Category: Review

Rod Lyall 10/08/25

In a hard-fought battle at the Loopuyt Oval which went down to the final over, VOC Rotterdam resisted the challenge of Hoofdklasse champions ACC to win by six wickets and ensure that there would be 50-over Topklasse cricket at the Hazelaarweg next season.

As he has all season, opener Scott Janett anchored the Bloodhounds’ innings as they replied to the Amsterdammers’ testing 236 for eight, making a patient, at times dogged 83 not out and guiding his side to victory.

After Tim de Kok won the toss and put ACC in, Akash Arora took the attack to the VOC seamers, making 60 in an aggressive knock which included seven fours.

He took full advantage of some wayward bowling by the quicker bowlers, who tended to bowl too short, although off-spinner Arnav Jain was again exemplary at the other end, his ten overs conceding just 15 runs and picking up two wickets..

Once Arora had gone, pulling Aaditt Jain once too often and finding Pieter Recordon at deep square leg, Ben van der Merwe took over, his 66-ball 59 including some classic driving which brought him nine fours; he and Santhosh Kumar Jami added 83 for the fourth wicket which saw ACC to 195 with more than seven overs remaining.

But then the South African was caught off Jason van der Meulen, and when Jami fell to Arnav Jain for 34 four balls later VOC sensed that they were back in the game.

Only 37 runs came from the last seven overs for the loss of four wickets, and what had been shaping to be a target of 250-plus was restricted to 237.

It would have been lower still had a profligate VOC attack not conceded 28 wides, and the cause was also not helped by some indifferent fielding.

VOC started with five penalty runs to their credit, apparently after a collision between batter and bowler towards the end of the ACC innings, but the Amsterdammers made a dream start to defending their total when Iftikhari Ahmad bowled De Kok in the second over of VOC’s reply; this, however, brought Danish international keeper Monty Singh in to join Janett, and this pair had to weather a hostile new-ball attack from Izhaan Sayed and Iftikhari.

Their partnership ended unexpectedly and a little unfortunately when Singh, attempting a second from a Janett straight drive off Devanshu Arya, saw the wicket broken by a direct hit from long off by Joe Reddy, and the umpire’s finger raised.

It was a decision which in an international match would certainly have gone upstairs, but Singh had to go, and Janett was joined by Van der Meulen with the game in the balance.

Van der Meulen promptly set about changing that, hitting first Arya and then Reddy for six and moving to 32 off the first 26 deliveries he faced.

Then came a crucial moment: Van der Meulen hit out again, this time off Abishek Saxena, and was caught on the long off boundary; as ACC celebrated a vital wicket, however, they saw that the umpire was signalling a six instead, having ruled that the fielder had made contact with the boundary.

Van der Meulen proceeded merrily to his fifty, made from 44 deliveries, but when he was bowled by Arslan Ahmed shortly afterwards, having contributed 54 to a 75-run stand with Janett, ACC might have believed they were back in with a chance.

Janett, though, was still there, and he and Pieter Recordon now continued to pick off the runs rarher less dramatically, until, with the score on 162, Recordon was caught behind by Van der Merwe off the returning Iftikhari.

75 were still required from 14 overs, and this was a point from which VOC had frequently subsided to defeat over the past season.

Not this time, however: Arnav Jain stood firm with Janett, who had brought up his own half-century during the partnership with Recordon, and although boundaaries remained rare punctuations of the ones and twos, and with six overs left 38 were still required.

That becamse 23 off four, but now the pressure began to tell on the Amsterdammers, and Janett and Jain went into the last over with five required.

Two singles made it three, and then Jain hit Reddy over long on, who could only palm the ball over the rope for six, and VOC had won with three deliveries to spare.

Jain’s unbeaten 41 had come from 55 deliveries, while Janett’s 83 was off 119.

It had been an absorbing contest, but VOC’s batters had delivered when it mattered most against a side which fought gallantly throughout.

Rod Lyall 05/08/25

A dramatic turnaround saw Excelsior ‘20 lose five wickets for 14 runs in the last four overs and surrender a winning position against HBS at Craeyenhout on Sunday, ensuring their relegation to next season’s Hoofdklasse.

The 11-run defeat ended the Schiedam club’s 44-year run in the top flight, which had seen them claim the championship twelve times, most recently in 2019.

