they have so far been able to rely on a solid start. The Sky Blues’ bowling has so far been their trump card, though, and VOC will need more than another virtuoso effort from Oberholzer if they are to double their points haul here.

BdJ: The only side to have taken ten wickets in each of their matches thus far, Hermes indeed owe their place at the top of the table primarily to their attack. Coming up against a VOC batting card that has looked inconsistent at best, one might predict with reasonable confidence that that streak is likely to survive another week. The Bloodhounds have shown increasing fight over the short season so far though, culminating in a surprise win over the defending champions, achieved without their lead scorer Monty Singh. The bowling remains a concern however, and while Hermes do have a longish tail if one can get through to it, their top order has not shown itself anywhere like as prone to collapse as Punjab’s did last week.

RL: Sparta 1888 similarly took their first points at home to VRA last Saturday, but they now face a difficult journey to meet second-placed Kampong Utrecht, who will presumably be back to full strength into the bargain. With 119 out of a total of 226 Lane Berry was another overseas batter who could have done with more support last week, and Kampong’s bowlers soon found that they were defending a sub-par score in the conditions at the Loopuyt Oval. For Sparta, though, 200 and a bit has so far been the limit of their batters’ success, and that is unlikely to be enough against a Kampong line-up which has twice passed 300. Sparta’s attack, on the other hand, has been pretty effective, and it will need to be to contain Kampong at Maarschalkerweerd. Alex Roy’s side remain serious title contenders, but they cannot afford to yield any more ground to Hermes, and will be determined to bounce back with a win.

BdJ: The pressure will be on Kampong to get full value out of their stacked batting line-up on the occasions that they can field it, and anything less than two points at home to Sparta will be a blow to their ambition to take the title on their first season back. Edwards and O’Dowd have both been in fine touch for the Dutch and will have had plenty of time in the middle at Utrecht, though after a week of ODIs a somewhat tired square may play into the hands of the Spartans and their wiley, pace-off approach with the ball. Two-hundred-and-some may prove a more challenging total than in past rounds, though Kampong would remain favourites to chase anything below 250-odd, and the more likely side to set something substantially higher.

RL: Another side who claimed the points against more fancied opposition last week, HBS likewise are rewarded with a tough assignment, a Voorburg outfit which will be welcoming back most of its international contingent. The Craeyenhout attack, though, will be strengthened by the return of Kyle Klein, while the batting received a big boost against HCC from Lehan Botha’s remarkable display of aggression. One of the more intriguing features of the campaign so far has been the success of Wesley Barresi as a new-ball-sharing off-spinner, with seven wickets for 99 in the two matches since Tayo Walbrugh started using him in that role. Whether he will continue in it with Klein back in the side may be moot, but the encounter between the Crows’ bowlers and Voorburg’s powerful batting line-up should be one of the most interesting aspects of the round.

BdJ: A big caveat there is that Voorburg’s returning international contingent won’t be quite what it was on departure, with Viv Kingma picking up a hamstring injury and Bas de Leede likely heading back to Durham. Yet despite the unheralded success of the Crows’ attack so far this season, they’ll have their work cut out containing Voorburg’s intimidating batting card. Conversely, HBS have looked worryingly dependent on Barresi and Walbrugh for runs thus far, and if they’re going to take the points on Saturday they’ll likely have to win them with the ball.

RL: The meeting of VRA Amsterdam and HCC in the Bos will definitely count as a four-pointer: defeats for both sides last week see them level on points mid-table, a win on Saturday keeping them in touch with the three leaders, another loss bringing them unpleasantly close to relegation territory. With Boris Gorlee in outstanding form with the bat, 303 runs having come in his last three innings, the Lions looked as if they were recovering well from an opening-day loss until they fell away against HBS, while VRA suffered as much as anybody from the absence of their internationals in the past two rounds. So everything points to a real tussle here, and Johan Smal and Patrick Gouge, whose effort with the bat against Sparta proved to be in vain, will welcome much greater support from a VRA line-up which at full strength looks to be as formidable as any in the competition against an HCC bowling unit which has conceded over 600 runs in its last two outings.

BdJ: The outcome at the Bos on Saturday does look like it will be the difference between a stutter and a stumble for the two sides. HCC have the benefit of a settled side unperturbed by the national selectors and the leading run-scorer in the league, even if the rest of the batting order’s returns have been comparatively modest. VRA’s three international have spent much of the ODI series on the sidelines for one reason or another, and though we understand Teja Nidamanuru is expected to be fully fit for Saturday, none of the three have had much game time of late. That said the HCC attack has failed to contain lesser batting sides than what VRA will be fielding on Saturday, and the hosts will feel that if they can neutralise Gorlee the two points will be there for the taking.

RL: Sharing an unenviable position among the bottom four, Excelsior ‘20 and Punjab-Ghausia will be in even greater need of a victory when they meet at Thurlede. The comparative failure of Punjab’s top order, which has been reduced to 60 for four, 67 for four, 62 for four and 30 for six in its four innings so far, is one of the Topklasse’s great enigmas this season, although the injury to Saqib Zulfiqar has undoubtedly not helped a side which otherwise had a pretty settled look. Some bowling unit, one feels, is going to suffer mightily when Punjab hit their straps, and Excelsior’s, so often its great strength, has proved comparatively toothless so far. One notable exception to that was the under-used leg-spinner Joost Kroesen, who almost brought his side back into the game when they appeared to be down and out against Voorburg. But last season’s spearhead, Jason Ralston, has just five wickets from his first four games, and Excelsior will need his cutting edge to be at its sharpest if they are to put Punjab under pressure again.

BdJ: As much as the travails of the top four, Punjab’s title defense has been hamstrung by the Zulfiqar-shaped hole in the bowling attack. One indeed suspects that the likes of Minhas, Riaz and Musa Ahmad will not remain runless for long, but the lack of penetration in the bowling attack is a real concern, and indeed Ahmad’s formerly part-time spin has been the chief source of wickets for the side this season. Coming up against Raynard van Tonder, Antum Naqvi and an in-form Stan van Troost, there’s a danger Punjab’s attenuated attack could be exposed in a big way.

RL’s picks: Hermes, Kampong, Voorburg, VRA, Punjab

BdJ’s picks: Hermes, Kampong, Voorburg, VRA, Excelsior

Preview Round 4

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 09/05/25

Just two weeks in and yet it already feels like the Dutch cricket season is in full swing, the international summer underway at VRA and the Topklasse entering round four, the table taking on a not entirely unexpected shape despite a few early surprises.

BdJ: At the top end of the table the two unbeaten sides, Hermes DVS and Kampong are set for a showdown at the Loopuyt Oval, with the clear pole position at stake. Thus far Hermes have been finding ways to win off the back of scores around the 200-mark, but that’s unlikely to be enough against a Kampong side that’s racked up two 300+ scores and a chase of 92 in ten overs already. Even with Edwards and O’Dowd still on international duty, Kampong’s new overseas trio of Lane Berry, Lachlan Bangs and Lorenzo Ingram have been delivering runs in abundance for their new side, while Daniel Doyle-Calle is the only Hermes bat to have passed 100 runs already, despite only playing two games. He’ll be hoping for a little more support from the rest of the line-up, and despite three impressive showings from the Hermes attack you’d have to say they start as underdogs at home.

