Category: Review

Rod Lyall 28/06/21

After more overnight rain on Friday it was perhaps not surprising that the bowlers were in command in Saturday’s Topklasse matches, or that only one side passed 150, the highest total of the day Sparta 1888’s 187 all out against Excelsior ‘20 at Thurlede.

Led by Garnett Tarr’s 71 and a brisk 45 from Mamoon Latif that effort, however, proved to be in vain, as the rain returned with Excelsior on a precarious 39 for three after 11.2 overs in reply, and no further play was possible.

This was the more regrettable because the game was fascinatingly poised, with Tristan Stubbs batting with Joost Kroesen and Mudassar Bukhari and Max Hoornweg in full cry for Sparta, and perhaps in the end both sides could reasonably have regarded the single point for a No result as preferable to defeat.

The rain brought a premature end at the Hazelaarweg as well, but in this case Voorburg were on the brink of victory over VOC Rotterdam and took the points on the DLS calculation.

Even without three pace bowlers, Viv Kingma (still unable to bowl), Logan van Beek and Ali Ahmed Qasim, Voorburg’s attack was disciplined and incisive enough to bowl VOC out for 136, Bas de Leede removing Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd in the opening exchanges, well supported by an accurate ten-over spell from Karl Nieuwoudt.

De Leede returned to clean up the innings and finish with four for 24, but not before Jelte Schoonheim had hit a run-a-ball 55 to rescue his side from a complete debacle, sharing useful partnerships with Arnav Jain and Ramdas Upadhyaya.

In a splendid allround performance the Voorburg captain then produced his best innings of the season, making an unbeaten 57 and with Mohit Hingorani (39 not out) putting on 105 for the second wicket, so that when the weather intervened the Villagers were on 120 for one in 29.1 overs.

The DLS par score at this point was 57, so Voorburg’s winning margin was 63 runs.

Leaders Punjab Rotterdam took full advantage of VOC’s defeat, securing a five-wicket victory over HBS at Craeyenhout and opening up a five-point lead over their nearest rivals.

So severe were the effects of the overnight rain there that the match did not start until 15:30, reduced from the outset to 28 overs a side, and another shower soon cut another four overs, by which time HBS had already lost danger-man Tobias Visée.

Punjab’s attack might have been designed for such a situation, and Suleiman Tariq and his fellow-bowlers expertly contained the home side to 121 for seven, 41 of them from Tayo Walbrugh and a cameo 26 from Wesley Barresi, in his first innings for eighteen months.

Also returning, Saqib Zulfiqar benefited from the batters’ efforts to raise the tempo in the closing stages, removing both Walbrugh and Barresi and finishing with four for 25.

HBS fought hard in the field, but 121 never really seemed likely to be enough, and with all four Zulfiqars and Teja Nidamanuru all chipping in and even Ryan Klein coming in for some heavy punishment, the leaders reached their target with nine deliveries to spare.

The match between VRA Amsterdam and HCC in the Amsterdamse Bos had already been over for an hour and a half when the sides got under way at Craeyenhout, a comedy of batting errors seeing 18 wickets fall for just 137 runs in 25.1 overs.

Hidde Overdijk (four for 20) and Reinier Bijloos (three for 31) were instrumental in skittling VRA for 68, opener Eric Szwarczynski the only man to reach double figures with 16.

HCC might conceivably mount the defence that they were trying to gain maximum benefit for their net run rate, but their smash-and-grab approach nearly backfired when they lost four wickets for just one run and found themselves still needing two to win with only two wickets standing.

Henrico Venter was equal to the challenge, however, and saw them the short distance home, although it was Boris Gorlee’s run-a-ball 26 which had brought them to the brink of victory.

Quirijn Gunning, back from injury, led VRA’s counter-attack with three for 24, while Vikram Singh claimed three for 9.

At Sportpark Drieburg on Sunday ACC beat bottom side Dosti-United by five wickets, the match enlivened by a sensational debut by teenager Zeeshan Master, who took five for 30 as the home side collapsed to 121 all out.

Rahil Ahmed had again given Dosti a decent start with 49, but once Master started to run through the lower order only 24 from Waheed Masood offered any real resistance.

Dosti’s bowlers, especially spinners Asief Hoseinbaks and Mahesh Hans, made ACC fight for every run, but Chris Knoll’s 60 saw them to within two runs of victory, and they completed the win with almost 13 overs to spare.

