Review – Page 6 – TKcricket

VRA demolish Punjab to go top

Rod Lyall 04/05/2025

The rematch of last year’s grand final turned out to be an anti-climax on Saturday, as VRA Amsterdam turned the tables on hosts and defending champions Punjab-Ghausia at the Zomercomplex, dismissing them for 111 and racing to an eight-wicket victory.

The win propelled the 2025 runners-up to the top of the table on net run rate, but with three other sides also claiming a second victory there is plenty of competition for a clear lead in the race to the title.

It was VRA’s new pace-bowling overseas player Peter Ruffell who started the rout, removing the dangerous Shoaib Minhas in the third over of the game after Teja Nidamanuru had won the toss and put the home side in, and who then, when Punjab had negotiated their way to a precarious 107 for five, dismissed last week’s centurion, Mohsin Riaz for 35, starting a collapse which saw the last five wickets fall for the addition of just four runs.

Samir Butt (24) had given Riaz some support, but with Ruffell claiming three more wickets to finish with five for 19 and Vikram Singh chipping in with two for 3 from eight deliveries, the innings quickly subsided.

So quickly, in fact, that there was time for VRA to reach 49 for one by the scheduled lunch break, despite Sajjad Kamal removing Singh in the second over of the reply, and with Jack Cassidy and Johan Smal putting on 81 for the second wicket in 16 overs, the Amsterdammers needed only 19.5 overs to complete the win.

Smal eventually fell to Suleiman Tariq for 42, but Cassidy stayed to the end with 45 not out, Nidamanuru finishing it off with a boundary.

Promoted side Kampong Utrecht’s top five gave them a great start, taking them to 236 for three with 14 overs remaining against Excelsior ‘20 at Thurlede, but then a flurry of wickets in pursuit of a massive total saw them dismissed for 308 with eight deliveries remaining.

Max O’Dowd kicked off with a 25-ball 30 which included seven boundaries, his fellow-opener Damien van den Berg contributed an even brisker 26-ball 42, and then Lane Berry made a run-a-ball 38 before Scott Edwards and Lorenzo Ingram, the latter taking on his former team-mates, put on 86 for the fourth wicket.

Edwards eventually went for 59, having brought up his 3000th Topklasse run in the process, but Ingram posted 76 before falling in the quest for quick runs, the Excelsior new-ball pairing of Jason Ralston and Jens Blankestijn finishing with three for 45 and three for 68 respectively.

After last week’s capitulation against VRA the home supporters may have feared for the worst, but Excelsior put up a much better fight this time, Luuk Kroesen and Roel Verhagen posting a half-century opening stand and Stan van Troost then making a career-best 94, from 96 deliveries, as he anchored the rest of the reply.

The home side struggled to keep up with the required rate, however, and it was Kampong’s spinners who capitalised, Pierre Jacod claiming four for 62 and Ingram three for 40 as the innings ended on 267 for nine, Van Troost falling to Jacod just before the end.

Kampong’s total was surpassed by Voorburg at Westvliet, where the top order also produced an outstanding effort to see them to 328 for eight against VOC Rotterdam.

New signing Peter Hatzoglou got them off to a rollicking start with a 12-ball 23, Michael Levitt made 42 before he was brilliantly run out by Tim de Kok, and then Cedric de Lange’s 56 and Gavin Kaplan’s 70 took them to 239 for four in the 42nd over.

Kaplan’s departure was the cue for Bas de Leede, clearly relishing his brief return to the Topklasse, to inflict further punishment on the VOC attack, hitting six fours and three sixes in his 51-ball 83, taking his side past the 300-mark.

Scott Janett (83 from 94 deliveries) and Indian-born Danish international Taranjit Singh Bharaj (55 from 62) shared a solid third-wicket partnership of 129 for the visitors after Viv Kingma had grabbed two wickets in four balls, but Hatzoglou removed them both as he took six for 35, and then Cedric de Lange, one of four keepers in the Voorburg side, picked up the final two wickets for 5 runs with his off-breaks as VOC were all out for 197.

Hermes-DVS were the fourth side to make it two wins out of two, getting the better of HBS Craeyenhout in the most hard-fought match of the day.

Put in to bat at the Loopuyt Oval, Hermes owed their total of 195 for eight very largely to Spanish international Daniel Doyle-Calle, who came in at 48 for two and batted through to the end, finishing with an unbeaten, 93-ball 89.

He received a measure of support from Sebastiaan Braat and Sahil Kothari, but with Kyle Klein and Jayden Rossouw picking up three wickets apiece, for 26 and 45 respectively, and Julien de Mey contributing a wicketless but economical spell, Hermes finished well short of an imposing total.

It proved to be enough, however, for although HBS reached 91 for two in reply, Braat (four for 41) and Hikmatullah Jabarkhail (four for 35) ran through the middle and lower order, only Wesley Barresi standing firm with a dogged 57 not out.

39 were still needed from 44 deliveries when Jabarkhail removed Rossouw and brought last man Benno Boddendijk to the crease, and although he and Barresi added 25 of them, Braat finally had Boddendijk caught by Ralph Elenbaas and Hermes won by 13 runs.

At Sportpark Bermweg HCC bounced back from last week’s collapse against Hermes, and at one point seemed likely to join Voorburg and Kampong in the 300-plus club as they pummelled the Sparta 1888 attack.

Supported by 47 from Shirsak Banerjee, skipper Boris Gorlee led the way with a 105-ball 102 which included 11 fours and two sixes, but once Ahsan Malik returned to the attack to remove him the innings fell away, closing on 278 for nine.

But Sparta could not carry that fightback into their reply: Hidde Overdijk ripped the top off the innings with three for 7 in five overs, reducing the Spartans to 15 for four, and although Juandre Scheepers and Lukas Boorer put up some resistance, the home side were dismissed for 103, giving HCC a thumping 175-run victory.

Kampong come back in style

Rod Lyall 28/04/2025

Kampong Utrecht stormed back into the Topklasse in their opening game on Sunday, dismissing VOC Rotterdam for just 86 and then requiring only ten and a half overs to knock off the runs to complete a nine-wicket victory.

Put in to bat, VOC’s innings never really got out of first gear, only 27 runs coming from the opening powerplay for the loss of two wickets as seamers Shashank Kumar, Kirtan Nana and Alex Roy maintained the pressure on a helpful Maarschalkerweerd surface.

In retrospect Pieter Recordon’s patient 18 – the top score and one of only three in double figures – looks like a much better innings than it did at the time, but once Pierre Jacod trapped him in front the spinners took over, and the remaining seven wickets fell for 41 runs in the space of 16 and a half overs.