Knowing that rivals VOC Rotterdam had already lost to VRA Amsterdam by nine wickets and that victory would at least give them a chance of survival via a play-off against Hoofdklasse champions ACC, Excelsior batted themselves into a seemingly impregnable position, needing just 26 runs off the final four overs with nine wickets in hand and Roel Verhagen and Raynard van Tonder having added 130 for the second wicket after Sam Rahaley (44) and Verhagen had put on 88 for the first.

But then HBS skipper Tayo Walbrugh brought Jayden Rossouw back into the attack, and with the final ball of an over which had cost just two singles he had Van Tonder caught by Joris van Oosterom for 77.

Kyle Klein removed Antum Naqvi, caught behind off the first ball he received, and when Wes Barresi caught Verhagen for 95 off the second delivery of Rossouw’s next and Stan van Troost fell two balls later, the balance had swung the Crows’ way.

19 were now needed off the last, bowled by Lehan Botha, and the Schiedammers could only manage seven for the wicket of Niels Etman; Rossouw, the last-ditch hero, finished with three for 31, figures which did scant justice to the importance of those three wickets.

Earlier, Rahaley had seized the initiative for Excelsior, claiming three early wickets, including that of Walbrugh, by the time 22 runs were on the board.

But Wes Barresi (60) and Lucas del Bianco (48) rescued the Crows with a 102-run fourth-wicket stand, and then Kyle Klein’s 40 and Julien de Mey’s 38, saw their side to 243, Rahaley finishing with four for 38.

In the Amsterdamse Bos, meanwhile, a greatly-depleted VOC had collapsed to 77 all out in 29.2 overs; without oversees Chris Oberholzer and Monty Singh as well as Under-19 internationals Aaditt Jain and Roman Harhangi, only the remaining overseas, Scott Janett (39) and Jason van der Meulen (14) reached double figures as Peter Ruffell and Ben Fletcher removed the top order and then Leon Turmaine worked his way through the rest, finishing with career-best figures of five for 14.

Johan Smal then made short work of VRA’s target, hitting an unbeaten 43 from 38 deliveries to see his side home in under 13 overs.

The victory enabled VRA to finish the season as runners-up, leapfrogging defending chamipons Punjab Rotterdam, who lost by six wickets to HCC at De Diepput.

This was a notable achievement, since five members of the HCC squad were on international duty with the Under-19s in Scotland, and at 91 for one after Sikander Zulfiqar had elected to bat it seemed as if Punjab’s batters might be about to again take charge.

It was Josh Brown’s four for 14, however, which was instrumental in Punjab’s collapse to 144 all out, and skipper Boris Gorlee then steered them to victory with an aggressive 51-ball 78 which included six fours and as many sixes.

Newly-crowned champions Kampong Utrecht ended their campaign in style, dismissing Voorburg for 122 at Maarschalkerweerd and knocking off the runs for the loss of four wickets.

Kampong’s star with the ball was skipper Alex Roy, who removed Gavin Kaplan (32), Ryan Klein and Henry Melville to reduce Voorburg from 50 for one to 66 for five, returning to claim three more and finish with six for 34.

Carl Mumba was the only other Voorburg batter to stay for any length of time with a defiant 30.

Twenties from Damien van den Berg and Pierre Jacod gave the champions a solid start, but it was the dependable Lorenzo Ingram who stayed to the end, making 29 not out.

At Sportpark Bermweg Sparta 1888 said an unhappy farewell to the Topklasse, shot out for 75 by Hermes-DVS and losing by seven wickets.

Only opener Shaquille Martina achieved double figures, the seventh man to go with 28 to his credit as Aryan Dutt (five for 25) and Sebastiaan Braat (four for 36) bowled unchanged to reduce their hosts to 65 for nine.

Promoted to open, Ralph Elenbaas led the way with 34 when Hermes replied, and then Daniel Doyle-Calle and Asad Zulfiqar finished things off with nearly 35 overs remaining.

Rod Lyall 21/07/25

Despite a period of rain on Sunday which took overs off four of the five Topklasse matches, all five produced a result, and the day produced some notable individual performances along the way.