Rod Lyall 14/06/21

The intense competitiveness which is a hallmark of the Topklasse was fully in evidence almost everywhere on Saturday, the sole exception being at the Zomercomplex, where Punjab Rotterdam cruised to victory over ACC.

But the upshot of a dramatic day is that seven teams are in with a shot of a top-four spot as we reach the halfway mark – even seventh-placed HCC, if they can quickly reverse their losing streak of three on the trot.

Leaders Punjab Rotterdam were relatively untroubled in maintaining their position at the top of the table, dismissing ACC for 104 and needing less than 16 overs to knock off the runs for the loss of one wicket.

After a bright opening in which Sahil Kothari hit five fours in his 22 the ACC batters laboured mightily against a persistent Punjab attack, Shreyas Potdar and Aryan Kumar needing 16 and a half overs to add 39 for the fifth wicket, the mot productive partnership of the innings.

There were two wickets apiece for Sohail Bhatti, Mubashar Hussain, Teja Nidamanuru and Irfan ul Haq, with Asad Zulfiqar taking four catches behind the stumps in an all-round team performance.

Punjab soon lost Rehmat Zulfiqar when they replied, but with Stephan Myburgh clubbing 52 not out from 38 deliveries with 11 boundaries and Asad Zulfiqar contributing a slightly more circumspect 40 not out, the match was over almost before the second innings had started elsewhere.

A perfectly-judged knock by opener Max O’Dowd saw VOC Rotterdam to a three-wicket win over HCC at the Hazelaarweg, although the home side needed to survive a late collapse and bat into the final over to complete it.

They had apparently been cruising at 185 for two in pursuit of HCC’s total of 237 for eight, before Clayton Floyd struck back, ending a 137-run partnership between O’Dowd and Pieter Seelaar (82) and taking four more wickets to end with five for 35.

But O’Dowd stood firm as wickets tumbled at the other end, and the only disappointment was that he finished stranded on 97 not out.

It was all a lot closer than it had seemed likely to be in the first half-hour, when Pierce Fletcher was causing mayhem among the HCC top order, and the visitors were quickly reduced to 11 for four.

But Damian Crowley (82) and Hidde Overdijk (77) turned things round with a fifth-wicket stand of 168, and with Floyd contributing a rapid 39 they managed to set a reasonably challenging target.

If O’Dowd was unfortunate to miss out on his third century of the season, how much more so was Peter Borren, who ended on 99 not out as VRA Amsterdam posted 244 for five against Excelsior ‘20 in the Amsterdamse Bos?

He had come to the crease with his side on 66 for two, and after Eric Szwarczynski, having just passed fifty in the top flight for the 59th time, departed, Borren again found himself holding the innings together until he was joined by Mitch Lees with the score at 141 for five.

Captain and keeper then proceeded to add 103 in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand, of which Lees’s share was 31; in contrast to Borren’s century against HBS the previous week, this unbeaten 99 included just five fours.

Excelsior responded in kind, two partnerships of 88 between Roel Verhagen (44) and Lorenzo Ingram for the second wicket and then between Ingram and Tristan Stubbs taking the Schiedammers to 203 for two with seven overs remaining.

Then, however, Borren intervened to remove Stubbs for 39, and the complexion of this match too changed dramatically.

Two wickets fell in Leon Turmaine’s next over, and although Ingram had in the meantime reached his seventh Topklasse century, 34 were now needed from just five overs.

Then Ingram, too, went, caught off Luke Hartsink for 106, and although Rens van Troost kept fighting to the end, spinners Hartsink and Jack Balbirnie were able to restrict the scoring so effectively that Excelsior closed on 238 for seven, losing by just six runs.

Two remarkable batting collapses were the story of the match at Westvliet, where Voorburg and HBS Craeyenhout ended in a 31-run victory for the visitors.

After Ferdi Vink had won the toss and elected to bat, HBS were well placed at 144 for two, Tayo Walbrugh (82) and Navjit Singh (42) having put on 115 for the third wicket, but then Voorburg, who were missing both Viv Kingma (injured) and Logan van Beek (plying his trade with Derbyshire in the ECB’s Vitality Blast), fought back through Philippe Boissevain and Aryan Dutt, taking the last seven wickets for 39 runs.

Boissevain finished with three for 49 and Dutt with three for 27.

The HBS total of 183 seemed unlikely to be enough, especially when first Mohit Hingorani and Bas de Leede, and then Hingorani and Sybrandt Engelbrecht gave them a decent start, but once De Leede and Hingorani had both departed it was left to Engelbrecht to lead the chase.