RL: Hermes’ bowlers have done the job for them so far, but this will undoubtedly be the stiffest test they have faced. With nine wickets at an average of 8.00, new boy Hikmatullah Jabarkhail has been their trump card so far, and even without the injured Olivier Elenbaas the pace attack has been consistently effective as well. But whether they have the collective fire-power to contain Kampong’s batting is doubtful, although they will establish themselves as serious title contenders if they succeed. On the other side of the equation, Pierre Jacod shares the top of the wicket-taking table with Jabarkhail, and the achievements of the batters has perhaps obscured just how well the Kampong bowlers have been doing. The newly-promoted side doesn’t have an obvious weakness, even when it’s two internationals short, and it does seem likely that they will be on their own at the top of the tree by Saturday evening.

BdJ: Third-placed VRA, currently hosting the ongoing CWC League 2 ODI series at Amstelveen, are consequently on the road again come Saturday facing a tricky trip to Bermweg to take on the Sparta 1888, the latter still looking for their first win but having shown some fight in at least two of their three defeats. The Spartans managed to find early wickets against both Voorburg and HBS, even if the sub-250 totals they were defending proved inadequate in the end. VRA’s batting looks somewhat brittle in the absence of internationals Singh, Nidamanuru and Ahmad, who will all be on duty with the Dutch on Saturday, collapsing to 116 all out in pursuit of a similar sort of total against Hermes on Monday. They’ll look to deputy skipper Johan Smal to rally the somewhat ad-hoc squad assembled in the internationals’ absence, and to anchor a batting line-up that does not lack for depth on paper, but failed to deliver on Monday.

RL: We’re at the point already where the top of the mid-table threatens to detach itself from the bottom, and all the remaining games on Saturday pit teams from third to sixth against those whose main priority is to steer well clear of the perilous eighth place and the automatic relegation spots below it. Conversely, dropping points at this stage would put a big dent in their opponents’ goal of keeping pace with the leaders. So there will be a great deal to play for at the Bermweg, and Joost-Martijn Snoep will be hoping that he and his new-ball partner Ahsan Malik can put VRA’s top order under pressure. He will also, no doubt, be looking to Lukas Boorer and Kyle Klesse to deliver with the bat, but the visitors’ seam unit of Ben Fletcher, Peter Ruffell and Ashir Abid is one part of their set-up which is not affected by the national team’s commitments, and it, along with the batting of Smal, could be the key to the side’s hopes of staying in the hunt for the title they just missed out on last year.

BdJ: In fourth place, the much-fancied Voorburg welcome the less heralded Excelsior ‘20 to Westvliet, and while even just a week ago it would hard to imagine dubbing this a tough game to call, the form of Excelsior’s batting line-up combined with HCC dismantling the Voorburg attack on Monday has put a rather different shine on things. With young Stan van Troost having amassed 200 runs in his last 2 innings and new overseas Raynard van Tonder also averaging over 50, the Schiedammers’ batting suddenly looks like a strength rather than a liability. Last season’s lead wicket-taking Jason Ralston hasn’t quite found his rhythm yet, but if he and newcomer Antum Naqvi hit their stride one might imagine Excelsior challenging the top of the table. VCC also have two bats in the current top five though, with Gavin Kaplan continuing where he left off last season and young Cedric de Lange also stiking his maiden Topklasse ton last week. It was in the bowling department where Voorburg looked to be most lacking, missing their spearhead in Viv Kingma owing to Dutch duties. They will look to Mees van Vliet and Tom de Leede to shoulder more responsibility, and of course that the wrist spin of Hatzoglou and de Lange finds more purchase back on home turf.

RL: Hatzoglou going wicketless last seek after he had mesmerised VOC the week before was possibly a decisive factor in HCC’s victory, and Kaplan will be hoping that he can tame an Excelsior batting line-up which, as m’colleague observes, has the potential to steer the side well away from the danger area, and conceivably into a place among the leaders. Van Tonder’s near-century last Saturday was a courageous effort, and with allrounder Naqvi yet to show what he can do with the bat, the Schiedammers have the equipment to make opposing bowlers suffer. Voorburg, of course, have plenty of batting of their own, even without Michael Levitt, Bas de Leede and Noah Croes, and with Carl Mumba slotting into the middle order alongside Henry Melville they will represent a considerable threat to an Excelsior attack which is not yet firing on all cylinders.

BdJ: Meanwhile De Diepput will be gearing up for the Hague derby as HCC take on old rivals HBS Craeyenhout. Having just flogged VCC for 328 runs with time to spare on the same ground last week, the HCC bats will already be casting a predatory eye over a Kyle Klein-less HBS attack. HCC skipper Boris Gorlee currently leads the season run aggregates, but after a shambolic season opener practically the whole top order got runs under their belt last weekend. HBS meanwhile have needed former skipper Wes Barresi to try to hold the batting together, with mixed results. He dragged them to their first win of the season over Sparta last week, but the Crows will want more from the top of the order on Saturday

RL: Untroubled by the Dutch selectors and clearly starting to bring it all together with Gorlee leading from the front, HCC showed great resilience in chasing down a 300-plus target last Saturday, and they will be supremely confident against an HBS side whose season so far has gone in fits and starts. Talismanic captain Tayo Walbrugh has got starts without yet playing a really decisive innings, while with two runs from three knocks Lehan Botha has had a nightmare start to his campaign. Walbrugh’s decision to rely so heavily on spin paid off against Sparta, and it will be interesting to see whether he adopts the same policy, especially the tactic of opening with Barresi as well as Jayden Rossouw, against the Lions’ much more menacing line-up on a ground which offers plenty of rewards for hard hitters.

BdJ: Finally 2024 champions Punjab-Ghausia will be looking to get their title defence back on track when they welcome the winless, hapless VOC Rotterdam to the Zomercomplex, and could hardly ask for a less taxing assignment. While Punjab suffered two defeats in three days, the batting collapsing against VRA and then the bowling dismantled by Kampong, their opponents have not looked close to getting a win all season. While the VOC batting efforts have improved somewhat from the opening 86 all out, Danish international Monty Singh the stand-out, the Bloodhounds’ bowling attack has now twice given up 320+ scores, collectively averaging 57 with the ball and giving up some 6.7 runs per over. While neither side has had the start to the season that they’d have hoped for, Punjab do look the likelier of the two to turn things around.