When the emphatically metaphorical dust had settled, the situation at the foot of the table remained as uncertain as it had been at 11 o’clock, ensuring a thrilling conclusion to the season when the final matches are played following the traditional – and apparently immutable – ‘cricket-free weekend’.

The most clear-cut outcome of the day was at the Zomercomplex, where Punjab-Ghausia became only the second side this century to post 400 in a top-flight match, setting 413 for five against a hapless Sparta 1888.

Key to this mammoth total was a second-wicket partnership of 232 between Musa Ahmad and Saqib Zulfiqar, Saqib making 151 of them in a pulverising knock which took just 96 deliveries and included eight fours and ten sixes.

Musa was more circumspect, reaching his second century of the season from 106 balls, but then he cut loose, adding another 23 from just 10 deliveries; in all, he hit ten fours and four sixes.

Then Sikander Zulfiqar completed Sparta’s misery with a 26-ball, unbeaten 50.

Khurram Shahzad had already claimed two wickets by the time the rain intervened, and when play resumed the target had been adjusted to an equally impossible 369 from 40 overs.

This was never on the cards, and it took a defiant 53 not out from Umar Baker, batting at No. 10, to take Sparta from 88 for nine to 149 by the end, he and Joost-Martijn Snoep putting on 61 for the last wicket; it was Baker’s first fifty in 124 top-flight innings.

The only game to escape the rain was at Maarschalkerweerd, where VRA Amsterdam dismissed newly-crowned champions Kampong Utrecht for 183, Teja Nidamanuru claiming three for 12 in four overs.

Lane Berry hit a whirlwind .18-ball 45 and Pierre Jacod gave the innings some solidity with 41, but otherwise it seemed that Kampong were suffering anticlimactic symptoms after last weekend’s celebrations.

Nidamanuru more than matched Berry’s innings with 61 from 30 deliveries when VRA replied, Patrick Gouge contributing a more sedate 42, but Kampong fought their way back into the game when Shariz Ahmad, Ibaad Zaidi and Vikram Singh all departed with the score on 152, Jack Cassidy following five runs later.

At 157 for six the outcome was briefly in the balance, but Johan Smal and Viraj Thakur saw their side safely over the line with twelve overs to spare.

In the crucible of the relegation battle, VOC Rotterdam gave themselves a chance by dismissing HBS Craeyenhout for 207, with Lucas del Bianco anchoring the innings for the Crows with an unbeaten 60 after Tayo Walbrugh and Wesley Barresi had both gone in the thirties.

The target was adjusted to 204 from 48 overs after the rain, but VOC had already lost Tim de Kok, and after Lehan Botha (three for 46) and Kyle Klein had reduced the Bloodhounds to 61 for four Jayden Rossouw took over, running through the rest of the batting to finish with six for 31.

Christiaan Oberholzer did his best to hold things together, but he eventually ran out of partners and was stranded on 86 not out as HBS won by 51 runs, making them almost certain of survival in next year’s reduced top flight.

For Excelsior ‘20, however, things look decidedly more bleak following their 75-run defeat by HCC at Thurlede.

Oliver White (59) and Shirsak Banerjee (72), the latter passing fifty for the first time, gave HCC a solid start, Teun Kloppenburg contributing a rapid 37, and despite Gijs Kroesen’s best Topklasse haul of six for 63, running through the lower order, the Lions reached 275 before they were dismissed in their final over.

Excelsior lost Sam Rahaley before the rain drove the players from the field, and they returned to find themselves set 252 to win from 42 overs by Messrs Duckworth, Lewis and Stern.

White soon put this beyond them, finishing with five for 32, and only Joost Kroesen, with 59, was able to master the conditions as his side was dismissed for 176.

It was a similar story at the nearby Loopuyt Oval, where Voorburg posted 260 for seven against Hermes-DVS, Cedric de Lange and Gavin Kaplan both making 44 and Noah Croes contributing a solid 63; Sebastiaan Braat was the pick of the Hermes bowlers with three for 40.

That was adjusted to 236 from 41, and while Daniel Doyle (68) and Nick Statham (44) were adding 112 for the third wicket it seemed as if that might not be impossible.

But then Udit Nashier turned things around, removing Doyle and going on to take six for 33, his first five-wicket haul in the Topklasse, and the Hermes reply fell away, ending on 170 for nine.