But wickets kept falling at the other end, seamer Stephan Vink taking three for 29 and spinners Adil Ahmed, Navjit Singh and Julian de Mey all playing their part and when Engelbrecht, having made 68, was the last to go, the last five wickets had added a mere 24 and the total was only 152.

The bottom-of-the-table clash between Sparta 1888 and Dosti United Amsterdam at Sportpark Bermweg turned out to be another thriller, with Dosti producing their best batting effort of the season and falling just three runs short of Sparta’s total of 217.

Garnett Tarr (45) and Mudassar Bukhari (61) again provided the bulk of Sparta’s runs, although once they had gone it was Sawan Sardha, who made an unbeaten 33 and shared a stand of 29 for the final wicket with debutant Pradeep Kumar, who enabled them to get past 200 for the first time this year.

Sami Naseri was again the pick of the Dosti bowlers with four for 41.

Rahil Ahmed (44) and Mahesh Hans (27) got the Amsterdammers off to a good start with an opening stand of 75, but then Max Hoornweg ripped through the middle order, taking four wickets in twelve deliveries to reduce them to 80 for five.

They were rescued by Arief Hoseinbaks, whose career-best 51 saw them through to 165 for seven, and after his dismissal his brother Asief continued in partnership first with Waheed Masood and then with last man Nizar Sayed.

Hoornweg returned to remove Masood with 32 still needed, finishing with five for 37, but Hoseinbaks and Sayed edged the total towards the target until, inevitably perhaps, Bukhari trapped Sayed in front and Sparta had squeezed home.

Rod Lyall 07/06/21

It was a tight, low-scoring battle at De Diepput on Saturday, but in the end Punjab Rotterdam prevailed over HCC to edge to the top of the Topklasse table, a single point ahead of Rotterdam rivals VOC.

On a pitch that was never easy for the batters, two stood out: HCC’s Boris Gorlee, who made 68 out of his side’s total of 173, and Punjab’s Asad Zulfiqar, who, in the absence of internationals Stef Myburgh and Saqib Zulfiqar, steadied a faltering ship and saw his team through to a four-wicket victory.

HCC were also without international opener Musa Nadeem Ahmad, but the batting problems which have started to show after a storming start to the season are not solely due to his absence, and they were fully exploited by the Punjab attack, which makes up in guile what it lacks in pace.

Suleiman Tariq removed both openers and then Teja Nidamanuru spun out the middle order, including the wicket of Gorlee, before Tariq’s new-ball partner Sohail Bhatti returned to clean up the tail, although Yash Patel again provided valuable late-order resistance with 34 before he was last man out.

Nidamanuru and Bhatti ended with the same figures, three for 36.

Reinier Bijloos and Hidde Overdijk, a couple of yards faster than Punjab’s seamers, soon had the visitors’ batting under pressure, and with Rehmat and Sikander Zulfiqar and Nidamanuru all gone by the time 30 was on the board that total of 173 looked a lot better than it had half an hour earlier.

But Asad was rock solid at the other end, and in partnership first with Yasir Usman, and then with Tariq and Mudassar Hussain, he steadily worked his way towards the target.

When Hussain went 33 were still needed, and HCC threw everything into a push for the four remaining wickets.

In Irfan ul Haq, however, Asad found the ideal partner in such pressured circumstances, and it was his boundary which sealed the issue with more than four overs to spare.

At Thurlede, VOC Rotterdam were also without their international stars, and were no match for an Excelsior ‘20 attack which had the previous week dismissed HCC for 91.

The match was a personal landmark for Excelsior captain Tom Heggelman, who captured his 300th top flight wicket when he trapped Arnav Jain in front.

VOC’s main resistance came from Dirk van Baren, promoted to open in the absence of Max O’Dowd, and his 46 held the innings together until he was fifth out with the score on 70.

Ramdas Upadhyaya and captain-for the-day Pierce Fletcher managed to get the total into three figures, but with all seven Excelsior bowlers amongst the wickets the total of 102 was well short of what was needed.

Tim Etman chose this moment to hit his way into form, making 44 with four fours and a six, and although VOC took four wickets along the way Excelsior needed only 25.1 overs to complete their ix-wicket victory.

By contrast with these low-scoring encounters, the clash between HBS and VRA Amsterdam at Craeyenhout produced two outstanding centuries before the home side secured a 34-run win.

Tayo Walbrugh’s unbeaten 171, made from 139 deliveries with 16 fours and nine sixes, was a masterly display of hitting, as he treated VRA’s mostly young and inexperienced attack with controlled brutality.