RL: The statistics for VOC do indeed look bleak, but they are a fair reflection of their performances on the park so far. Punjab have the great advantage of being a settled team with an outstanding record, while the Bloodhounds have yet to cohere around their three new overseas, of whom the confusingly-named Singh a.k.a. TS Bharaj has been the most convincing; if VOC are to get away from the bottom of the table they will need Scott Janett and Christiaan Oberholzer to play much more significant roles than they have been able to do in the first three games. Their opponents have potential match-winners with both bat and ball, Mohsin Riaz, Saqib and Sikander Zulfiqar, Musa Ahmad and Shoaib Minhas all proven forces, with the evergreen Suleiman Tariq always guaranteed to wheel away to great effect in the opening powerplay. It would take a dramatic reversal of form here for VOC to leave the Zomercomplex with the points.

BdJ’s picks: Kampong, VRA, Voorburg, HCC, Punjab

RL’s picks: Kampong, VRA, Voorburg, HCC, Punjab.

Preview Round 3

Looking at Monday’s Liberation Day fixtures (for the uninitiated, Liberation Day is now a public holiday in the Netherlands once every five years) before Saturday’s second round is played makes prediction even more problematic than usual, especially since this time several clubs will be without their national team players. We knew from the outset that this year strength in depth would be a key factor in deciding the championship, and there will be a lot more evidence on that score by the time the dust settles on Monday evening. But we are where we are in several respects, so with all the usual caveats, here’s what we think.

RL: Whatever the results on Saturday, the clash between Kampong and Punjab-Ghausia at Maarschalkerweerd on Monday will be one of the key games of the season. Whether the Utrecht side will be able to maintain a challenge for the title in the absence of Edwards and O’Dowd is one of the big questions, and there could be no greater test of that issue than a game against the reigning champions, with or without their Zulfiqars. Here is a situation in which the acquisition of Lorenzo Ingram really comes into its own, but Lane Berry and Lachlan Bangs will also have a word or two to say in the matter, while Kampong also have plenty of home-grown talent, especially with the ball, Pierre Jacod having again proved his worth in the opening demolition of VOC. But Punjab’s all-round strength remains undoubted, and they will be out to demonstrate it to the full against the new kids on the block.

BdJ: Having strategically delayed my own contribution to this dialogue by a day, I’ve the benefit of hindsight looking back on the ambush sprung on Punjab in their own back yard by VRA yesterday, the defending champions proving bafflingly brittle despite the addition of Jonathan Vandiar. With Saqib Zulfiqar’s hamstring keeping him sidelined the batting depth isn’t quite what it might be, but one suspects Saturday’s performance was something of an aberration. Kampong, conversely, looked imperious with the bat against Excelsior, and indeed even without Edwards and O’Dowd one could argue that they remain a batting-heavy side. One would expect Punjab to revert to something closer to their altogether less embarrassing mean with the bat tomorrow of course, so all told a tough game to call, but you’d have to go with Kampong on form.

RL: VRA will travel to Schiedam without three of their regulars in skipper Teja Nidamanuru, opener Vikram Singh and spinner Shariz Ahmad, while hosts Hermes-DVS will have to manage without allrounder Aryan Dutt. But the Amsterdammers, whose Second XI is playing in the Hoofdklasse this season, have plenty of back-up, and with Johan Smal able to resume the captaincy they are probably as well fitted as anyone to cope with the depletion. If both sides have won on Saturday whoever takes the points here will retain an unbeaten record and have at least a share of the lead on the table, so there will be plenty on the line at the Loopuyt. Keen to build on their extremely promising return to the top flight last year, Hermes have a canny captain in Sebastiaan Braat, a competent, well-balanced attack, and a couple of explosive openers, but their main concern will be to ensure that their middle order comes to the party more consistently. Led by Ben Fletcher and Peter Ruffell, with Ashir Abid as first change, VRA’s attack is sharp enough to make that difficult, and Hermes will need to be at their best to take the points here.

BdJ: Coming off two wins, the most recent the closest thing to a hard-fought victory we’ve seen this season, Hermes may prove a sterner challenge than the cruising VRA have faced thus far. The Amsterdammers have the depth to shrug off the loss of three internationals in the bowling department at least, especially with Ben Fletcher expected to return to the fray, though without the trio lost to Oranje the batting does look rather dependent on Smal and the new overseas bats Cassidy and Gouge. How the three weather the trial by spin and pace-off seam from the likes of Kothari, Jabarkhail and Braat that awaits them at ‘t Loopuyt, together with the question of who if any amongst the VRA attack can contain or remove Daniel Doyle-Calle, will likely decide who takes the points from this one.

RL: Voorburg provide more players than any other to the Dutch squad, so they will really need to draw on their reserves when they make the short journey to De Diepput to take on HCC. Given, though, that those ‘reserves’ include former HCC seamer Patrick Charumbira and his fellow-Zimbabwean Carl Mumba, and that they will still have Mees van Vliet to take the new ball and Gavin Kaplan’s allround skills (as well as stand-in captaincy), they will make that journey in good heart. Untroubled by national team call-ups, the Lions will nevertheless have a great opportunity to show that they belong at the upper end of the table rather than the lower. HCC’s overseas Oliver White had a couple of games with Voorburg last season after Kaplan had departed, so like Charumbira he will be taking on former teammates, but the key to the home side’s chances of success will likely be how their home-grown batters cope against Voorburg’s well-balanced attack. They will certainly need to do a lot better than they managed last time they occupied the crease at De Diepput.

BdJ: While some teams prefer to rely on a pipe-line of youth players, others source reinforcements from overseas, and other still pull in talent from rival Dutch clubs, Voorburg persist with the sly tactic of just doing all of those things at once. The loss of Croes, Levitt, de Leede and Kingma consequently doesn’t hit quite as hard at VCC, who can call upon an unrivalled bench strength to compensate. HCC at de Diepput remains a tricky proposition however, and the Lions looked a massively improved outfit yesterday compared to their rather shambolic opening showing this season. The trusted trio of Staal, Overdijk and Gorlee will as ever be crucial to the hosts’ hopes, and there’s something to be said for a settled side on home turf, even when objectively outgunned.

RL: Having gone down fighting on day one, HBS and Sparta 1888 will both hope to show more of that resilience, with a better outcome, when they meet at Craeyenhout in another early-season showdown where getting away from the bottom three is the first priority. Although they will undoubtedly miss Kyle Klein from the attack, and possibly from the middle order, the Crows will otherwise be at full strength, and they have plenty of batting to give Sparta’s dogged attack a hard time. The Capelle side may tend to rely excessively on their overseas trio of Kyle Klesse, Lukas Boorer and Juandre Scheepers with the bat, but they do have a lower order which can chip in with valuable runs, and they may need them to do so against an HBS attack which has the likes of former skipper Ferdi Vink to call on in Klein’s absence. The home side, too, have a crop of promising youngsters coming through, as Elmar Boendermaker’s progress attests, so they have the luxury of choosing between the wiles of experience and the enthusiasm of youth.

BdJ: The Crows have racked up another fighting defeat since the above was written, while the Spartans’ efforts against HCC were rather less inspiring yesterday. That said, the HBS attack without Kyle Klein looks considerably less intimidating, while Sparta have been left entirely unscathed by the national selectors. Ahsan Malik’s return to regular competition has been a particular blessing, looking every bit as canny as back when he too was a regular in Orange. The Cappelle side have said they were sanguine about the possibility of relegation, but will doubtless be alert to the fact that a win over the winless Crows could put distance between them and the prospect.