These results mean that the battle to avoid relegation will go into the final round on 3 August: Sparta have known for some time that they will be playing in the Hoofdklasse next season, but Excelsior could still escape the second automatic relegation spot if they were to beat HBS and VOC were to lose to VRA.

A victory for VOC would bring them level with HBS and Hermes-DVS were those sides both to lose, but their NRR is so much worse than that of either of their rivals that it would be extraordinary if they were to rise above eighth place.

Who the eighth-placed side will meet in the play-off is also uncertain, with ACC just two points clear of Bloemendaal with one match to play.

ACC will be away to Groen en Wit Amsterdam on 3 August with Bloemendaal at home to VVV; were Bloemendaal to win and ACC lose it would all come down to NRR, where ACC currently have a tiny advantage of 0.027.

Rod Lyall 14/07/25

It has seemed throughout the season that Kampong Utrecht were destined to take their first men’s national championship since 1992, becoming in the process the first side since PW Enschede in 1939, to win the second and top divisions in successive years, and they made sure of it at Craeyenhout on Sunday, beating HBS by five wickets with 34 deliveries to spare.

The Crows had set them a bigger target than they have become used to in recent weeks, making 211 before they were all out in the last of their 50 overs, but a solid performance with the bat saw Scott Edwards and Pierre Jacod add the 58 they needed to complete the win, finishing on 40 not out and 35 not out respectively.

Earlier, skipper Alex Roy and spinner Akhil Gopinath had picked up three wickets apiece, but even in the absence of Edwards’ fellow-international Max O’Dowd it was, as it has been all season, an all-round team performance which took Kampong home.

That they were chasing a total in excess of 200 was due to a fine last-wicket partnership of 49 between Benno Boddendijk and Jayden Rossouw, after Lucas del Bianco had anchored the middle part of the Crows’ innings with 45.

At the Loopuyt Oval, meanwhile, defending champions Punjab-Ghausia had the better of a rain-affected match against Hermes-DVS to remain five points behind the leaders with two games to play.

Two interruptions to Punjab’s innings took two overs off their allocation, but with Shoaib Minhas (97) and Mohsin Riaz (69) sharing a third-wicket stand of 123 and Saqib Zulfiqar chipping in with a brisk 34 they still managed to run up the day’s best total, 261 for eight, and this was adjusted to 266 on a DLS calculation.

Sebastiaan Braat was again Hermes’ most effective bowler with four for 52.

It always seemed likely to be too big an ask for the home side, and although Asad Zulfiqar madee 34 and Olivier Elenbaas 43, they were all out for 192, Khurram Shahzad taking four for 26 for Punjab.

VRA Amsterdam and HCC kept pace with the leading pair with wins over Voorburg and VOC Rotterdam respectively.

62 from Noah Croes and a hard-hitting, unbeaten 60-ball 74 from Ryan Klein enabled Voorburg to post 227 for six, but Johan Smal responded for VRA with 91 not out, sharing a second-wicket stand of 101 with Patrick Gouge (62).

At De Diepput Oliver White, promoted to open, batted almost throughout the HCC innings for his 85 after another top-ordeer collapse saw them reduced to 37 for four by the brothers Arnav and Aaditt Jain, Yash Patel then dominating the closing overs with a 53-ball 71, enabling the Lions to reach 252 all out.

Daniel Crowley took four for 54 when VOC replied, and with Teun Leijer claiming three for 42 the Bloodhounds were dismissed for 174, Monty Singh’s defiant 75 the only significant contribution.

The most dramatic events of the day took place at Sportpark Bermweg, where Sparta 1888, already certain of relegation, shot fellow-strugglers Excelsior ‘20 out for just 79, only three of the Schiedammers managing to reach double figures.

It looked for a while as if kamikaze batting tactics by the home side might let Excelsior back into the game, but despite Jason Ralston’s three for 40 Juandre Scheepers and Ahsan Malik took Sparta to their target in 14.2 overs, giving them only their third victory of the season.

The defeat leaves Excelsior, who still have to face HCC at home and HBS away, two points behind VOC and HBS, and the battle for seventh place and safety and eighth, with the promise of a play-off against the Hoofdklasse champions, is likely to continue down to the final round on 3 August.