He dominated stands of 93 with Navjit Singh for the third wicket, of 75 with Ryan Klein, and of 72 with Manjinder Singh, and HBS closed on 272 for five after young Ashir Abid had initially reduced them to 32 for two.

VRA then slumped to 51 for five in another top-order batting collapse, Ryan Klein again impressive with pace and accuracy.

But Peter Borren was still there, and when he was joined by Mitch Lees the pair set about reversing the course of the game; together they added 131 for the sixth wicket, and in the process Borren achieved the day’s other major landmark, scoring his 8000th top flight run for VRA when he passed 28.

Benno Boddendijk, who already had three wickets, returned to break the stand by removing Lees for 67, but Borren was not done yet, and although wickets continued to fall at the other end and the asking rate was approaching ten an over, he continued to take the fight to the HBS attack.

He and Abid added 55 for the ninth wicket of which Abid’s contribution was 6, and it was only when Borren, on 104, holed out at deep midwicket trying for another six off Boddendijk, that HBS could regard themselves as safe.

Boddendijk claimed the last to finish with six for 67, while Klein had four for 23.

At Het Loopveld, ACC’s total of 242 for seven against Sparta 1888 was due to contrasting knocks from Ammar Zaidi, whose not out 87 came from 118 deliveries and included just two fours, and Stephan Hannema, who came in with the innings effectively becalmed on 153 for six and smashed a 28-ball 50, including a four and four sixes.

Max Hoornweg had been instrumental in causing the home side early problems and after taking some punishment from Hannema finished with three for 42.

Sparta were in with a chance while Garnett Tarr (63) and Mudassar Bukhari (71) were putting together a fourth-wicket stand of 123, but once Anis Raza had removed them both the middle and lower order again struggled.

With Raza claiming three for 35 and Sahil Kothari three for 33 the innings petered out, and closed on 193 for nine, giving ACC a 49-run victory.

Voorburg, without four internationals, made short work of Dosti United at Sportpark Drieburg on Sunday, bowling them out for just 64 and knocking off the runs in 14.5 overs to win by nine wickets.

Karl Nieuwoudt, given the new ball in the absence of Viv Kingma and Logan van Beek, celebrated by claiming three wickets in his first three overs, and Dosti never recovered from this onslaught.

Satish Ravichandran was the only man to reach double figures, his 22 contributing a third of his side’s runs, while Nieuwoudt finished with four for 22 and Ali Ahmed Qasim three for 13.

Aryan Dutt made sure of the points with a rapid 38 not out, hitting seven fours and a six, as Voorburg moved level with VOC on points and into second place on net run rate.

The rain was gone at last, and with the sun on their backs the batters mostly celebrated on Saturday, with three centuries posted and the totals of the sides batting first generally well over 200.

The main exception was at Thurlede, where HCC, after winning the toss, were bundled out for 91 by a rampant Excelsior ‘20 and lost by 6 wickets, their first defeat of the season.

It would have been even worse but for some late-order resistance from Dietmar Hennop and Olivier Klaus, the only men apart from opener Daniël Trijzelaar to achieve double figures, for at one stage the Hagenaars were on 59 for seven.

Chief destroyer was spinner Umar Baker, whose ten-over spell yielded four wickets at a cost of 20 runs, while seamer Rens van Troost tied up the other end with two for 13.

The home side’s top order did not find conditions any more to their liking when they replied, however, and with Clayton Floyd and Reinier Bijloos collecting two wickets apiece they soon found themselves on 10 for four.

HCC saw their chance of an improbable victory, but it was steadily taken away from them by Tristan Stubbs and Sanjit Shankar who, cautiously at first but with increasing momentum, knocked off the remaining runs, Stubbs finishing it with successive sixes to end on 44 not out. Shankar made an unbeaten 35.

The highest total of the day came in Amstelveen, where hosts VRA Amsterdam posted 302 for six and beat winless Dosti United Amsterdam by 133 runs.

Foundation of VRA’s big score was a second-wicket stand of 143 between Vikram Singh (103) and Shirase Rasool (73), with Peter Borren and Eric Szwarczynski both chipping in before Mitch Lees made a 21-ball 32 not out in the closing stages.

Leg-spinner Vinoo Tewarie, who broke the big partnership by trapping Rasool in front, was the most successful of Dosti’s bowlers with two for 39 from nine overs.

The Dosti top order, reinforced by the return of Rahil Ahmed, showed signs of improvement, reaching 102 for two before Udit Nashier with three for 18, supported by Borren’s experience, caused a rapid decline, and the last eight wickets fell for 63 runs.