Jacod finished with four for 24, and new signing Lorenzo Ingram collected three for 12 as the Bloodhounds’ innings crumbled.

The home side’s batters then set about maximising their net run rate advantage, Damien van den Berg and Max O’Dowd taking 28 off the first four overs before Roman Harhangi removed Van den Berg for 17.

But that brought Lane Berry to the crease, and he unleashed a savage attack, smashing four fours and three sixes in a 22-ball onslaught which earned him 41 runs, while O’Dowd finished with an unbeaten 24 at the other end.

Defending champions Punjab-Ghausia Rotterdam, on the other hand, were made to battle almost all the way against a defiant HBS Craeyenhout before a 171-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Mohsin Riaz and skipper Sikander Zulfiqar decisively took the game away from the Crows.

Although HBS captain Tayo Walbrugh contributed 56, his side were in trouble at 129 for six against Punjab’s spinners, but Kyle Klein (58) and Elmar Boendermaker (59) turned the innings round with a seventh-wicket stand of 89, and the home side managed to reach a competitive 238 for eight.

It looked like it might be enough when pacemen Lehan Botha and Klein reduced the champions to 60 for four, especially since Saqib Zulfiqar had pulled a hamstring and was unlikely to bat, but Riaz and Sikander steadied the ship and gradually took control.

Riaz’s 111, made from 85 deliveries with 15 fours and three sixes, was his fourth Topklasse century, while Sikander Zulfiqar remained 71 not out, hitting eight fours, the last of them the winning boundary, and facing 96 balls.

There was a similar story at Sportpark Bermweg, where Voorburg’s hearts fluttered briefly as their batters set out in chase of Sparta 1888’s total of 210.

Former international Ahsan Malik grabbed two early wickets, as he has done so often, but at 31 for two returning overseas Gavin Kaplan was joined by Bas de Leede, turning out for his old club under a dispensation which allows a player to appear in the Dutch competition as well as one abroad when he returns to the club which raised him.

The pair put on 124 for the third wicket, De Leede making 57 of them in a knock which bodes well for the upcoming League 2 series against Canada and the UAE, and then Kaplan and skipper Noah Croes saw the 2023 champions home, Kaplan finishing it with back-to-back boundaries to end on 85 not out.

Earlier, Sparta had battled hard to set a defendable total, Kyle Klesse top-scoring with 41 before he was most unfortunately run out by a direct hit from Bas de Leede’s younger brother Tom after a misunderstanding with fellow-overseas Lucas Boorer.

Not for the first time, Umar Baker contributed valuable runs as he batted with the tail, the last two Sparta wickets adding 42, while Udit Nashier was the most successful of the Voorburg bowlers, claiming three for 40 in his first outing with his new club.

His former outfit, VRA Amsterdam, enjoyed their day in the Amsterdamse Bos, posting the highest total of the round with a solid 253 for six, and then dismissing Excelsior ’20 Schiedam for 85 to win by 168 runs and take second place on the table.

Excelsior’s attack was able to make little impression on VRA’s strong top order, opener Vikram Singh making 46, Johan Smal 64 and Teja Nidamanuru 48.

Then the new-ball pairing of Ben Fletcher and Peter Ruffell removed the openers before Shariz Ahmad ran through the rest of the batting, claiming five for 27; it was his sixth five-wicket haul in the Topklasse and leaves him one short of 100 wickets.

He received good support from dubutant Darsh Abhinay, who took two for 10 in three overs, including that of Raynard van Tonder, whose 43 showed that he will be a key player for Excelsior this season but who will clearly need to find some teammates to stay in the middle with him.

There was a similar batting collapse at De Diepput, where HCC fell apart against Excelsior’s Schiedam rivals Hermes-DVS and succumbed by 93 runs.

Hermes got off to an outstanding start after Boris Gorlee won the toss and put them in, Aryan Dutt and Ashley Ostling compiling an opening stand of 103 before Oliver White had Ostling caught at slip by Tonny Staal for 39.

That was the cue for a dramatic collapse, two more wickets falling for the addition of just one run, and the rest of the batting able to add only 88 as the Lions fought back well.

Dutt went on to make 79, his highest in the Topklasse, and Sahil Kothari contributed a dogged 30, but with Hidde Overdijk taking three for 34 and White, Daniel Crowley and Henrico Venter picking up two apiece, the innings closed on 192.

That proved to be plenty, and after Ralph Elenbaas had removed White Roy Numair took three quick wickets for 23, including an outstanding return catch to remove Staal, before Hikmatullah Jabarkhail, on his Topklasse debut, claimed three more at a cost of 21, and HCC were in desperate trouble on 59 for seven.

Yash Patel and Mark Wolfe put up some resistance, but Sahil Kothari finished things off, taking three for 4 from 25 deliveries, and HCC were all out for 99.

Topklasse Team of the Year 2024

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 04/09/23

So, that time rolls round again when we at TKcricket nominate our Topklasse Team of the Year. It’s all a bit different this year, since the influx of overseas players recruited by the clubs changed the character of the competition (once again, we’re only concerned here with the 50-over version) to a significant degree.

RL: Whatever the clubs may have done, I think we should confine our choice of overseas players to two, as we have done in the past. There is, of course, a large field to choose from, but for my money the first name on the sheet has to be that of Voorburg’s Gavin Kaplan, who went past fifty no fewer than seven times in just ten innings in compiling his 701 runs, going on to three figures on four of those occasions. Add to that the fact that he proved a useful change bowler, and his selection is a no-brainer. The second overseas is trickier: pace spearheads Jason Ralston (Excelsior) and Cameron Fraser (Sparta) claimed 38 and 29 wickets respectively for teams in the lower reaches of the table. Ralston has a strong claim, but my choice would probably be ACC’s Izhaan Sayed, who not only had the knack of grabbing early wickets but also topped his struggling side’s batting averages.

BdJ: While I do appreciate the high-minded sentiment on the overseas question, I’d be inclined to take a Jeffersonian approach and stylishly swim with the current on this one rather than risk principled petrification. With the influx of overseas showing no signs of slowing, if we stick to our guns here we may struggle to even pick a competitive XI in a few seasons’ time. Close to half the players in the competition already hail from abroad, accounting for more than half the runs and wickets this season, so I say who are we to blow against the wind?