Whoever finishes eighth is most likely to be facing last year’s relegated side ACC, currently two points ahead of Bloemendaal at the top of the Hoofdklasse table, but that too is a contest which may well go down to the final week, with Quick Haag a further point away in third and not yet out of the hunt.

Rod Lyall 13/07/25

Punjab-Ghausia kept their mathematical chance of successfully defending their Topklasse title alive on Saturday, chasing down Voorburg’s imposing 297 for seven to win by four wickets, but another rapid-fire victory for Kampong Utrecht brought them to within two points of claiming the championship.

At the other end of the table the battle continued to tighten, with Sparta 1888 definitely relegated, but with four other sides struggling to avoid eighth and ninth spots on the table.

It had seemed for much of the day that the enthusiasts who had gathered at Maarschalkerweerd in the hope of celebrating Kampong’s first title for 33 years would be rewarded for their loyalty, as their side dismissed HCC’s challenge by soon after 3 o’clock, while Punjab faced a target of almost 300 at the Zomercomplex.

But in the end Sikander Zulfiqar’s team were equal to the task, winning with two overs to spare, and Kampong had to postpone opening the champagne for at least 24 hours, as they face a tricky visit to Craeyenhout on Sunday.

Voorburg, with one eye on the relegation threat, were given a dream start by openers Michael Levitt and Cedric de Lange, who put on 142 in barely 25 overs before Levitt fell to Khurram Shahzad for 73, and then de Lange added another 60 in company with Gavin Kaplan.

But once Shoaib Minhas had removed De Lange for 84 and Kaplan for 53 the innings sagged a little as Punjab’s spinners kept the scoring within bounds, and although hit four sixes in a 10-ball cameo of 28, the total fell just short of the psychologically-significant 300.

Musa Ahmad and Musa Ahmad responded with an opening stand of 90 before Mees van Vliet removed Minhas, but although Musa went on to make 73 and the rest of the top and middle order chipped in, it took a thunderous knock from Fawad Shinwari, who hit five sixes in his 18-ball 41, to get the champions baack up with the rate, Sikander Zulfiqar and Shahzad dult seeing them home.

Kampong, meanwhile, had been in complete charge at Maarschalkerweerd, where Kertan Nana and Shashank Kumar reduced HCC to 34 for four inside the initial powerplay before the spinners again took over, only Boris Gorlee’s 32 and Yash Patel’s 28 not out as the Lions were bowled out for 119.

Kumar finished with three for 18, Lorenzo Ingram claimed two for 7 in seven overs, and medium-pacer Lachlan Bangs finished with the same figures in just 19 deliveries.

Max O’Dowd again went early, but Lane Berry’s quick-fire 28, Bangs’s even quicker-fire 36 and Ingram’s 7-ball 17 not out, all of them anchored by Damien van den Berg’s unbeaten 29, enabled Kampong to complete their 7-wicket victory in just 13 overs.

In the relegation tussle, Excelsior ’20 and VOC Rotterdam both kept their tenuous hold on a lifeline with precious victories.

At Thurlede, Excelsior gained their points the hard way, collapsing from 126 for two to 174 all out in their Schiedam Derby clash with Hermes-DVS, but then reducing their neighbours to 46 for five, going on to win by 15 runs.

Excelsior’s innings was dominated by Raynard van Tonder, who was at his most fluent as he put together an 80-ball 83 before he was run out by a smart piece of fielding from Ash Ostling, a key moment which triggered the side’s dramatic slump.

It was furthered by a fine spell from Sebastiaan Braat, who took four for 33, the last three for just five runs, to bring Hermes back into the game.

A rejigged Hermes batting order, however, soon collapsed in its turn, and it took a 44-run stand for the sixth wicket between Olivier Elenbaas and skipper Braat to again give them some hope.

Then Ralph Elenbaas (32) supported Braat’s 44, but the pace of Jason Ralston (two for 25) and the spin of Sam Rahaley (three for 34) and Roel Verhagen (three for 26) enabled Excelsior to squeeze home.

VOC found life a little easier at the Hazelaarweg, posting a five-wicket victory over Sparta 1888 with six overs to spare, but not before the Spartans had made they way to 221 for eight, their best total of the season.

Jochem Steenbergen, Juandre Scheepers and Lukas Boorer all contributed twenties, but it was Kyle Klesse’s patient 71 which anchored the innings, Khalid Ahmadi adding some vim towards the end with a 22-ball 27.