It seemed for a time that Punjab Rotterdam’s total against Sparta 1888 at the Bermweg would dwarf even VRA’s, as Rehmat Zulfiqar (80) and Stef Myburgh (63) put on a rapid opening stand of 147.

But the home side managed to put on the brakes, and with Nasrat Ibrahimkhil taking three for 36 and Max Hoornweg and Joost Martijn Snoep claiming two apiece, Punjab had to be content with a total of 285 for nine.

But that proved to be plenty, as apart from thirties from Ali Raza and the dependable Mudassar Bukhari Sparta’s batting again crumbled, and they were all out for 106 in under 35 overs.

The wickets were shared, with Suleiman Tariq, Sikander Zulfiqar, Mubashar Hussain and Teja Nidamanuru all picking up a couple.

The pattern was reversed at Westvliet, where Voorburg were in early trouble at 42 for three against a determined ACC, before they were rescued by a superb fourth-wicket stand of 194 between Sybrandt Engelbrecht and Aryan Dutt.

Engelbrecht’s unbeaten 129, made from 125 deliveries with ten fours, was the highest individual core of the day, and he was well supported by Dutt, who made 77 before he was run out by ACC skipper Anis Raza.

Raza had tried eight bowlers in his quest for a breakthrough, but only Sahil Kothari and Mees van Vliet with the new ball had been able to cause the batters serious problems.

Opener Kothari also anchored the ACC reply, his steadying 51 the only effort able to withstand the Voorburg attack, but once he was the seventh man out with the total on 100 the end came quickly.

Viv Kingma cleaned up the tail to finish with four for 20 as ACC, reduced to ten men by the absence of Devanshu Arya, were all out for 105 and lost by 139 runs.

The day’s closest match was at the Hazelaarweg, where HBS Craeyenhout tested leaders VOC Rotterdam more severely than might be suggested by the latter’s eventual 76-run margin.

They owed their total of 225 for seven to captain Pieter Seelaar, whose 108 not out enabled them to recover from a perilous 88 for five and was his first century for the club.

He was ably assisted by Ayaaz Durrani, who contributed 41 before being run out, while there were two wickets apiece for Ryan Klein, Julian de Mey and Navjit Singh.

HBS offered a spirited response, but only Navjit Singh (53) was able to build on a promising start, and by the time he was eighth out with the total on 129 any chance of a successful chase was long past

Young leg-spinner Siebe van Wingerden again caused the batters plenty of problems, and he was the most successful of VOC’s bowlers with three for 30.

At Sportpark Drieberg on Sunday HBS had the better of their postponed fourth-round match, beating a steadily-improving Dosti United by 39 runs.

HBS appeared to be heading for a sizable total while Tayo Walbrugh was sharing a third-wicket stand of 69 with Navjit Singh and going on to make 72, but once Tewarie had trapped him LBW the innings lost some momentum, and it took useful late contributions from Julian de Mey and Adil Ahmed to get the total up to 215.

Tewarie claimed four for 48 for Dosti, while Asief Hoseinbaks bowled economically without being rewarded with a wicket.

Rahil Ahmed led the Dosti reply, and when he and Mahesh Hans were adding 68 for the fourth wicket it seemed that their first win for nearly two years was a real possibility.

Once he was run out for 78, however, the chance dissipated, and the side was dismissed for 176, Ryan Klein taking four for 21 for HBS.

Rod Lyall 26/05/21

On another day on which it seemed that the action might be confined to the weather radar, it was remarkable not only that four Topklasse matches were played to completion on Monday, but also that there were some outstanding individual performances, several of them with the bat.

Pride of place must go to VOC’s Max O’Dowd, whose 131 from 85 deliveries (or possibly 133 from 82), including seven fours and eleven sixes, combined considerable skill with brutal aggression as he took his side’s total against Dosti United to 177 for six.

In an innings twice interrupted by rain, seeing the available overs cut from 36 at the start to 23, O’Dowd completely dominated the Dosti attack in the latter stages: after taking 46 deliveries to reach fifty he needed only another 25 to go to his century, and then a further 11 before he hit a return catch to Vinoo Tewarie.

Dosti had kept the scoring within bounds for the first eight overs or so, Waheed Masood bowling well both then and later to finish with two for 22, while Tewarie, whose first over of leg spin had gone for 22, was rewarded with three wickets in his second and last at a final cost of 31.