RL: More than any other, reading this match depends greatly on what happens on Saturday: which of home side VOC and visitors Excelsior ‘20 has started to come back from their catastrophic start to the season? With Raynard van Tonder, Antum Naqvi and Jason Ralston, Excelsior have a trio of overseas who should be able to win them a fair number of crucial matches, and few will be crucial-er than this one as the table starts to take shape. But the two sides share the problem of under-performing home-grown players, and while in Aaditt Jain and Roman Harhangi the Bloodhounds have two of the most promising seamers in the competition, it’s in games like this that they will need them to step up and prove their mettle. The Bloodhounds will also be looking once more for big contributions from Scott Janett and Christiaan Oberholzer, their new overseas, who will likely be instrumental in the side’s campaign to stay up.

BdJ: While both sides put up a somewhat improved showing with the bat in the process of being thoroughly beaten yesterday, VOC almost getting to within 130 runs of Voorburg’s total was entirely down to a single partnership between new overseas Scott Janett and Denmark’s Monty Singh, whereas Excelsior can take heart from encouraging innings from both Kroesens and especially Stan van Troost. If the three maintain that momentum, new arrival Antum Naqvi can recapture some of his recent form, and/or Raynard van Tonder can play through the pain of the hand injury he picked up yesterday, Excelsior would have the makings of a formidable batting line up. While the Schiedammers bowling has rather lacked a cutting edge so far this season, given the Bloodhounds batting so far one might say it’s a question of an eminently resistible force meeting an easily moveable object…

RL’s picks: Punjab, VRA, Voorburg, HBS, Excelsior.

BdJ’s picks: Kampong, VRA, Voorburg, HBS, Excelsior.

Preview Round 2

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 01/05/25

Less than a week since the opening round it already feels like the season’s in full swing, the UAE and Scotland in town for the upcoming ODI tri-series and a double round of Topklasse games over the holiday weekend. The former will impact the latter in part of course, with the Dutch national side going into sequestration on Sunday and thus unavailable for round three, though Saturday’s games will be unaffected. The table’s about as starkly divided as it could be after just one round, with the opening round’s games ranging from the rather one-sided to total blow-outs. We’ll be hoping for some more even contests in the coming days, though only two of last week’s winners meet each other in round 2.

BdJ: Defending champion’s Punjab-Ghausia welcome 2024 runners-up VRA Amsterdam to the Zomercomplex for that match, the title-holders coming off the back of a five-wicket win over HBS. Punjab didn’t have it all their way last week, at one point finding themselves 60-4 chasing 239, but Mohsin Riaz’ accelerating 111 off 85 proved more than enough for the points in the end. They’ll be without Saqib Zulfiqar for the weekend however, and possibly longer depending on the severity of his hamstring injury. Sikander Zulfiqar is also understood to have picked up a niggle during his unbeaten 80 last week, while of course VRA will be at full strength for Saturday’s game. Their home win over Excelsior last weekend was altogether more convincing, only debutant Raynard van Tonder breaking double figures for the visitors as VRA sealed a clinical 168-run win. They’ll take particular heart from the form of deputy skipper Johan Smal, who looked the best bat on the park in round one and who, still a few months away from Dutch eligibility, will be key to VRA’s fortunes when the Dutch selectors come calling.

RL: This replay of last year’s grand final will tell us a lot about the state of both sides going into the new season. Injuries to the Zulfiqars and the departure of their brother Asad apart, Punjab are largely unchanged from the team which took the title, although the significance of the loss of Saqib and perhaps Sikander should not be underestimated. VRA, on the other hand, have changed nearly half their side, although it was the familiar figures of Singh, Smal and Nidamanuru who were the foundation of their round-topping total against Excelsior and Shariz who finished the Schiedammers off. It’s a reasonable expectation that both Punjab and VRA will be in the title-chasing mix again come the pointy end of the competition, and while it’s too early to talk about four-pointers, a win here could be enormously valuable later on, not least in psychological terms.

BdJ: Currently top of the table though (if only by way of net run rate), are recently re-promoted Kampong, who will be looking to make the most of Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd’s abilities while they’re available. They travel to Thurlede to take on Excelsior come Saturday, and based on both sides’ early showings the visitors will be strong favourites. Excelsior seemed to still be in winter hibernation in the field against VRA last weekend, dropped catches and misfields punctuating the first innings with appalling regularity, and were little better with the bat. Van Tonder looks a solid signing, and with equally exciting acquisition Antum Naqvi expected to arrive this week they should be at full strength at least, but absent a substantially improved showing from the local contingent Excelsior look genuine relegation candidates this season.

RL: It was Kampong’s balanced attack which really took the eye last Sunday, and while VOC’s poor showing with the bat isn’t a great basis for judgement, Alex Roy’s side will be hoping to repeat the dose against an Excelsior line-up which suffered a similar collapse first time out. But by the same token, Lane Berry’s whirlwind innings to finish things off and generate that enviable NRR was an indication that Kampong’s top order is also not to be trifled with, with Max O’Dowd happy to play a secondary role and Scott Edwards and Lorenzo Ingram able to sit that one out. The Dutch management may be hoping that O’Dowd and Edwards get more time in the middle this Saturday, but doubtless Kampong would be happy with the points however they come. Excelsior need to bounce back fast, and the arrival of Naqvi should give Van Tonder some comfort and the batting a greater level of confidence. In the end, though, two swallows don’t make a summer, and as m’learned friend observes, the Schiedammers’ comparatively experienced locals, who only managed 15 runs between them against VRA, will need to give their overseas a lot more support if the side is to scramble its way to mid-table and safety.

BdJ: Having seen VOC Rotterdam collapse in a heap at Maarschalkerweerd last week Voorburg may well be looking forward to welcoming the Bloodhounds to Westvliet. Tim de Kok’s captain’s knock of 14 off 28 is the top score for his side thus far this season, and they will have to muster something more substantial if they’re to trouble their hosts for round two. The VOC bowlers hardly had a chance to give an account of themselves of course, and Arnav Jain at least has had a chance to get some overs under his belt with the Dutch A side this week, but he will also have witnessed the form of Voorburg quicks Viv Kingma and Mees van Vliet, the latter especially impressing against the Emiratis on Tuesday, while Michael Levitt looked in belligerent form with the bat. Add to that the presence of Bas de Leede in the country and on the Voorburg list, to say nothing of Gavin Kaplan and the astutely-poached Udit Nashier, and fair to say VOC have their work cut out for them come Saturday.