VOC never seemed in serious trouble in reply, Scott Janett (26) and Tim de Kok (46) putting on 69 for the first wicket before Monty Singh (52) and Jason van der Meulen (67 not out) effectively settled the issue with a fourth-wicket stand of 112, taking the Bloodhounds to within 16 runs of victory.

At Craeyenhout, HBS’s relegation worries were increased by a narrow 12-run defeat at the hands of VRA Amsterdam, for whom the win raised hopes that they might yet finish the season as runners-up.

Jack Cassidy (70) and Johan Smal (89) gave the Amsterdammers a solid platform with a second-wicket partnership of 138, and then Shariz Ahmad (28) and Patrick Gouge (32) chipped in to get their side to an imposing 275 all out.

It might have been worse for the Crows without Jayden Rossouw, who claimed his best Topklasse figures of five for 33.

Ben Fletcher removed both HBS openers by the time 34 runs were on the board, but skipper Tayo Walbrugh kept his side in with a chance, adding 88 with Lucas del Bianco (41) and then 75 with Kyle Klein, but once he was trapped in front by Peter Ruffell for 96 the innings fell away.

Klein maade 59 before becoming Fletcher’s third victim, but the VRA left-armer added the scalps of Reece Mason and Martijn Scholte to finish with five for 39 before Ruffell closed out the innings, leaving HBS just 13 runs short.

In the Hoofdklasse, meanwhile, Bloemendaal beat ACC by 78 runs, moving level with their rivals on both points and run-rate, while Dosti’s victory over Quick Haag effectively reduced the contest to a two-horse race.

ACC, though, will have an opportunity to movee clear on Sunday with what should be a straightforward home match against bottom side VRA 2, while Bloemendaal face another tough battle against Quick at Nieuw Hanenburg.

Rod Lyall 06/07/25

Saturday was a day when almost everyone, and certainly mary batters, seemed to have confused the Topklasse competition with the World T20 Qualifier which was getting under way at Westvliet at the same time, so frenetic was the tempo at which top order players hammered boundaries before throwing their wickets away.

The outstanding innings of the day, however, was Lehan Botha’s on the diminutive Westvliet second ground, where he blasted HBS Craeyenhout to an eight-wicket victory over Voorburg, smashing ten fours and as many sixes in his 42-ball, unbeaten 120.

It was an onslaught reminiscent of former Quick pro (and Dutch international) Darron Reekers at his most destructive, and it propelled the Crows to the win in under 14 overs, as they chased down Voorburg’s 139 all out; 64 runs came from the last 15 deliveries he faced.

The home side had struggled against the HBS spin attack, Wesley Barresi starting the rot with three for 18, and Jayden Rossouw (three for 36) and Julien de Mey (three for 46) completing the job.

Only Carl Mumba was able to hit his way out of trouble, making 49 from 36 deliveries before he was bowled by Rossouw and sharing an eighth-wicket stand of 69 with his Zimbabwean compatriot Patient Charumbira, who came to the crease with his side on 59 for seven and stayed to the end with an unbeaten 25.

At Sportpark Bermweg, meanwhile, Kampong Utrecht had taken another step towards the title with another nine-wicket win, this time over wooden-spooners Sparta 1888.

The leaders again gave their opponents nothing to work with, only three batters reaching double figures and managing only four fours and a six as they struggled to 83 all out in 34.1 overs.

Skipper Alex Roy led the way with three for 17, but it was spinners Akhil Gopinath (three for 18) and Pierre Jacod (three for 14) who maintained the pressure and ensured that the last six wickets fell for just 16 runs.

Then Damien van den Berg and Jacod, the latter promoted to open in the absence of Max O’Dowd, put on 45 from 50 deliveries before Van den Berg fell to Tom Hoornweg; this, however, brought Lane Berry to the crease, and he plundered 26 runs, all in boundaries, from the remaining five balls of the over.

That left just 13 required, and Jacod and Berry had little difficulty in knocking them off, further improving their side’s already imposing net run rate – a factor they are unlikely to need as they proceed towards an increasingly inevitable-seeming title.

