Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 26/06/2025
The summer solstice is just barely behind us but we’re already two thirds of the way through the Topklasse season, and with six games each to go some long-established top flight sides find themselves in a bare-knuckle relegation brawl, while newcomers Kampong are threatening to pull away at the top of the table. There’s a few more shuffles left in the pack yet though, and every match this week will have an effect at one end of the table or another.
BdJ: Starting at the top, table-toppers Kampong face off against early front-runners Hermes DVS, who have since slipped to third in the pecking order. The Schiedammers took the honours when the two met earlier in the season at the Loopuyt, the fourth in a five-match opening winning streak. The return leg a Maarschalkerweerd may prove a tougher challenge if internationals O’Dowd and Edwards return, though given their respective knee and hamstring niggles and the threadbare resources available to the Dutch for next week’s T20 Qualifier, it would be understandable if they don’t risk it. Nonetheless Kampong have been managing alright without them, thanks in large part to the form of Lane Berry and lately Damien van den Berg at the top of the order, together with Lorenzo Ingram and Pierre Jacod’s occasional rearguards. Hermes, for their part, continue to look somewhat over-dependent on Ashley Ostling and Daniel Doyle-Calle at the top, the opening pair respectively averaging twice and four-times the next best bat. The sky-blues’ bowling has generally been enough to cover for any deficiencies down the order against most opposition, but against Kampong at Utrecht it may not be.
RL: All things are relative, but I do think it’s a little harsh of m’colleague to describe Ingram’s 364 runs at 45, with four fifties in ten innings, as ‘occasional rearguards’. With 16 wickets into the bargain he remains one of the most effective allrounders in the competition, and given the rather hit-or-miss recent record of the top of the Kampong order his presence at five is a key steadying factor, especially in the absence of O’Dowd and Edwards, in the Utrecht club’s quest to become the first side since Princes Wilhelmina Enschede (there’s a blast from the past) to take the national title in their first season back in the top flight – and that was back in 1939. With Hikmatullah Jabarkhail and Sahil Kothari in the top five wicket-takers Hermes do indeed owe their position in large part to their bowling, but Kampong have Jacod, Ingram and Alex Roy in the top dozen, and with Kirtan Nana and Shashank Kumar backing Roy in the seam unit they have the resources to test a Hermes batting line-up which has until very recently found it hard to get much paast 200.
BdJ: Having pushed past Hermes into second place, HCC face a short but tricky trip over to Craeyenhout to face local rivals HBS in a fixture that has the potential to make both ends of the table a lot more interesting, or indeed considerably less so. HBS will be hoping for the latter, having drifted dangerously close to the relegation zone following their loss to Sparta last week. Ducks for senior bats Walbrugh and Barresi certainly didn’t help in that game, though the Crows may be more worried about the lack of penetration and control offered by their bowling attack in the absence of Kyle Klein, whose availability on Saturday is not guaranteed. They’ll have their work cut out too against an HCC batting card most all of whom made runs last Saturday at VCC, with Clayton Floyd adding his name to the growing list of in-form all rounders on the books with the Haagse. For HCC, a win would mean they remain best-placed to capitalise on any slip-up from Kampong, while defeat would see their chances of reclaiming the title diminish appreciably. For HBS, with only net run rate keeping them out of the relegation zone, every win is a step toward safety.
RL: No two ways about it: at least a half-century from Walbrugh or Barresi, or both, has been a necessary, but not necessarily sufficient, requirement for an HBS victory this season. All four wins have involved significant innings by one or other or both, although in fairness the contribution of Lehan Botha with bat or ball should not be underestimated. Young Elmar Boendermaker’s patient knock against Sparta, too, is evidence of his development. Whether that will be enough to repeat the Crows’ victory over HCC is extremely doubtful, since not only has the Lions’ batting proved to have greater depth than most, but the bowling unit combines pace and spin very effectively indeed, making them probably the principal threat to Kampong’s title hopes. The Crows, by contrast, look a lot less menacing without Kyle Klein leading the attack, and at batter-friendly Craeyenhout they will need to fire on all cylinders if they are to take the points.
BdJ: Snapping at their heels are 8th-placed VOC, who take on title-holders Punjab Rotterdam at Hazelaarweg. Defeat at the hands of the Bloodhounds earlier in the season marked, if not the end, then perhaps the end of the beginning of the end of Punjab’s hopes of defending their title. A repeat of that result would put them pretty definitively out of contention. With the departure of Jonathan Vandiar and Musa Ahmad’s return to form stuttering, Mohsin Riaz is the sole member of Punjab’s imposing top order to be regularly in the runs, while Ahmad is the only consistent member of the attack to be delivering more than one wicket a match on average. VOC meanwhile, despite a brief return to type against VCC, have now won three of their last four matches including a crucial victory over relegation rivals Excelsior. While they remain outmatched on paper, this is the sort of match VOC will have to win if they’re to secure another season in the top flight.