RL: Voorburg’s four national team members – including the now-exotic Bas de Leede – will be able to use this game as preparation for the League 2 fixtures to come, but for that to be a useful exercise VOC will need to put up a considerably greater fight than they did against a rampant Kampong last week. With Noah Croes and Levitt in ominous form and Gavin Kaplan likewise, the Bloodhounds’ attack will need a succession of early wickets to give their side a change, whether the Villagers are setting or chasing. On the other hand, Tom de Leede didn’t look out of place sharing the new ball with Kingma against Sparta, while Nashier and Levitt did a fine job in the middle overs against a batting side which fought every inch of the way. Like Kampong, Voorburg will want to extract maximum benefit from their cohort of internationals when they’re available, and VOC, like Excelsior, will need a much bigger contribution from their locally-produced batters, not to mention sizeable ones from their new overseas, Scott Janett and Christiaan Oberholzer. But an away win here would constitute the upset of the round, if not the season.

BdJ: Meanwhile Hermes DVS will be looking to keep the momentum going after an impressive opening win over HCC when they take on HBS Craeyenhout at the Loopuyt Oval. HBS made Punjab work for their win in round one, and while early talk of Heino Kuhn and Roelof van der Merwe both committing to the Crows for the season proved ill-founded, a cameo from the latter at least can’t be entirely ruled out on Saturday. He would be a welcome addition to an HBS attack that has looked somewhat innocuous, Kyle Klein excepted, while the batting also looks a tad top-heavy, needing a personal-best effort from young Elmar Boendermaker last week to get them past 200. Hermes conversely looked more than the sum of their parts last week, even without the injured Oli Elenbaas and star bat Daniel Doyle-Calle. The latter should be back in the country having missed the opener due to commitments with Spain, though Elenbaas’ fitness remains in doubt. Doyle-Calle may find he has to fight for his place at the top of the order after Aryan Dutt’s showing in the opener’s slot last week, though that does seem like one of those good problems to have for Hermes. The bowling attack did a number on HCC last week, and Sahil Kothari’s return brings some much-needed balance to the side. While the sky-blues currently lack a strike bowler of genuine international pedigree, they’re unlikely to send down many bad overs on Saturday.

RL: With half-centuries from Klein and Boendermaker I’d be inclined to say the Crows’ batting effort last week was, if anything, a little bottom-heavy, but there’s no question that it was something of a curate’s egg. The bowling, though, looked sharp until Riaz and Sikander took the game away from them, and the encounter between the new-ball attack of Botha and Kyle Klein and the Hermes top three of Dutt, Ash Ostling and Doyle-Calle (in whatever order they appear) should be one to relish. Beyond that, Hermes will be looking for more from the rest of their batting, which quietly subsided after a great start. Conversely, the contest between the Sky-blues’ attack and an HBS top order which has more class than it was able to display against Punjab – especially when the spinners took over – promises to be absorbing, and in Hikmatullah Jabarkhail Hermes may have picked up a serious match-winner. This has all the makings of the game of the round, with both sides knowing that this is the sort of match which could be crucial in the battle for a place in the top seven.

BdJ: Finally Sparta 1888 welcome HCC to Bermweg with both sides still looking for their first points, though one imagines the hosts will be happier with their efforts in their season opener than their guests. While the Spartans ultimately had no answer to Gavin Kaplan and Bas de Leede’s match-winning partnership last week, they did battle their way to the second-highest first innings total of the round in the face of VCC’s enviable bowling attack, with runs all down the order. They may fancy their chances against a demoralised and misfiring HCC side that looked like they had overdone the King’s Day celebrations last weekend, but it’s unlikely that the Haagse rock up quite as ragged for round two.

RL: This, too, could be the most competitive of the day, but for reasons neither side will welcome. Barring a tie, somebody’s going to remain on nul points, and even at this early stage that’s not somewhere you want to be. HCC will be especially keen to get their campaign back on track, and they can take some comfort from the fact that their bowlers fought back well after a shaky start against Hermes. Hidde Overdijk was more influential with the ball than he was for much of last season, and Oliver White and Josh Brown did enough to suggest they will be a force, with Henrico Venter slotting back in as well. But the batting was, frankly, terrible, and that will need to be fixed fast, initially against a Sparta outfit which features the cutting-edges of Ahsan Malik and Khalid Ahmadi alongside the equally experienced spin of Umar Baker and Manminder Singh. Tough one to call, but HCC can’t disappoint so greatly two weeks in a row. Can they?

BdJ’s picks: Punjab, Kampong, Voorburg, Hermes, Sparta.
RL’s picks: VRA, Kampong, Voorburg, Hermes, HCC.

Preview Round 1

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 23/04/25

The KNCB’s overdue decision to reduce the top divisions in the men’s competition to eight teams as from next year makes this a particularly sharp year in the Topklasse. At least two teams will be relegated, three if the eighth-placed side lose a play-off against the champions of the Hoofdklasse. Furthermore, there will be no finals round, with the title going to the side that tops the table after the double round-robin which starts this Saturday. Even more than usual, even match will be crucial.

RL: Defending champions Punjab-Ghausia Rotterdam face a tricky visit to Craeyenhout to take on HBS. But the astroturf outfield at Craeyenhout is always a bonus for hard-hitting batters, of whom the champions have no shortage, and few away fixtures will present them with as few qualms as that offered by the Crows. The home side, though, have a pretty formidable batting line-up as well, not least skipper Tayo Walbrugh, whose 1954 Topklasse runs on this ground have come at a remarkable average of 81.42, with nine centuries and seven fifties in 30 innings. Few overseas players have literally made themselves at home to that degree. Punjab, though, have a strong attack, and they have the capacity to clip the Crows’ wings. Predictions at this stage of the season are even more problematic than usual, but if the Rotterdammers are able to continue where they left off last year they might just come out on top.

BdJ: The stake-raising decision to pull the trigger on the transition to an eight-team top division has certainly put the top flight under the pump, if you’ll pardon the metaphor melange, and prompted something of a scramble for talent among the more nervous teams. Not so the defending champs though, who are understandably content with the squad that claimed the title last season. Pre-season losses at the hands of VRA and Sparta are unlikely to concern them unduly, and they did best Excelsior handily in the warm-ups with Fawad Shinwari did rack up an unbeaten ton in that game. HBS meanwhile have put in a fair few calls (and recalls) over the winter, the addition of Roelof van der Merwe and Heino Kuhn to the roster perhaps the most eye-catching signings for the season. The Craeyenhout old guard has also returned in force, with Navjit Singh and the brothers Vink expected to play a bigger role this season, and of course the return of Toby Visée at the top of the order ensuring HBS do not lack for hitting power of their own. The Crows have perhaps looked a bit undercooked in pre-season, losing by 9 wickets to VCC at the NextCommunications T20 Cup, though tough to draw any conclusions from 15 overs a side. All told they have the ingredients to prepare an ambush for the champions, and the Craeyenhout mat is something of a leveller, though taking two points off the title-holders first up would remain an upset

RL: Last year’s runners-up VRA Amsterdam start at home, welcoming Excelsior ’20 Schiedam to the Amsterdamse Bos. With potentially half-a-dozen debutants across the two sides it will be interesting to see who settles down quicker, but Excelsior have one of the most promising signings of the summer in former South African Test opener Raynard van Tonder. They also have last year’s spearhead Jason Ralston, and the attack has the cutting edge to unsettle VRA’s theoretically solid top order. How the Schiedammers adjust to the absence of Lorenzo Ingram will be one of the indicators of their ability to stay clear of the relegation zone in what looks like an even more challenging season than usual, while the home side will similarly be hoping that their new trio of overseas, Peter Ruffel, Jack Cassidy and Patrick Gouge, slot quickly into the side. Unlike tried and tested Craeyenhout, the quality of the early-season pitch under VRA’s new groundsman will also be a point of interest, but again, we wait to see which of these sides hits the ground running.