Nowhere is that case more convincing than at the top of the batting card. The majority of clubs went with overseas at the top of the order this season, and of Dutch-produced or Netherlands-qualified players nobody averaged over 30 opening the batting. VCC’s Michael Levitt was the best of a bad bunch with 260 runs at 28.9, a disappointing season by his own standards, followed by HCC’s Tonny Staal with 300 runs at 27.3. If one had to pick an opening pair from among the local players one would probably go for Vikram Singh and Musa Ahmad, though both had more consistent success down the order. Ahmad’s sometime opening partner and near-permanent fixture in Dutch club cricket Shoaib Minhas arguably has a stronger case for his efforts against VRA alone, hitting the match-winning century in the first qualifying semi at the Zomercomplex that secured a home final and two half centuries against the same opposition earlier in the season making sure would be played there in the first place. Jonathan Vandiar also deserves a mention as an occasional opener albeit a committed overseas, and it’s notable that Punjab are the only side with two bats in the 500-club this season. Hermes’ overseas opening combo of Ashley Ostling and Daniel Doyle Calle were the most prolific pairing at the top of the order this season, Ostling the only opener to hit 500 runs from the top of the order during the League Phase.

RL: I can’t argue with m’colleague’s analysis of the problem, but my view is pragmatic as well as ‘high-minded’: if the competition continues on its present course, it will become almost impossible to produce young Dutch players capable of holding their own on the international stage. The clubs were unhappy when the Dutch-produced contingent in the national side withered to one or two, and it’s true that some progress has been made under the two Ryans (Campbell and Cook) to restore the balance. It’s really a topic for a different discussion, but I am personally convinced that the KNCB will need to act to curb the current arms race. That way, madness lies.

Another structural problem, of course, is that some of the leading players were absent for much of the second phase, so averages are probably a better guide to performance than aggregates. I’d certainly want to go with Musa Ahmad (420 at 30.00) as one of the openers, and Singh’s 367 at 40.78 make him a credible partner, even if neither of them had the sort of season they might have wanted.

As for the rest of the top order, if we have Kaplan at three, there are three more places available in the top six, or perhaps four, depending on what we decide about a keeper. Punjab’s Saqib Zulfiqar, for instance, finished seventh in the averages behind six overseas players, and his 326 runs at 46.57 give him a strong claim. He would slot in well at four, while I’d be inclined to include Voorburg’s Noah Croes (466 at 38.83) at five, thus filling the wicketkeeping spot at the same time. That would leave room for two more batters, or batting allrounders (it’s notable that apart from Croes, all the Dutch-qualified players we’ve named so far are more than useful change bowlers). The leading contenders would be Shariz Ahmad (VRA, 331 at 41.38) and Ryan Klein (Voorburg, 356 at 39.56), both of whom have greatly improved their batting and have played crucial innings for their sides.

BdJ: While I’m inclined to agree that Something Must Be Done about the proliferation of overseas players in the league, I still feel our Team of the Year ought to reflect the competition as it is rather than as we’d like it to be. Perhaps as a compromise we could make room for those overseas now permanently based in the Netherlands and intent qualifying for the national side. That would allow us to pick the soon-to-be-Dutch-eligible Tayo Walbrugh, whose 596 runs for HBS at an average of almost 60 make him a strong runner-up to Kaplan in the batting stakes this season. A case might also be made for VRA stand-in skipper Johan Smal, who missed out on the 500 club by just five runs and was indispensable to his side’s making their run to the final despite Teja Nidamanuru’s season-ending injury early in the summer and the regular absences of Singh, Ahmad and Floyd.

Croes has little competition for the keeper slot, with none of the other glovemen in the league coming close to matching his 466 runs. Nonetheless some honourable mentions can be made, Luke Scully did some fine work in the handful of games he played for VRA 1s this season, averaging 44.3 across 4 innings in the Topklasse as well as playing a crucial role in the second team’s successful promotion campaign in the Eersteklasse. In terms of pure glovemanship, it’s worth noting that Sparta’s Riley Mudford gave up just three byes over the course of the season, even if he wasn’t able to replicate his short-format form with the bat. HCC’s Yash Patel also had a fine season behind the poles, effecting five stumpings and taking 21 catches to top the dismissal tally table.

RL: An hon. ment. also for Fawad Shinwari, whose 27 victims in 14 matches took him to the top of list and helped Punjab to their title. He also raises the thorny question of where Belgian-based players fit into our discussion of the overseas issue.

Whether or not we agree that Shariz and Saqib earn a place as allrounders, both have a strong claim as wrist-spinners, especially the former, whose 21 wickets at 21.52 may have been a smaller tally than last year but came from just 14 matches. Not many slow bowlers feature prominently in the averages, but Mahesh Hans (ACC) and Leon Turmaine (VRA) both averaged a shade over 16, the latter once he’d forced his way back into the first team. Neither, perhaps, has an overwhelming claim, but if we really wanted to include a finger spinner both could be relied upon to produce a decent performance.

BdJ: It has indeed been a remarkably lean summer for the slow-bowlers, with seamers occupying the first eight spots on the wicket-taking table, with Ahmad’s 21 the best tally for a spinner. The indefatigable Lorenzo Ingram was the only finger spinner to break 20 wickets this season, though six of those came in succession running through a hapless Sparta lower order. With two slow bowlers already penciled in on the strength of their batting, I’d be inclined to make room for an extra quick given the weight of wickets this season has heavily favoured them.

On that front it’s hard to look past Jason Ralston’s 38 for Excelsior, whose 14-wicket lead over Cameron and Sayed outweighs the latters’ ability to chip in an average 20-odd runs in my book. Among Dutch and Dutch-qualified seamers the stand-out this season was newcomer Ben Fletcher with 29 wickets at under 15 for VRA, the tall left armer already attracting the attention of national selectors. Hermes’ Ralph Elenbaas also had an excellent season, eclipsing his more-celebrated brother with 25 wickets at 15.4. Sajjad Kamal also enjoyed a fine first season for Punjab picking up 24 scalps, though they came at a comparatively hefty price in terms of runs conceded. Mees van Vliet, charged with leading the VCC attack while national duty or injury kept Kingma and Klein out of the side, is next on the wicket-taking table with 23 across 16 matches, but was similarly expensive, going at an economy rate of 5.65 an over. If one were to prize miserliness over penetration in our second seamer three names jump out. The first is that of Ryan Klein, who sent down 48 overs at the cost of just 142 runs, but then of course he spent much of the season bowling off-spin rather than his usual medium pace. HCC’s Adam Leonard was the most economical of the dedicated quicks, his 19 wickets coming at 16.9 runs apiece at the rate of 3.4 per over.The last is that of last year’s TK Team of the Year skipper Martijn Snoep, who had another quietly effective season for his side picking up 18 wickets at 16.4 while going at 3.5 an over.