Chasing an adjusted target of 185, Dosti had no answer to VOC’s spin attack of Arnav Jain (who had earlier played second fiddle to O’Dowd in an opening stand of 103) and Siebe van Wingerden, and were speedily reduced to 26 for seven.

Van Wingerden’s five overs yielded four for 8 and Jain’s three for 13, and then Pieter Seelaar and Rohan Malik finished things off, Malik taking two wickets in his first over before a run out ended proceedings with the total on 44, Asief Hoseinbaks the only man to reach double figures and sharing a last-wicket stand of 12 with Jatin Kumar, the best of the innings.

At the Zomercomplex co-leaders Voorburg’s challenge wilted in the face of another remarkable onslaught, as Teja Nidamanuru belted a 39-ball 80 not out, including five fours and eight sixes, to rescue Punjab from a perilous 30 for three as they chased a modest total of 126 for nine in 30 overs.

Put in in damp conditions, Voorburg laboured throughout their innings, scoring slowly early on against a disciplined Punjab attack and then losing wickets as they battled to set a reasonable target.

Logan van Beek hit a brisk 25 and Philippe Boissevain top-scored with 28, while Saqib Zulfiqar collected three for 27.
Viv Kingma and Ali Ahmed Qasim grabbed three quick wickets when Punjab replied, but then Nidamanuru took over, supported by Rehmat Zulfiqar, and despite a break for rain the Rotterdammers stormed to their seven-wicket victory in 16.2 overs.

Another whirlwind innings, this time from HCC’s Musa Nadeem Ahmed, enabled his side to secure the points in controversial circumstances against Sparta 1888 on De Diepput’s second ground.

Sparta had reached 11 for two in six overs when a prolonged delay for rain cut the game to 29 overs, and another poor batting display saw them dismissed for 116, a total which might have been a good deal lower but for a defiant 27 from Prithvi Balwantsingh.

A DLS adjustment set HCC 113 to win, and with more rain on the horizon they began at a gallop, Tonny Staal smacking 22 from 10 deliveries and Boris Gorlee 12 from six, while Ahmad’s 15-ball 40 not out saw them reach 88 for two in just 5.5 overs.

Then the rain returned, with HCC still 25 short of their target, but once play could be resumed with the match cut to 20 overs the new DLS calculation showed that the home side had already reached the revised target and they were declared the winners. With a par core of 25 at 5.5 overs the margin was an improbable 63 runs.

At Het Loopveld ACC staged a remarkable comeback against neighbours VRA in a tense Amsterdam derby, but the visitors just hung on to achieve a last-over, three-wicket victory.

ACC’s innings was a stuttering affair, not helped by an interruption for rain when they had reached 56 for three, and with their overs reduced to 31 they battled their way to 118 for seven, with Leon Turmaine taking two catches and producing two run-outs to go with his one for 22 in seven overs.

Chasing a revised target of 129, VRA seemed to be one course for an easy win while opener Ben Cooper was belting a 35-ball 64 which included four fours and three sixes, but once he had gone Sahil Kothari, Davanshu Arya and Aryan Kumar ran through the middle order, five wickets falling for 14 runs.

Jack Balbirnie made 22 before he was seventh out with 21 still needed, and it took a determined stand between Mitch Lees and Ashir Abid to see their side home with four balls to spare.

The only match not to get a finish was at Craeyenhout, where HBS posted 165 for nine in 25 overs against Excelsior ‘20, only to see the game abandoned because there was insufficient time remaining for the visitors to face the minimum 20 overs.

The HBS total was built on a 20-ball 33 from Tobias Visée and a 25-ball 44 from Tayo Walbrugh, with Navjit Singh and Julian de Mey chipping in with 30 and 26 respectively.

Gijs Kroesen was Excelsior’s most successful bowler cashing in with three for 7 as the HBS batters tried to squeeze every last run from the closing overs.

It was all in vain, however, as here at least the weather had the last word.

Rod Lyall 23/05/21

Only two Topklasse matches survived the band of rain which swept across the country on Friday night and Saturday morning, but they offered plenty of excitement, the encounter between HBS Craeyenhout and HCC going down to the final ball and ending in a tie.

It had been a see-saw affair throughout the closing stages, with returning rain threatening to take the players from the field and the Duckworth Lewis Stern balance shifting almost literally from delivery to delivery, certainly from over to over.

Put in to bat in a game reduced to 31 overs a side, HBS had made a solid 183 for five, led off by a 19-ball 29 from Tobias Visée and given substance by a third-wicket stand of 87 between Tayo Walbrugh (59) and Navjit Singh (44).