BdJ: Speaking of eye-catching acquisitions, the arrival of van Tonder and the late announcement of Belgian-Australian-Zimbabwean all-rounder Antum Naqvi at Thurlede has set tongues wagging as the season closes in. Neither of the new overseas has been tested in pre-season, but the pair, together with Jason Ralston spearheading the attack, will likely be key for Excelsior. The loss of Ingram naturally looms large and the home-grown batting looked rather suspect last season, though Stan van Troost looks in decent nick and Rens van Troost has been quietly developing into something of a wildcard down the order. If Excelsior have turned heads with name signings, VRA have adopted something of a moneyball approach. VRA’s new acquisitions will be largely unknown to any but the most dedicated followers of Associate or NZ domestic cricket, but the side looks well rounded and the locals largely boast a better track record in recent seasons than their Excelsior counterparts. Those locals may of course be called away to national commitments later in the season, leaving an already unsettled selection looking like something of a grab-bag side, but for the season opener they should be at full strength and will start as favourites.

RL: Back in the Topklasse after a two-year gap, Kampong Utrecht will be able to field Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd when they take on the internationals’ former club, VOC Rotterdam at Maarschalkerweerd. They will also, of course, have Ingram in their ranks, bringing has vast experience to the side. Not to mention Akhil Gopinath, Salland’s most effective bowler over the past couple of seasons. Once again, the question will be how quickly VOC’s rejigged side settles into form, and the degree to which their crop of youngsters are able to build on last year’s experience. Making the most of the presence of national team members when they are available will be a key factor for several clubs, and Kampong will want to make sure of the points here and get their season off to a flying start.

BdJ: The newly promoted Kampong will likely be pleased with their winter’s work, in addition to the coup of prizing Ingram away from Thurlede, the Utrecht club have also secured the services of former VOC overseas Lane Berry, while Northern Districts’ Ben Pomare makes way for Melbourne bat Lachlan Bangs for the 2025 season. While Edwards and O’Dowd will likely be only intermittently available given the international schedule, but at full strength Kampong arguably have the most formidable batting line-up in the competition. All five were absent for some or all of the preseason, though the ebullient Damien van den Burg has looked in fine form at the top of the order, and Kampong’s front line bowlers all found wickets in their warm-up against Excelsior. VOC meanwhile, aside from switching out a couple of overseas, otherwise largely unchanged from the squad that struggled last season. But the likes of Aaditt Jain and Sieb van Wingerden are indeed all a year older, and the side will likely be undisturbed by national team call-ups across the season. Coming up against a full-strength Kampong first up is a tough assignment however, and VOC taking two points back to Rotterdam would be a remarkable result.

RL: The two oldest clubs in this year’s top flight, HCC and Hermes-DVS Schiedam, will face off at De Diepput. Having negotiated their return to the Topklasse with flying colours, the Light Blues may find this demanding campaign even more challenging, but in Asad Zulfiqar and Sahil Kothari they have two additions to their squad who may compensate them for the loss of CP Klijnhans. They will be hoping to get more out of Aryan Dutt’s presence than was possible last season, but HCC at home are never an easy proposition, always presuming that the predicted fine weather for the opening weekend in fact eventuates. The Lions, of course, are still more reinforced, with Clayton Floyd and Henrico Venter rejoining the colours, and a complete change of the overseas guard. Another tough one to call, but I’m going with home advantage – just!

BdJ: Probably the toughest of a tough set of games to call, while HCC had the better of Hermes last season there’s been sufficient personnel changes to muddy the waters there somewhat. How quickly HCC’s new overseas adapt to Dutch conditions could be determinative, though Ollie White at least has had the benefit of half a season in the Netherlands last year. Hermes new acquisitions are largely local, with Belgian legspinner Dewald Dumon no stranger to Dutch competition while Kothari and Zulfiqar are of course seasoned Topklasse campaigners. Overseas opening pair Daniel Doyle Calle and Ashley Ostling are similarly well settled now, though whether anyone ever truly acclimatises to an away fixture at de Diepput is questionable.

RL: In a very promising start, Sparta’s new overseas Kyle Klesse and Lukas Boorer saw them home a couple of weeks ago with an unbroken stand of 80 to beat defending champions Punjab, after local boy Jochem Steenbergen had given them a decent start with a half-century, and Klesse followed this up with a century against a Bloemendaal XI last weekend. With Ahsan Malik claiming four wickets in the former match, Joost-Martijn Snoep’s side will have plenty of grounds for optimism as they welcome 2023 champions Voorburg to the Bermweg. If they’re at full strength, though, the Villagers (I really want to call them that in the absence of another nickname, and I reckon it’s one they should wear with pride) have plenty of firepower with both bat and ball, and Sparta will need to be at their absolute best if they are start their season with a win.

BdJ: The unfancied Spartans have arguably had the best showing in the pre-season warm-ups thus far, with both their new overseas looking astute acquisitions. Indeed there will be growing concern at Bermweg that the German selectors will come calling for Klesse at some point in the season. Come Sunday though they will presumably be at full strength and in some form, presenting a tricky opening assignment for Voorburg. The 2023 Champions had a somewhat disappointing 2024 season, failing to reach the final for the first time in four years, but look appreciably stronger this time round with the addition of Zimbabweans Patient Charumbira and Carl Mumba, as well as Melbourne youngster Henry Melville. The return of Gavin Kaplan, whose early departure last season saw VCC’s campaign lose momentum, further bolsters what looks an intimidating line-up.

RL’s picks: [degree of confidence: about 30%] Punjab, Excelsior, Kampong, HCC, Voorburg.

BdJ’s picks: Punjab, VRA, Kampong, HCC, Voorburg.

2025 Preview 5: VRA and Punjab-Ghausia

Rod Lyall 20/04/2025

Having leapt from seventh in 2023 to runners-up last year, VRA Amsterdam will be keen to go one better this time round and claim their first championship since 2011.

Last season’s improvement was driven by a sustained campaign of recruitment, both locally and from overseas, contrasting sharply with the youth development policy which had been pursued by Peter Borren during his time in charge in the Amsterdamse Bos.

One of those recruits, left-arm spinner Clayton Floyd, has now returned whence he came, while one of the most promising of the younger brigade, Udit Nashier, has gone to pursue his development with Voorburg; on the other hand, Shreyas Potdar has joined the squad, transferring across Amstelveen from relegated ACC.