RL: That about covers the field, I reckon. A shout-out, though, for Kyle Klein of HBS, who claimed 18 wickets despite playing only seven matches, at an economy rate of 4.05. And in a season in which young home-grown players had regrettably few opportunities, or who seemed to have gone backwards when they did, two young seamers who enhanced their reputations were Aaditt Jain and Roman Harhangi of VOC. I still have a strong preference for picking Dutch (or at least Dutch-qualified) players over out-and-out incomers, which would lead me to give the nod to Fletcher – who also offers the bonus of being a left-armer – and Elenbaas minor over the rest of the contenders. That gives us three front-line seamers plus the incidental contributions of Kaplan and Singh, and two spinners.

Plenty of bowling, so we can afford to go back and add one more batter. Here the choice lies between adding an opener, who would have to be an overseas like Punjab’s Shoaib Minhas (see above), and including another batting allrounder, which which case the strongest claim is arguably that of Ryan Klein.

As for the captaincy, the only regular captains we’ve included are Croes and Walbrugh, and for my money the nod should go to the former, who led Voorburg with authority whenever he was available.

BdJ: The matter of the armband is a tricky question this year, with several clubs switching captains through the season and few full-time skippers having stand-out seasons. The field-promoted captain Smal is the notable was the notable exception there, probably the unluckiest to miss the cut this year and would have taken the armband too had he made it into the XI. But I’d agree that Croes is a sound second choice to lead our 2024 TK Topklasse Team of the Year…

The Team: Musa Ahmad (Punjab-Ghausia), Vikram Singh (VRA), Gavin Kaplan (Voorburg), Noah Croes (Voorburg), Tayo Walbrugh (HBS Craeyenhout), Saqib Zulfiqar (Punjab-Ghausia), Shariz Ahmad (VRA), Ryan Klein (Voorburg), Ralph Elenbaas (Hermes-DVS), Ben Fletcher (VRA), Jason Ralston (Excelsior ’20).

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Edwards and Chaturvedi steer Kampong into the Topklasse

Rod Lyall 15/09/24

Kampong Utrecht will be playing Topklasse cricket next season, having won the Hoofdklasse grand final against Quick Haag on Saturday in one of the most extraordinary matches of this or any other season.

Put in to bat by Quick captain Jeroen Brand, Kampong owed their massive total of 374 for six very largely to a third-wicket stand of 215 between Scott Edwards and Vikram Chaturvedi, who came together when opener Ratha Alphonse was forced to retire after ducking into a bouncer from Nathan Crudeli.

It was a remarkable climax to the season for Chaturvedi, who had played just two Hoofdklasse matches at the start of the competition and had thereafter been consigned to the seconds until he was recalled for last week’s preliminary final against Salland.

There he batted at eight and was out first ball, but now promoted to five he produced the innings of his life, outscoring Edwards and reaching his century off just 92 balls; when he was out soon afterwards, caught by Caspar Dekeling off Brand’s bowling, his 103 had included 13 fours and three sixes.

Edwards was at this point unbeaten on 99, and there were just over eight overs left.

Having posted his century Edwards cut loose, smashing another four sixes and six fours from 19 more deliveries to race to a 119-ball 159, and Kampong were able to add 75 from their final six overs.

That should, by any reasonable calculation, have put the outcome beyond doubt, but Crudeli had other ideas.

He started the reply with a four and a six, and by the end of the initial powerplay Quick had reached an improbable 94 without loss, 60 of them from the bat of Crudeli.

He went on to reach a 77-ball century, including nine fours and seven sixes, and although his opening partner Daan Vierling had gone for 32, the momentum was still with the home side.

The turning point came in the 28^th over when Shashank Kumar, who had earlier come in for some fearful punishment from Crudeli, angled one across the Australian, who edged through to the keeper and departed for a 102-ball 133, including 12 fours and nine sixes.

That made it 206 for two, and although Lesley Stokkers hit a brisk 34-ball 57 before he was controversially run out, 79 were still required from the final ten overs.

That was too big an ask, and it was left to Chaturvedi to finish things off with two for 4 as Quick were all out for 322 with five overs remaining.

Punjab pull off a sensational victory

Rod Lyall 15/09/24

Exciting as the semi-final between Punjab-Ghausia and VRA Amsterdam a fortnight ago had been, it was surpassed by Saturday’s grand final between the same two teams, which not only went into the final over but which produced a stunning one-wicket victory for the Rotterdammers.

That had seemed very unlikely for much of the afternoon, as Punjab battled their way towards their challenging target of 271, well behind the required run-rate and losing wickets at inconvenient moments.

So it was, perhaps, unsurprising that when, with two deliveries to spare, Khurram Shahzad despatched Clayton Floyd over cover for the winning six, a substantial crowd of cheering Punjab supporters should have raced onto the field to salute their heroes.

What were deeply disappointing, however, were the scenes which followed, as VRA players were harassed and jostled before they could leave the ground.

Whatever the on-field background may have been and whoever might have initiated it, it was decidedly ugly, and it should have no place on a cricket field. The clubs and the KNCB need to make that clear, in both word and action, and they need to do so promptly.

An apology on the Punjab website and on social media would be a start, but after appropriate reflection there should also be tangible consequences from such unpleasant and unjustifiable scenes.

The cricket which preceded them, though, had certainly lived up to expectations.

Winning the toss, VRA began promisingly, Shirase Rasool immediately going onto the offensive and hitting Shahzad out of the attack with a succession of sixes.

Sulaiman Tariq, though, was as steady as ever at the other end, and he duly removed both openers, both caught by Saqib Zulfiqar, while Sajjad Kamal disposed of the dangerous Vikram Singh, who provided Saqib with yet another catch.

And when Johan Smal fell to Burhan Niaz in the next over VRA were suddenly 83 for four, and Punjab were threatening to take charge.

They were held up by a 97-run partnership between Elijah Eales and Shariz Ahmad, put on in 19 and a half overs, which brought their side back into the game, and after Eales was caught behind off Sikander Zulfiqar for a 61-ball 56, Shariz continued to the end, adding 61 for the eighth wicket in an unbroken stand with Luke Scully (25 not out) and finishing with 82 not out.

It was, potentially, a match-winning innings, since it set Punjab to make their highest total of the season if they were to chase successfully.