Their nearest pursuers, Punjab-Ghausia kept their faint hopes of retaining the championship alive with a convincing 114-run victory over Excelsior ‘20 at the Zomercomplex.

The only side to bat out their overs, Punjab were set up by a brisk 40 from Musa Ahmad, but it was Burhan Niaz, promoted to three, who anchored the innings with a solid 67, Khurram Shahzad (34 not out) and Tehzeeb Haider (31) taking the side to an imposing 255 for nine.

Excelsior’s reply never really got going, Sulaiman Tariq removing both openers by the time 40 was on the board, and Sikander , Zulfiqar, taking ball in hand for the first time this season, collecting three for 23 as the Schiedammers were all out for 141.

The chances of Excelsior finishing in one of the two automatic relegation spots were, if anything, increased by another improved performance by VOC Rotterdam, who dismissed Hermes-DVS for 195 and then chased their target down for the loss of only two wickets and with nearly 25 overs to spare.

Architect of their victory was Christiaan Oberholzer, who shared a second-wicket stand of 96 with opener Scott Janett (55) and went on to make 100 not out, reaching his maiden Topklasse century with the winning boundary.

Earlier, Hermes had once again declined from a fine start bequeathed by Ash Ostling and Daniel Doyle-Calle, who put on 68 for the first wicket, but once Jelte Schoonheim took a sharp return catch to remove Doyle for 42 the innings fell away, although Sahil Kothari made 25 and Olivier Elenbaas 38.

Schoonheim finished with three for 33, while Oberholzer took three for 23.

There have been precious few close matches this season, but HCC and VRA Amsterdam provided a low-scoring thriller at De Diepput, which fluctuated wildly before VRA finally won by 17 runs.

The game got off to an extrordinary start as Shirase Rasool, in his first appearance of the campaign, hammered 23 from eight deliveries before he was bowled by Daniel Crowley, who had already removed fellow-opener Vikram Singh.

Thereafter it was Jack Cassidy who held things together for the visitors with a patient 41 while batters came and went at the other end.

With Crowley claiming five for 40 VRA were eventually dismissed for 148, but what seemed like a straightforward chase for the Lions quickly descended into chaos as Singh and Ben Fletcher reduced them to 24 for four, which became 49 for six as Shariz Ahmad and Peter Ruffell started to pick off the middle order.

It 67 for eight it seemed to be all over, but then Thijs Vrolijk joined Yash Patel at the crease, and they added 50 for the ninth wicket, bringing their side to within 32 runs of the target.

Still, VRA needed only two wickets, and eventually Ruffell had Vrolijk caught for 22, leaving last man Teun Leijer to complete the chase with Patel.

They could only add 14, and when Shariz trapped Leijer in front VRA took the points, nudging past HCC into third place on the table on net run rate, but an near-unbridgeable seven points behind Kampong with just four matches to play.

Ruffell finished with four for 25, while Singh took three for 20.

Rod Lyall 29/06/25

Step by step, Kampong Utrecht are moving towards the club’s first national championship since 1992, their nine-wicket victory over Hermes-DVS on Saturday, combined with HCC’s defeat at the hands of HBS Craeyenhout opening up a five-point gap between the leaders and their nearest challengers.

With five rounds left, Alex Roy’s team would now need to lose three of their remaining matches to leave any opportunity for their pursuers, more than they have lost in the 13 rounds played so far.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the extent of Kampong’s dominance at Maarschalkerweerd on Saturday: they never allowed Hermes’ batters to get out of first gear, the spin attack comprising Lorenzo Ingram, Akhil Gopinath and Pierre Jacod taking eight wickets between them at a combined economy rate of scarcely more than two per over as the Sky-blues battled their way to 132 all out in 49.5 overs.

It was Gopinath whose spell was most crucial, as he removed danger-man Daniel Doyle for 34 before adding the scalps of Asad Zulfiqar and Mussayab Jamil at a cost of just 17 runs; Jacod cleaned up the tail to finish with three for 27.

Kampong then needed only 13.5 overs to reach their target, the only wicket to fall that of Max O’Dowd, bowled by Olivier Elenbaas with the total on 44.

Damien van den Berg (50 not out) and Lane Berry (62 not out) then knocked off the remaining runs in nine overs, Berry facing only 32 balls and hitting five fours and six sixes, 56 of his runs coming in boundaries.