Ollie Klaus was the pick of the HCC attack, his six overs yielding just 27 runs and the wicket of opener Reece Mason, who made 25.

The HCC reply could scarcely have got off to a worse start, skipper Tonny Staal run out without facing a ball, but then Musa Nadeem Ahmad and Boris Gorlee put on 68 for the second wicket, and after Gorlee had been trapped in front by Ryan Klein for 42 Ahmad and Damian Crowley added another 68 for the third.

HCC’s scoring rate remained below the DLS par score for much of this period, but a couple of costly overs from the least experienced of the HBS bowlers finally put the Lions ahead in the 23rd over and kept them there, despite the loss of Crowley, bowled by Ferdi Vink when he had made 34 and then of Musa Ahmad, smartly caught by Visée off Stephan Vink for 68.

Some spirited hitting by Hidde Overdijk kept HCC’s noses in front as the umpires kept the players out in the middle despite the rain, but even so seven runs were still needed as Ryan Klein began the final over.

Bowling off a shortened run in the slippery conditions, Klein kept the scoring to a leg-bye and a single from the first three deliveries, and then had Clayton Floyd caught by Julian van der Raad on the long on boundary as he attempted what would have been the winning hit.

Overdijk was now back on strike, and after another dot ball he was able to conjure a boundary off the last to level the scores.

Only the most passionately partisan observer would deny that a tie was a fair result in a game between two skilled and determined sides, and much more satisfying than a premature conclusion in which the weather played a part in settling the winner.

There was plenty of determination on display, too, at Westvliet, where Voorburg moved level with VOC Rotterdam at the top of the table with a win which was a good deal more hard-fought than might have been suggested by Sparta 1888’s results so far.

Sparta’s total of 160 was dominated by a third-wicket partnership of 76 between Garnett Tarr, who posted a maiden Topklasse half-century with 52, and Mudassar Bukhari (59 from 45 deliveries, with five fours and two sixes).

Once Bukhari had gone, however, another batting collapse ensued, the last six wickets – three of them run-outs – falling for the addition of just 18 runs.

The Voorburg attack lacked some of its accustomed punch through the absence of Viv Kingma, but Logan van Beek, Ali Ahmed Qasim and Stef Mulder collected five wickets between them.

Voorburg appeared to be cruising when Mohit Hingorani (51) and Tom de Grooth (59) put on 107 for the first wicket, but once Hingorani was brilliantly caught by Ali Raza off Manminder Singh Sparta fought their way back into the game.

Bas de Leede, Sybrandt Engelbrecht and Aryan Dutt came and went in quick succession, and when De Grooth, too, departed, the victim of an outstanding one-handed catch by Bukhari at midwicket, five wickets had fallen for 27 runs.

But few Topklasse sides enjoy the luxury of a batter of Van Beek’s quality coming in at No. 6, and his 24 not out ensured that Voorburg reached their target with more than three overs to spare.

After a weekend which was a constant arm-wrestle between cricket and the elements VOC Rotterdam emerged as clear leaders in the Topklasse, the only side to record two wins in as many days.

The first match of the two scheduled rounds actually took place on Thursday, the sole survivor of a full round of fixtures which were planned for the Ascension Day holiday; the rest were moved to Sunday because of a clash with the Eid al-Fitr festival.

And it brought a big surprise, as an even hundred by Sahil Kothari enabled unfancied ACC to post an imposing 260 for eight against HBS Craeyenhout, with Krishna Hosur contributing 47 in a 71-run second-wicket partnership after Kothari had dominated an opening stand of 84 with Charles McInerney.

HBS fought back well after that, Ferdi Vink claiming three for 43, and when Navjit Singh (58) and Tayo Walbrugh (88 in his first Topklasse innings) put on 88 for the Crows’ third wicket it seemed that they were well set for victory.

But rain was looming, and despite 32 from Julian de Mey, the loss of three wickets shortly before a premature end to the game left HBS, at 225 for six, 10 runs short of the par score at that stage.

Kothari continued his great form on Saturday, when he and skipper Anis Raza shared a 164-run opening stand for ACC against Excelsior ‘20.

His dismissal for 88, however, triggered a dramatic collapse, which saw all ten wickets fall for the addition of just 36 runs, Raza’s 85 the only other contribution in double figures. Tristan Stubbs, who accounted for both openers, took two more into the bargain to finish with four for 28, while Gijs Kroesen took three for 30.