Then Ben Fletcher struck twice, dismissing first Jonathan Vandiar, brilliantly caught by Sharad Hake at short fine leg, and then his fellow-opener Shoaib Minhas by the time 21 runs were on the board, and, more worryingly for Punjab, only 23 came from the initial powerplay.

Hake replaced Eales in the attack, but after he had bowled five economical overs VRA literally suffered a damaging blow when Hake, fielding at point, was struck on the knee by a powerful cut from Musa Ahmad, and was forced to leave the field.

Almost immediately Mohsin Riaz, who had added 50 in company with Musa, fell to Hake’s successor in the attack, Vikram Singh, and although Musa and Saqib Zulfiqar were able to put on a further 83 for the fourth wicket, Punjab continued to fall behind the required rate.

With twenty overs left they needed more than seven an over, and when Saqib was caught by Smal of Shariz, departing for 39, the match was delicately poised.

Musa, who had anchored the innings since the third over, followed soon afterwards, caught behind by Scully off Shariz for 71, but Sikander Zulfiqar and Niaz contributed another half-century stand, this one coming at slightly better than a run a ball.

Even so, when Sikander was run out for 41 Punjab still required 47 from 42 deliveries, and that had become 19 from 15 when Niaz holed out to Prince at long off as he tried to hit Singh for six and departed for a vital 39.

Singh completed his over with another wicket, Fawad Shinwari magnificently caught by a diving Scully behind the stumps, and Punjab needed 11 from the last two overs.

Just four singles came from Eales’s penultimate over, so Floyd bowled the last with seven still required.

He yorked a flailing Kamal with his second ball, and so last man Tariq came to the crease with seven still needed and four deliveries to be bowled.

The next was a leg-side wide which escaped Scully’s gloves and allowed the batters to run, crucially giving Shahzad the strike.

He was content to push the next into the covers, but then he opened his shoulders to loft the ball over cover, and Punjab were champions for the second time.

VRA ease into the grand final

Rod Lyall 08/09/24

VRA Amsterdam overpowered defending champions Voorburg in a rain-shortened preliminary final in the Amsterdamse Bos on Saturday, setting up a grand final against Punjab-Ghausia in Rotterdam next week.

Leakage through the covers following overnight rain had left the pitch so wet that a start could not be made until 3 o’clock, cutting the match to 33 per overs a side.

Put in to bat, Noah Croes’s team never really got out of first gear on a pitch which favoured the bowlers, the new-ball pairing of Ben Fletcher and Elijah Eales picking up three wickets in the first nine overs for just 25 runs.

Croes himself and Ryan Klein managed to add 21 for the fourth wicket, but it took them more than seven overs, and when Shariz Ahmad removed them both in successive overs, adding the wicket of Tom de Leede into the bargain, Voorburg were in serious trouble.

Eales returned to dismiss Michael Molenaar, and although Laurens Boissevain and Mees van Vliet stayed together long enough to contribute 22 for the eighth wicket, the innings closed on 106 for nine, Shariz finishing with four for 17.

Voorburg may have felt that they had the ghost of a chance when they had both openers out with just 24 on the board, but this brought together Vikram Singh and Johan Smal, and they proceeded to settle the issue, cautiously at first but then with increasing confidence.

As the target grew nearer Singh went onto the attack, finishing the game with two sixes to reach 58 not out, while Smal made an unbeaten 28.

In the Hoofdklasse, Kampong Utrecht’s victory over Salland turned out to be if anything even more emphatic, though not before they had slumped from a solid 116 for two to 178 all out, at one stage losing five wickets for 16 runs.

Max O’Dowd’s 34, Ratha Alphonse’s 24 and Damien van den Berg’s 44 had given them a great start, but spinners Akhil Gopinath, Elam Bharathi and Acelan Pruss got them in a tangle, Gopinath again the most successful with four for 37, and it took an enterprising little ninth-wicket stand between Tushar Sharma and Kertan Nana to get them to a relatively decent total.

Salland started their reply confidently enough, but once Pierra Jacod had removed Venkat Ganesan it all fell apart, as the Overijssel side collapsed from 28 for one to 37 for six in the space of 23 deliveries.

There was no way back from there, and although Gopinath and Sahir Malikzai staged a minor recovery as well, putting on 23 for the ninth wicket, the cause was lost, and the innings ended on 94.

Shashank Kumar did much of the damage, claiming four for 34 to bring his tally for the season to 40 (second only to Gopinath’s 44), while skipper Alex Roy took two for 8 in six extremely economical overs as Kampong turned the screw.

Kampong will now take on Quick Haag at Nieuw Hanenburg next Saturday to determine which side plays in the Topklasse next season.

A piece of history will be made that day when the same two clubs are involved in the grand finals of the Topklasse and the Eerste Klasse, Punjab-Ghausia 2 having beaten HCC 2 by 37 runs on Saturday to set up a meeting with VRA 2 in what is in effect the third division.

Punjab advance to grand final – but only just

Rod Lyall 02/09/24

An outstanding century by opener Shoaib Minhas was the foundation of Punjab-Ghausia’s thrilling one-wicket victory over VRA Amsterdam at the Zomercomplex on Sunday, taking his side into the grand final in a fortnight’s time.

VRA, though, fought all the way, and they will get a second chance to reach the grand final when they take on defending champions Voorburg in the Amsterdamse Bos next week.

The Amsterdammers had set Punjab a substantial target, their total of 265 built on contrasting knocks from captain Johan Smal (86) and Shariz Ahmad (83).

The pair had shared a key fifth-wicket stand of 129 after Sulaiman Tariq (three for 59) and Khurram Shahzad had combined to reduce VRA to 76 for four, and after Smal departed it was left to Shariz to hold the tail together, adding another 60 in a succession of invaluable partnerships.

When Punjab replied Minhas, scoring at a run a ball, was able to ensure that his side kept pace with the required rate, but his problem was that he kept losing partners at the other end.

Punjab’s most substantial partnership was that for the second wicket between Minhas and Musa Ahmad (30), which added 81, but with pacemen Ben Fletcher and Elijah Eales, supported by left-arm spinner Clayton Floyd, chipping away, the issue remained in doubt.

18 were still needed when Minhas, sent back looking for a single that was never there, was run out for 106, made from 107 deliveries with nine fours and three sixes, and the deficit was still seven when Fletcher struck again to claim the ninth wicket and bring last man Tariq to the crease.

Crucially, though, that wicket came from the final ball of his over, and Fawad Shinwari was able to find the two boundaries which gave Punjab the narrowest of victories.

At De Diepput, meanwhile, Voorburg, with three of their internationals back in the side, kept their title defence alive and ended HCC’s hopes with a convincing 49-run victory.