At Craeyenhout HBS, reinforced by former South African Test players Heino Kuhn and Roelof van der Merwe, posted 267 for seven against HCC, their innings anchored by skipper Tayo Walbrugh with 101.

Kuhn’s 33 in partnership with Walbrugh began a recovery from 57 for three, but it was a stand of 121 for the fifth wicket with Lucas del Bianco (59) which gave the Crows a defendable score.

Boris Gorlee again led the way for his side after both openers had been removed with 28 on the board, but when Kuhn and Van der Merwe combined to dismiss him for 64 as he lofted the latter into the covers, the Lions were left with too much to do.

Mark Wolfe (32) and Hidde Overdijk (45) fought hard, but it was again the spinners who did most of the damage, Jayden Rossouw taking three for 31 and Wes Barresi, Van der Merwe and Julien de Mey claiming two apiece as HCC were all out for 200.

The defeat saw the Lions slipped down to third place on net run rate, leapfrogged by defending champions Punjab-Ghausia by virtue of their thumping victory over Rotterdam neighbours VOC at the Hazelaarweg.

Punjab never looked in any trouble as they amassed 326 for four, Shoaib Minhas leading the way with 92 at better than a run a ball, with Musa Ahmad making 42 and Mohsin Riaz 54.

All three fell to Scott Janett, who took three for 62, but once they were gone the finishing touches were added by Muhammad Gondal (33 not out) and Sikander Zulfiqar (40 not out), who hammered 76 off the last nine overs against a wearied VOC attack.

Janett (54) then combined with his captain Tim de Kok (41) to take the Bloodhounds to 79 for one, but although Janett batted for much of the reply, the seventh to go with the score in 129, he received too little support, and the innings folded on 160.

Sajjad Kamal did much of the damage with three for 25, Minhas and Musa picking up two wickets apiece.

A solid 95 from Raynard van Tonder and a brutal 113 from Brett Hampton were the core of Excelsior ‘20’s 311 for eight against Voorburg at Thurlede, Hampton’s innings transforming what had until then been a relatively sober affair.

He came to the crease when a brilliant piece of quick thinking by veteran bowler Usman Malik brought the end of a 111-run stand for the fourth wicket between Van Tonder and Stan van Troost (39), and when he lost Van Tonder five runs later, dismissed in the 90s for the second time this season, Excelsior were tottering at 165 for five.

Opening his account with a boundary off the first ball he faced, Hampton needed only 28 balls to reach his half-century and a further 21 to go to three figures; in all he hit six fours and ten sixes, scoring 62 out of a 83-run stand with Niels Etman.

Voorburg mounted a serious challenge to Excelsior’s total, reaching 171 for one with Gavin Kaplan and Noah Croes at the wicket after Cedric de Lange had contributed 47 in an opening stand of 95 with Kaplan.

But then Croes (40) and Kaplan (76) departed in quick succession, and thereafter the home side’s bowlers gradually work their way through the rest of the order, sharing the wickets as Voorburg were eventually dismissed for 257.

The win took the Schiedammers back into eighth place, ahead of VOC on NRR, both now four points clear of Sparta 1888, who suffered a 143-run loss to VRA in the Amsterdamse Bos.

Juandre Scheepers was again among the wickets for the Spartans, removing internationals Vikram Singh and Teja Nidamanuru before returning to add the scalp of Johan Smal, who had anchored the innings in reaching 64.

At 155 for five VRA could have been in trouble, but they were rescued by their lower middle order, Patrick Gouge making 46 and Viraj Thakur 44, which Ibaad Zaidi hit his maiden Topklasse half-century, making 55 before becoming one of three victims for Max Hoornweg, who finished with three for 32.

Their efforts enabled VRA to reach 285, and it was soon evident that there would be no repeat of Sparta’s spirited chase against HBS last week.

Only Lukas Boorer (34) and Tim Ferguson (28) managed reasonably substantial contributions, but the feature of the innings, and probably of the match, was Vikram Singh’s maiden five-wicket haul, all five of his victims caught behind by Jack Cassidy.

Singh finished with five for 37, and Sparta were all out for 142; now four points behind Excelsior and VOC at the foot of the table, the Capelle club seem certain to be playing Hoofdklasse cricket next season.