The Amsterdammers have also signed three new overseas: New Zealanders Peter Ruffel and Jack Cassidy, and, unusually, Jersey’s Patrick Gouge.

Ruffell, a pace bowler who replaces Elijah Eales in the attack, has played for Auckland Under-19s and hails from Westlake Boys’ High School, which also produced Max O’Dowd and brothers Daniel and Ross ter Braak.

Wellington-born Cassidy, a wicketkeeper-batter who will succeed Demari Prince behind the stumps, plays for the illustrious Cornwall club in Auckland.

22-year-old Gouge has played for several English clubs, and has appeared eight times for Jersey across two formats, his best score 52 in a T20I against Spain in April last year; in addition to his batting, his leg spin will be useful to his new club given the departure of Floyd and Nashier.

They do, however, still have the services of Dutch international wrong’un specialist Shariz Ahmad, who has also developed into a valuable middle-order batter; he topped VRA’s batting averages last season with 323 runs at 46.14.

The Amsterdam club will also be delighted to see the return of Teja Nidamanuru, who missed all but two matches of the 50-over competition last season through injury. He will resume the captaincy, and will be an important factor when national team duties permit his availability.

The same applies to opener Vikram Singh, who seldom showed his best form with the bat in 2024 after a mercurial season the year before.

The squad has plenty of bowling options, with left-armers Ben Fletcher and Ashir Abid alongside Ruffell and Sharad Hake, who broke into the Topklasse side towards the end of last season and bowled some useful spells.

Nidamanuru sees an increased role this year for youngsters Ibaad Zaidi and Darsh Abhinay, who have made considerable progress over the winter.

‘We definitely want to go one better this year,’ he says, and we believe we have the squad to do that.’

‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ seems to have been the watchword for Punjab-Ghausia Rotterdam over the winter, and the defending champions have opted firmly for the mixture as before.

The only real change is the departure of Asad Zulfiqar to Hermes, but he had played much less frequently in the first team following the arrival of Belgian-based wicketkeeper Fawad Shinwari at the Zomercomplex.

Shinwari warmed up with a century against Excelsior in the side’s first game a couple of weeks ago, and adds another dimension to a batting line-up which also includes, among local players, Musa Ahmad and the remaining Zulfiqars, Saqib and skipper Sikander.

But the real power was provided last year by Musa’s opening partner Shoaib Minhas, the enormously destructive Jonathan Vandiar, and Mohsin Riaz, all of whom are back this season.

Together they make an extremely solid top six, probably the most consistent in the competition, and few sides will relish the trip to the Zomercomplex.

But equally, the well-balanced attack has the knack of strangling opponents’ batting, with evergreen Suleiman Tariq often bowling ten extremely testing overs of seam first up, overseas Ahmad Shafiq providing accurate spin from the other end, and then Kamal Sajjad and Sikander Zulfiqar continuing the pace attack and Saqib Zulfiqar contributing teasing leg spin.

Should they be needed, Mubashar Hussain, Burhan Niaz and Minhas can all chip in with some useful overs, while Khurram Shahzad stepped up towards the end of last season after the departure of Shafiq and played an important part in Punjab’s taking the title.

Musa and the brothers Zulfiqar are, of course, all former internationals, and one or more of them might well receive a call-up during the summer, especially given the likely unavailability of the national side’s county-contracted players.

And if strength in depth should be needed, the Rotterdammers claimed the championship last year without calling on the reserves they acquired through their merger with Ghausia Feijenoord, although Danish Ateeq, Aon Mohammad Cheema and Bilal Saleem, among others, all played significant roles in the Second XI’s successful season in the Eerste Klasse.

All in all, then, Punjab look in good shape to defend their title, and they should be there or thereabouts when the competition reaches its denouement at the start of August.

2025 Preview 4: Voorburg and HCC

Rod Lyall 19/04/2025

Champions in 2024 and defeated semi-finalists last year, Voorburg will be delighted to welcome back South African Gavin Kaplan, who topped the season’s batting averages with 701 runs at 77.89, hitting four centuries and three fifties in just ten innings.

Given that he also chipped in with 15 wickets at 18.67, he had a strong claim to be the overseas player of the year, and there is no doubt that the Westvliet club missed him sorely in their last five games, when he had returned to South Africa.

He will be joined this year by two Zimbabweans, 30-year-old international Carl Mumba and former Under-19 international Patient Charumbira, the latter making the short journey from HCC.

Mumba, who played 19 times for Zimbabwe across the three formats between 2016 and 2021, will reinforce an already strong Voorburg pace attack, which includes Viv Kingma – whose appearances may well be limited by national team commitments – and the steadily-improving Mees van Vliet, even if fitness problems continue to make Ryan Klein a useful off-spinner rather than one of the competition’s most effective pace bowlers.

Charumbira, too, is a more than useful medium-pacer, as well as a hard-hitting lower order batter.

Another acquisition is 20-year-old Australian Henry Melville, who plays for Melbourne University in the Victorian Premier competition.

A wicketkeeper and useful middle-order bat, Melville will perhaps be competing for the gloves with young Cedric de Lange when skipper Noah Croes is absent on national team duty; gifted behind the stumps, De Lange’s batting showed signs of growing maturity last summer, and with a maiden Topklasse half-century behind him he will be looking to establish his place in the side.

Voorburg have also picked up former national Under-18 captain Udit Nashier, who moves to Westvliet from VRA, where he only bowled six overs of spin in the Topklasse last season and, notably, posted his maiden half-century against the club he is now joining.

The only departure is Stijn de Leede, who has decided to try his luck with Hoofdklasse club Quick Haag this season.

With Michael Levitt (when fit and available), Nehaan Gagani and Nirav Kulkarni in the batting line-up, and Laurens Boissevain and youngsters like Alejo Nota and Tom de Leede also in the squad, Voorburg have enviable strength in depth, which will likely be a crucial factor given the club’s strong representation in the national set-up.

Skipper Croes recognises that restricted availability creates uncertainties, but believes that his squad is strong enough to challenge for a place in the top four, and possibly even head the table in this year’s playoffless competition format.

‘It will be a really interesting year with a format which is very positive for Dutch cricket,’ he says, ‘and the exposure which our younger players gained last year will stand us in good stead.

‘It’s really cool that Gavin Kaplan is coming back, and Henry Melville is a genuine problem-solver, who will adapt well to changing playing surfaces.’

There are big changes at HCC, with none of last year’s three overseas back this year, and an influx of locally-based players to join a new brace of imports.

One of the latter is New Zealander Oliver White, who had the tricky task of replacing Kaplan at Voorburg at the end of last season, but is now back for a full campaign at De Diepput.

Now back with Northern Districts, where he started his career, the left-arm spinning allrounder will be joined at HCC by another member of the Northern Districts squad, South African-born pace bowler Josh Brown.

Brown has broken into ND’s Plunkett Shield side over the Southern Hemisphere summer, and will doubtless slot into the new-ball spot vacated by Adam Leonard.