Their total of 241 was built on a solid 44 from Cedric de Lange, batting at three in order to make room for Michael Levitt, and an aggressive 67 from Ryan Klein, made from just 53 balls with six fours and three sixes.

Philippe Boissevain contributed a useful 38, while Hidde Overdijk was the mosgt successful of HCC’s bowlers with three for 51.

When Tonny Staal, batting with uncharacteristic restraint, and Boris Gorlee were together at the crease it looked as if the Lions might be in with a chance, but Voorburg’s attack made scoring difficult, and HCC gradually fell behind the required rate.

Jed Wiggins top-scored with 58, but once Mees van Vliet had returned to remove him Philippe Boissevain ran through the lower order taking four for 27 – including an outstanding one-handed return catch to dismiss Yash Patel – and HCC were all out for 192.

In the final round of Relegation Pool matches ACC made short work of ten-man Excelsior ’20, bowling them out for just 88, 60 of which came from Derek Mitchell (29) and Lorenzo Ingram (31), no-one else reaching double figures in an abject batting display.

Sahil Kothari had a field day, claiming five for 21, and ACC needed only 14.3 overs to knock off the runs, Shreyas Potdar making an unbeaten 34 to complete a third successive victory which would have been unthinkable a month ago.

There was more of a contest at the Hazelaarweg, where Sparta 1888 managed to defend a total of 200 against VOC Rotterdam and win by nine runs.

Riley Mudford (52) and Juandre Scheepers (67) were responsible for the lion’s share of Sparta’s runs, Roman Harhangi cleaning up the tail to finish with five for 33, Asief Hoseinbaks again chipping in with three for 32.

Ryan Schierhout and Pieter Recordon gave VOC a great start with an opening stand of 95, but once they had both been dismissed for 43 the Bloodhounds again suffered a middle-order collapse, slumping from 99 for two to 141 for eight.

Francois Fourie was still there, however, and he and Jelte Schoonheim added 46 for the ninth wicket, raising hopes of a remarkable recovery.

In the end, though, Manminder Singh removed Fourie, again for 43, and last man Hoseinbaks to finish with three for 22 and see Sparta home.

In the Hoofdklasse, Quick Haag pulled off a shock, subjecting leaders Kampong Utrecht to only their second 50-over defeat of the season and marching into the grand final.

Scott Edwards contributed 82 to Kampong’s modest total of 155, Damien van den Berg making 35, but with skipper Jeroen Brand taking three for 21 Quick kept firm control of the innings.

Then Daan Vierling guided his side to an eight-wicket victory with an unbeaten 80, and Kampong will need to weather a do-or-die preliminary final against Salland next week.

The Deventer side, fourth on the table, sprang another surprise on Sunday, bundling Bloemendaal out for83 and racing to a four-wicket victory with more than 33 overs to spare.

Venkat Ganesan needed only three bowlers to complete Salland’s rout of the Bloemendaal batting, Sahir Malikzai taking four for 29 and Reinder Lubbers and Akhil Gopinath picking up three for 28 and three for 24 respectively.

Salland were cruising at 70 for one in reply, but then former international Mangesh Panchal produced a remarkable spell, claiming five for 11, including one triple-wicket maiden, as Ganesan’s side slumped to 79 for six.

It came too late, however, as Saqibullah Usmanzai hit the winning boundary to keep alive Salland’s hopes of making a quick return to the Topklasse.

VRA demolish HCC to claim second spot

Rod Lyall 26/08/24

VRA claimed second place with their most commanding performance of the season on Sunday, bowling HCC out for just 59 and knocking off the runs in 14 and a half overs to complete an eight-wicket victory.

Ben Fletcher ripped through the top order as HCC slumped to 14 for five, his first seven overs yielding figures of four for 13, with Elijah Eales picking up the other in a new-ball spell which was even more parsimonious, his six overs including four maidens.

There was no way back for the Lions from there, only Jed Wiggins (32) achieving double figures as Clayton Floyd took over with three for 5 from 33 deliveries, and VRA were faced with the simplest of tasks.

Adam Leonard and Wiggins did pick up a wicket apiece when the hosts replied, but Johan Smal’s unbeaten 27 sealed the issue, and VRA had earned themselves a double crack at a place in the grand final.

They will now face Punjab-Ghausia in the first semi-final next week, the leaders having cemented their place with an almost equally victory over defending champions Voorburg.

Openers Nehaan Gigani and Cedric de Lange gave their side a solid start after Voorburg had been put in to bat, putting on 62 for the first wicket, but once Sajjad Kamal had removed both of them and New Zealand import Oliver White the innings turned into a procession, and the champions were all out for 155.

Shoaib Minhas again ran through the middle and lower order, claiming five wickets in an innings for the first time with figures of five for 44.

The chase was led by Jonathan Vandiar, whose 64-ball 65 included six fours and as many sixes, all but five of his runs coming from boundaries.

Four wickets, meanwhile, were falling at the other end, and when Vandiar too was dismissed with 53 still needed, it seemed for a moment as if Voorburg might be in with a chance.

But Punjab bat deep, and Khurram Shahzad and Fawad Shinwari ensured that they reached their target without further loss, finishing with 29 and 31 respectively as Punjab won with more than 22 overs to spare.

That put Voorburg’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals in the hands of Hermes-DVS, since a win for HBS Craeyenhout at the Loopuyt Oval would enable them to squeeze into fourth spot.

Sent in by HBS captain Tayo Walbrugh, Hermes proceeded to post the day’s highest total, a fourth-wicket stand of 92 between CP Klijnhans (59) and Olivier Elenbaas the foundation of an imposing 248 for nine.

Elenbaas went on to make 85 before he was run out, and with smaller contributions from Sebastiaan Braat and Zaffar Chaudhary, HBS were left with a substantial task if they were to leapfrog Voorburg.

Despite losing Lucas del Bianco and Walbrugh early they managed to reach 62 for two, but then their chase was overwhelmed in ten sensational deliveries.

First Roy Numair removed opener Manjinder Singh, and then Ralph Elenbaas claimed four wickets in one extraordinary overwhich saw HBS slump to 67 for seven.

Reece Mason was still there, and he and Julian de Mey set about salvaging something from the wreckage, but two breaks for rain saw the innings reduced first to 46 overs and then to 39, with almost no change to the target.

Mason eventually fell for 46, and the innings ended soon afterwards on 127, Ralph Elenbaas the hero for Hermes with five for 51.