RL: The reversal in VOC’s fortunes has indeed been one of the features of the middle part of the campaign, and the efforts of Scott Janett, Christiaan Oberholzer and Monty Singh with the bat have been instrumental in bringing it about, masking the continuing limitations of the rest of the line-up. Restricting their contribution will therefore be a priority for Punjab’s attack, which even with the advent of Tehzeeb Haider has relied on spin to keep the side in the game. Now five points behind the leaders, Punjab are probably going to have to settle for a mid-table position; the absence of play-offs this year has robbed the latter stages of the competition of what would otherwise have been a fascinating six-way battle for a top four spot. Pride, however, is a perfectly legitimate thing to play for, while for VOC the stakes are way higher than that. Their young attack will have its work cut out to contain even an out-of-form Punjab line-up and make it four wins out of five for the Bloodhounds.
BdJ: Meanwhile Excelsior ‘20 likewise find themselves struggling for even a chance at survival, and will be desperate to pick up points against Voorburg, who they host at Thurlede on Saturday. VCC have been appreciably weakened by the wear and tear brought about by a punishing international calendar, with Viv Kingma ruled out, Ryan Klein in doubt and Michael Levitt also potentially resting up to be sure of fitness for the coming Qualifier. Yet Excelsior, despite some fine contributions from their regulars and three of the biggest name overseas in the competition, have struggled to put it together all season. Raynard van Tonder is now back from a hamstring injury but far from at his best, while Antum Naqvi and Brett Hampton put in solid performances in a losing cause last week, the Schiedam faithful will be acutely aware that they won’t be able to count on them to save them at the back end of the season. Hints of fraying nerves are already evident at Thurlede, and another home defeat could well send them into a spiral.
RL: The end of a 44-year spell in the top flight which brought the club a dozen national championships is beginning to loom large for Excelsior, whose three wins have all come at the expense of their rivals in the bottom four. Seldom has there been a greater gap between strength on paper and performances in the field, and although injuries, particularly to Raynard van Tonder, have played a part in their perilous situation, the previous two seasons already gave a hint of what was in store. Antum Naqvi, Sam Rahaley, Van Tonder, and Brett Hampton have all fired with the bat on occasion, but none has managed it regularly enough to compensate for the side’s weaknesses. For Voorburg, on the other hand, it’s the presence in the squad of a quartet of internationals which has put them effectively out of contention for the title, although young Cedric de Lange has almost kept pace with overseas Gavin Kaplan and is fifth in the batting rankings with 437 runs at an average of 43.70. It’s the bowling which has let Voorburg down somewhat, with Usman Malik and Patient Charumbira their leading wicket-takers despite having played only five and seven matches respectively. If Excelsior are to mount a serious campaign to avoid the drop, it really has to start here.
BdJ: Finally VRA, back playing Saturdays, welcome wooden spoon incumbents Sparta 1888 to the Bos on Saturday and will be hoping to take some tension out of their late season. Having pulled clear of the danger zone with a win over Hermes last week, the Amsterdammers will be looking to consolidate their place in the mid table. They do have a habit of dropping points to the Spartans, it should be said, but they rarely do so at home. That said, Sparta have rarely looked as spirited as they did last week against HBS, and while VRA are back at full strength the return of their internationals hasn’t done them a great deal of good, at least in terms of batting. While early returnee Shariz Ahmad has settled back into domestic competition nicely, both Teja Nidamanuru and Vikram Singh have yet to find form with the bat either in Orange or in VRA’s blue this season, and pressure will be building on both to deliver. Conversely Sparta’s carefree batting last week brought them a step closer to an unlikely escape, and has perhaps given them a sense of what can be, unburdened by what has been.
RL: Everything would need to go right for Sparta if they are to overcome VRA and give themselves a fighting chance of getting away from the foot of the table, and that would include the Woodlanders again failing to play up to their potential. Vikram Singh gave one hint last week of his undoubted ability before he departed, but the disruption to the side’s top order which has come from international commitments has had a profoundly negative effect on their performances, and they will be delighted that once the T20 Qualifier is over they should be able to field a more settled team in the campaign’s finishing straight. It was Juandre Scheepers who ripped through HBS last week and the aggressive batting of Sam Ferguson, Lukas Boorer and Khalid Ahmadi which finished the job, but whether either will be readily repeatable against VRA, and in the Amsterdamse Bos, is a very big question indeed.
BdJ’s picks: Kampong, HCC, Punjab, Voorburg, Sparta
RL’s picks: Kampong, HCC, Punjab, Voorburg, VRA.
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