Equally significant for HCC’s prospects, though, is likely to be the return of Clayton Floyd and Henrico Venter from VRA and HBS respectively: Floyd had a relatively quiet season with VRA last year, but HCC will be hoping that he can return to the sort of form which saw him claim 37 Topklasse wickets in 2021 at a cost of 7.32 apiece.

Venter, who last played for HCC in 2023, has accumulated 60 Topklasse wickets for his three clubs, but had limited opportunities at HBS last year and will be looking for a more significant role following his return to De Diepput.

Other arrivals include youngsters Mark Wolfe and Dinand van Hommel, transferring from ACC and Hermes-DVS respectively, and South African Jayden Peskin, who was Western Province CC’s Most Improved Player for the 2023/24 season.

These seven join the club’s established players, again led by Boris Gorlee, who like Tonny Staal enjoyed only intermittent success last year. Both will be looking to recover something of the form which took them into the Dutch national side a couple of years ago, and which contributed significantly to the side’s Topklasse championship run in 2023.

The same applies to the middle-order contribution with the bat by allrounder Hidde Overdijk, although he remains a very effective member of the pace attack, having claimed 15 wickets last year at 15.88.

Among the younger brigade, Teun Kloppenburg, after a very productive introduction to the top flight in which he hit three successive half-centuries, had a poor run towards the end of last season and will be looking to get back into his best form, and Shirsak Banerjee will also hope to consolidate his place in the top order.

Seamer Teun Leijer’s 17 wickets in his first season at De Diepput was a very promising start, and he will again form part of a traditionally-strong HCC seam attack, alongside Brown, Overdijk and Daniel Crowley, the leading wicket-taker last year with 22 at 25.27.

2025 Preview 3: Hermes and HBS

Rod Lyall 15/04/2025

Newly promoted last season, Hermes-DVS Schiedam could be thoroughly satisfied with their position in the top six, and will be looking to consolidate that achievement in the new campaign.

They will be aided in that endeavour by the acquisition of wicketkeeper-batter Asad Zulfiqar from Punjab-Ghausia – thus splitting up the triplets for the first time since they made their debut for ACC at the age of 15 back in 2012 – and seamer Sahil Kothari, back after a season with ACC.

The arrival of Zulfiqar at Sportpark Harga might mean relatively few games this season for 50-year-old Nick Statham, who kept wicket regularly last year and who needs just three more matches to become the second player to post 500 in the top flight – only René Schoonheim, with 583, has played more.

Kothari, who claimed 18 wickets last year in ACC’s unsuccessful battle to stay up, joins a seam attack which also includes skipper Sebastiaan Braat, brothers Olivier and Ralph Elenbaas, and Niels Woermeijer

Of last year’s overseas, CP Klijnhans will not be returning, but Ashley Ostling is back to resume his prolific opening partnership with Spanish international Daniel Doyle Calle.

Ostling’s 526 runs last season at 43.83 was a big factor in the side’s success, while Doyle’s strike rate of 121.43 put him at the top of the table of quick-scoring batters.

National team commitments will presumably again restrict the appearances of Aryan Dutt, who only played four 50-over matches for Hermes last season, but the spin department will be strengthened by the advent of 24-year-old leg-spinner and Belgian international Dewald Dumon, who played ten T20Is for Belgium last year.

Dumon had a successful season with Eerste Klasse (third-division) club Hercules Utrecht in 2023, claiming 34 wickets at an average of 17.00, and he could form a useful partnership with Dutt when they are both available.

Others who will be vying for a place in the side include another Belgian-based player in Abdul Jabar Jabarkhail, joined this year by leg-spinner Hikmat Jabarkhail, youngsters Sam van Giezen and Rinck van Dam, both of whom made a couple of appearances last year, and such seasonedcampaigners as Zaffar Chaudhary and Roy Numair.

Captain Braat is optimistic about the new campaign: ‘Having gained sixth place in our first year back,’ he says, ‘we’ll be looking for a top-four place this time, although we realise that other clubs have been building their squads over the winter as well.

‘It will be a tough competition, but we have a broad choice of players and we are certainly hoping to build on last year’s achievements.’

HBS Craeyenhout, too, can look back on a relatively successful 2024, but like Hermes will doubtless be conscious of this season’s expansion of the relegation zone.

Tayo Walbrugh, who often skippered the side last year in the absence of Wesley Barresi, takes over the captaincy on a regular basis, and be supported by a strong contingent of fellow South Africans on and off the field.

Lehan Botha returns after making a valuable contribution last season, and will be joined by countrymen Jayden Rossouw and Sellin de Beer, the latter a late replacement for the injured Ruan Terblanche.

Rossouw is a tall off-spinner who has played for both Loughborough University and the Ashby Hastings club in Leicestershire, while de Beer, a graduate of Mpumalanga’s cricket academy, is a young allrounder.

But perhaps the most striking feature of the Crows’ team list is the presence of both Heino Kuhn and Roelof van der Merwe, who bring enormous coaching experience, not to mention quite a bit of the on-field variety to their new roles.

Kuhn, who played four Tests and seven T20Is for South Africa, averaged 56.34 with the bat in four seasons with ACC between 2011 and 2023, and although at 41 he may not appear regularly in the Topklasse side, his presence behind the scenes will be invaluable, not least for promising young wicketkeeper Martijn Scholte and his rival for the gloves, Lucas del Bianco.

And the same is true of Van der Merwe, a few months younger than Kuhn, whose international career with the Proteas extended to 13 ODIs and the same number of T20Is, followed by 18 ODIs and 47 T20Is for the Netherlands as well as very successful stints with Somerset and a dozen T20 franchise teams around the world.

Famously competitive, he has had a hand in several of the Dutch men’s most significant victories, and he is likely to be a powerful force at Craeyenhout.

The attack will again be spearheaded by Botha and, subject to national team commitments, Kyle Klein, whose outstanding start to his international career may well make him one of the first names on Dutch coach Ryan Cook’s team-list.

They will be backed up by De Beer, Benno Boddendijk and, possibly, by Del Bianco, who shed the gloves towards the end of last season and revealed some lively pace and genuine aggression with the ball.

With the spin of Rossouw and Julien de Mey the Crows will have a well-balanced attack, while the top order, with new captain Tayo Walbrugh and his predecessor Wesley Barresi, looks to be good for plenty of runs.

Walbrugh is delighted that he can look for greater involvement of several of Craeyenhout’s old hands, like explosive opener Tobias Visée, seamer Ferdi Vink, and middle-order batter Navjit Singh, all of whom are likely to be available more regularly.

‘The boys are really excited to get going, and it’s an honour and a privilege to have Heino and Roelof as part of the set-up.

We know that they, like Kyle Klein, will have big commitments with the national side, but they will really make a difference.

‘We want to play a quality, positive brand of cricket, and we will need to strike the right balance of youth and experience to make HBS a force, not just this season, but for five or ten years to come.’