So Voorburg will after all get a chance to defend their title, and it is good for the health of the competition that they will be able to do so with their quartet of international stars restored to the squad.

In the Relegation Pool, ACC continued their late revival with a second successive victory, beating Sparta 1888 by three wickets in another hard-fought encounter.

Mahesh Hans was another to claim five wickets, the second time he has achieved this, taking five for 35 as Sparta were dismissed for 175, Juandre Scheepers again top-scoring with 63.

Ben van der Merwe was again the key figure in ACC’s reply, although this time he could not see the mission through to completion: he fell for 67 with 34 still needed, and it was left to Sahil Kothari to finish the job with an unbeaten 37.

At Thurlede another rain-affected match ended in a four-wicket victory for VOC Rotterdam over Excelsior ’20, although the game was a good deal closer than that margin might suggest.

Excelsior reached 200 for seven, thanks to 83 from Derek Mitchell and a useful, unbroken eight-wicket partnership between Joost Kroesen and Roel Verhagen, but at 125 for three, with Jock McKenzie and Jason van der Meulen well set, VOC appeared to be cruising.

Then, however, a break for rain was immediately followed by the dismissal of Van der Meulen, and a second interruption adjusted the target to 179 from 41 overs.

When Victor Lubbers bowled Mckenzie for 55 with 35 still needed Excelsior were back in the game, but Arnav Jain contributed a crucial 25, and the final over began with five required and Tim de Kok and Aaditt Jain at the crease.

Four deliveries were enough to seal the issue, and VOC will have the consolation prize of topping the Relegation Pool after next week’s final round of matches.

Semi-final battles go down to the wire

Rod Lyall 19/08/24

With one round-robin round remaining there are still issues to be resolved in the Championship Pool of this year’s Topklasse, ensuring that there will be plenty of excitement all the way to the finishing line.

Punjab-Ghausia and HCC all but made sure of the top two spots on Sunday, but VRA Amsterdam could still upset the applecart by beating the Lions in the Amsterdamse Bos next week and squeezing past them on net run rate, while HBS Craeyenhout, currently fifth, would overtake defending champions Voorburg were they to beat Hermes-DVS and Voorburg lose to Punjab.

Leaders Punjab certainly hammered home their advantage at the Zomercomplex on Sunday, dismissing HBS for 152 and then cruising to a nine-wicket victory in just 21.4 overs.

Converted into a batting allrounder, Lucas Del Bianco was the only HBS batter to look comfortable against the Punjab attack, making a solid 59, and then bowled with genuine pace when the home side replied.

But the rest of the Crows’ line-up had no answer to the nagging accuracy of Suleiman Tariq and Khurram Shahzad, while Shoiab Minhas cleaned up the tail with four for 15.

Minhas then shared an opening stand of 132 with Jonathan Vandiar, who smacked a 51-ball 62, including seven fours and four sixes; Minhas was more restrained, his unbeaten 69 coming from 67 deliveries and seeing Punjab to the win in company with Asad Zulfiqar.

HCC were scarcely more troubled in completing a six-wicket victory over Hermes-DVS at De Diepput, a result which ended the promoted Schiedammers’ last faint hope of reaching the semi-finals.

Murid Ekrami, another makeshift opener in the absence of Daniel Doyle, made an aggressive 66 at the top of the Hermes innings, sharing an opening stand of exactly 100 with Ash Ostling (34), but the rest of the batting crumbled against an HCC attack in which Hidde Overdijk was the star with four for 38.

Sebastiaan Braat did his best to keep his side in the game with three for 36 when HCC replied, but with Tonny Staal contributing a hard-hitting 75 and Jed Wiggins making a composed 55 not out, the Lions made sure of the win with almost 20 overs to spare.

Battling with national team commitments and their second team’s relegation struggles, Voorburg went to the extreme lengths during the week of flying in Otago left-handed allrounder Oliver White, but he was unable to change the outcome of his new side’s match against VRA at Westvliet.

The Amsterdammers posted the highest total of the day with 235, largely thanks to Elijah Eales’s 73, with smaller contributions from Johan Smal (39) and Luke Scully (30), Mees van Vliet taking three for 62 for the champions.

Voorburg were soon in trouble against the left-arm pace of Ben Fletcher and Ashir Abid, but it was the off-spin of Leon Turmaine, who claimed five for 36, four of his victims dismissed leg-before, as the home side collapsed to 145 all out.

It might have been even worse but from a defiant 36 from Tom de Leede, batting at nine, who ensured that 54 runs were added by the last two wickets.

All three Championship Pool matches followed the form book, but the day’s big surprise came at Het Loopveld, where already-relegated ACC pulled off their first win of the competition, beating VOC Rotterdam by five wickets.

The bowlers played their part by restricting their visitors to 194 for nine, Jason van der Meulen top-scoring with 40, but the victory was crafted by Ben van der Merwe, who reached a richly-deserved century when he took the winning single, finishing on 100 not out.

He had shared a solid third-wicket stand of 126 with Izhaan Sayed (54) which had laid the foundations of the win, but thereafter he dominated the innings, only 17 of the remaining runs coming from his partners, who were largely content to hold up one end and prevent the mid-order collapse which has caused the Amsterdammers so many problems this season.

The other Relegation Pool match was a strange affair, reduced to 40 overs a side because of issues with the mat at the Bermweg.

The game between Sparta 1888 and Excelsior ’20 was just five deliveries old when there was a delay because of a dangerous hole in the pitch, causing a reduction of eight overs a side, and after a further, briefer interruption for more repairs another two overs were lost.

Cameron Fraser and Martijn Snoep put Excelsior under early pressure, but a 110-run stand for the third wicket between Derek Mitchell (71) and Lorenzo Ingram (62) gave their side a basis for a decent total before Khalid Ahmadi engineered an extraordinary collapse, four wickets falling in six deliveries as the Schiedammers went from 171 for six to 171 all out.

Ahmadi claimed three of them, finishing with four for 31, Max Hoornweg picking up the other for figures of two for 26.

Sparta were soon in desperate trouble at 11 for three, but Juandre Scheepers held the innings together, adding 82 for the fifth wicket with Fraser (35) and finishing on 92 not out as the Capelle side won by four wickets with 26 deliveries to spare.

Voorburg stake a claim as Phase 2 begins

Rod Lyall 05/08/24

The second phase of this year’s men’s 50-over competition got under way with a bang at the weekend with a complete double round of matches, the only really definitive development being the near-certain relegation of ACC.

In the championship pool the only side to win twice was Voorburg, who followed up a comfortable 100-run victory over HBS Craeyenhout on Saturday with a still more decisive win against Hermes-DVS on Sunday.

With four points now separating first and fifth and only three matches to play, it would take a remarkable concatenation of events to deny the defending champions, who have moved into second place on the table, a spot in the semi-finals, but national team commitments will deplete their side for the next two rounds, and they will be very glad to have the cushion provided by these victories.

The defeat of HBS was set up by a fourth-wicket stand of 111 between captain Noah Croes (80) and Ryan Klein (68), both Dutch internationals, enabling the champions to reach 262 for seven, and confirmed by a destructive spell of medium-pace bowling by Michael Levitt, another of the side’s international cohort, who removed Tayo Walbrugh, Matt de Villiers and Lucas del Bianco in the space of eleven deliveries to rip the heart out of the Crows’ batting.

Kyle Klein, who had claimed three for 29 in Voorburg’s innings, added 65 for the seventh wicket with Azzam Khan, and when Mees van Vliet removed both of them, finishing with three for 23, HBS subsided to 162 all out.

Having played a crucial role with the ball on Saturday, Levitt returned to prime form with the bat the following day, his 83-ball 105 setting up Voorburg’s monster total of 333 against a makeshift Hermes attack.

Already without Aryan Dutt and Niels Woermeijer, Hermes had lost skipper Sebastiaan Braat to injury in the course of Saturday’s defeat by VRA Amsterdam, and although stand-in captain Olivier Elenbaas and his brother Ralph toiled hard along with the rest of the bowlers, Olivier picking up four for 65, a second-wicket stand of 128 between Levitt and Gavin Kaplan set the stage for Voorburg’s monster total, their highest in the top flight since 1993.

Kaplan went on to complete his fourth century of the season, his 120 bringing his aggregate to 702; even more remarkable is the fact that he has passed fifty in all but three of his ten innings.

Voorburg collapsed from 304 for three to 333 all out – if you’re going to collapse, 304 isn’t a bad score to do it from – but that was far beyond Hermes, who despite opener Ash Ostling’s 52 were all out for 164, Floris de Lange taking three for 37.

Hermes had put up an heroic struggle against VRA in the Amsterdamse Bos on Saturday, despite being dismissed for just 165, of which Olivier Elenbaas made 37 and Braat 44; Ben Fletcher was the most successful of VRA’s bowlers with four for 42.

At 59 for four and 88 for five the Amsterdammers seemed in danger of defeat, but they were rescued an unbeaten 59 from Shariz Ahmad, who added 55 with Udit Nashier to see his side home.

There was no such rescue-act for VRA on Sunday, however, as they fell 68 runs short of Punjab-Ghausia’s 253 all out at the Zomercomplex, their top order again letting them down before Elijah Eales top-scored with a defiant 63; for Punjab it was opener Shoaib Minhas’ 43-ball 71 which set the tone for their winning total.

The defeat means that VRA remain one win outside the top four, and they will need to win at least of their remaining three matches while hoping that one of their rivals falters on the run in.

Punjab’s victory kept them at the top of the table, a single point clear of Voorburg and HBS, after they lost to HCC at De Diepput on Saturday.

A fourth-wicket stand of 109 between Mohsin Riaz (78) and Saqib Zulfiqar (47) had set up their total of 261 all out, but HCC captain Boris Gorlee led the reply with a fine 97, adding 104 for the third wicket with Shirsak Banerjee (41), and after Khurram Shahzad had removed both of them, taking the first four wickets to fall at an eventual cost of 26 runs, Jed Wiggins saw the Lions to a four-wicket victory with an unbeaten 56.

The most exciting game of the weekend came at Craeyenhout on Sunday, where HCC came within seven runs of the Crows’ total of 227 all out.

Although HCC had done extremely well to contain their hosts for much of the innings, Wesley Barresi making 45 and De Villiers 40 and Teun Leijer adding to his growing reputation with four for 34, their efforts were to a degree undone by a dogged last-wicket partnership between Amrit Singh and Henrio Venter, which took the total from 192 to nine to 227.

Tonny Staal made a rapid 42 when HCC replied, but with Lehaan Botha claiming four for 44 and Kyle Klein three for 40, even fighting contributions from Hidde Overdijk (36) and Yash Patel (39) proved insufficient.

Final pair Adam Leonard and Leijer came together at 194, and for a time it seemed that they might emulate Singh and Venter’s efforts, but in the end Klein removed Leijer to give the Crows their narrow victory.

In the relegation pool two more defeats for ACC all but sealed their fate, although with four games still to play they retain a mathematical possibility of escape.

Dismissed by Sparta 1888 for 81 on Saturday, Cameron Fraser demolishing them with five for 16 in eight overs, the Amsterdammers lost by ten wickets as Riley Mudford and Sam Ferguson needed only 12 overs to knock off the runs.

The wooden-spooners put up more of a fight against Excelsior ’20 at Thurlede on Sunday, but a stand of 156 for the fourth wicket between Lorenzo Ingram (86) and Victor Lubbers (84 not out) enabled the Schiedammers to recover to 243 for four.

Then Ingram and Lubbers combined again, this time with the ball, taking three wickets apiece at a cost of 29 and 43 respectively, and although Guy Sheena’s 54 helped ACC to pass 200 for the first time this season, they remained stranded on 206 for nine at the end of their 50 overs.

ACC’s last remaining hopes of staying up came courtesy of Sparta’s defeat by VOC Rotterdam in a hard-fought game at Sportpark Bermweg on Sunday.

Sparta’s disciplined attack kept VOC’s batting under tight control for much of their innings, and although Taylor Bettelheim achieved his best score of the season with 91, another five-wicket haul for Fraser – his third in four games – ensured that the home side were only chasing a total of 206 all out.

Ferguson made 52 when Sparta replied, but Jock McKenzie (three for 42) and Aaditt Jain and Asief Hoseinbaks with two wickets apiece, made scoring equally difficult for the Capelle side, and even Umar Baker’s unbeaten 31 could not get them closer to their target than 191 for nine.

At the Hazelaarweg on Saturday Ryan Schierhout starred in an unfamiliar role, claiming an improbable six for 8 with his off-breaks as Excelsior collapsed to 72 all out; he had bowled only three overs before this, without taking a wicket, but his tally was the best in the Topklasse since Anees Davids’ seven for 6 against Sparta in July 2019.

Jason Ralston claimed all three wickets to fall as VOC chased down their paltry target in ten and a half overs, and with the two he added on Sunday he now has 29 at 12.93, four ahead of Cameron Fraser’s 25 at 14.84.