The momentum was now with Excelsior, and after Roel Verhagen chipped in with 34 an unbroken third-wicket stand of 122 between Lorenzo Ingram (80 not out) and Stubbs (71 not out) saw the Schiedammers home by eight wickets with more than ten overs to spare.

That was quite a turnaround, and in fact all four of Saturday’s matches saw notable changes of fortune.

The most extraordinary came at Sportpark Bermweg, where Sparta 1888 had VRA Amsterdam in deep trouble on 67 for five with Eric Szwarczynski, Vikram Singh, Ben Cooper and Peter Borren all back in the hutch, only to see the relatively unknown Marcus Andrew smash a spectacular 44-ball 100 which included five fours and eleven sixes.

He was supported in a sixth-wicket stand of 133 by Irishman Jack Balbirnie, playing his first Topklasse innings, who went on to make 99, bowled by Garnett Tarr just one short of an historic century, and VRA finished with 314 for eight. Tarr took three for 52 for Sparta.

Quirijn Gunning and Ashir Abid then ripped through Sparta’s batting, taking three for 22 and four for 30 respectively, and with Mudassar Bukhari (15) the only man to post double figures they were dismissed for 67 in 19 overs. Balbirnie iced his own cake with two for 11 to wrap up the innings.

On a day when all four toss-winning captains chose to bat first, Pieter Seelaar’s decision for VOC against Punjab in the Rotterdam derby seemed to have backfired when his side could only muster 136, collapsing from 84 for two.

The damage was done by the seam of Mubashar Hussain (three for 39) and the leg spin of Saqib Zulfiqar (four for 13) after Scott Edwards had given his side a decent start with 40.

But then Punjab’s much-fancied batting crumbled against the spin of Arnav Jain (three for 21), Max O’Dowd (two for 15) and Siebe van Wingerden (three for 4), and with only Steph Myburgh (a dashing 26) and Asad Zulfiqar (a dogged 37) reaching double figures, they were all out for 109.

Not quite at the same level as VRA’s, HCC nevertheless staged a notable batting recovery of their own, after Voorburg’s pace attack of Viv Kingma, Logan van Beek and Ali Ahmad Qasim had reduced them to 58 for five.
Damien Crowley (62 not out) and Yash Patel (53) added 116 for the sixth wicket and enabled them to reach a comparatively testing 176 for seven.

Rain between the innings cut the Voorburg reply to 44 overs and the target to 167, but only nine overs were possible before the rain returned to end proceedings, Voorburg reaching 27 without loss in a game that was very evenly poised.

HCC’s jinxed season continued on Sunday, when their match against Dosti Amsterdam was called off without a ball being bowled, the Lions’ third consecutive no result.

Sunday’s other three games all produced an outcome, albeit in very different circumstances.

The initiative was firmly seized by Voorburg, who before there was any action anywhere else had VRA Amsterdam on the ropes once more.

With Kingma and Van Beek in rampant mood VRA rapidly slumped to 28 for eight, prompting historians and statisticians to start consulting their record books, but Peter Borren put up some characteristic resistance with a 37-ball 44, getting the total up to 80.

Kingma’s unbroken 10-over spell yielded five for 26, while Van Beek played his part with two for 10.

Mohit Hingorani (23 not out) and Tom de Grooth (40) took their side to within six runs of victory before Singh produced VRA’s solitary wicket, and the victory was complete in just 15.3 overs.

Almost equally one-sided was VOC’s win over Sparta 1888, although they found themselves taking on the weather as well as the opposition in a severely rain-affected game.

A persistent series of showers meant that the match had been cut to 37 overs before it started, and a further interruption after 5.3 overs reduced it to just 30.

This seems to have switched Edwards and O’Dowd into T20 mode, as they shared an unbroken opening stand of 223 in which Edwards made 91 and O’Dowd 114 from 80 deliveries, hitting seven fours and eight sixes.

To this Sparta had no answer, still less to Van Wingerden’s leg breaks, the youngster claiming six for 23 in six overs as Bukhari’s men collapsed to 99 all out.

Across the city at the Zomercomplex the rain mostly stayed away, and a more resolute performance from Punjab Rotterdam saw them ease to a 6-wicket victory over Excelsior ‘20.

This time it was Sikander Zulfiqar who did most of the damage, taking four for 35 including the vital wicket of Tristan Stubbs, while Mubashar Hussain played his part by removing Lorenzo Ingram.

Opener Roel Verhagen made a solid 82 for Excelsior, but with only Joost Kroesen (32) contributing significantly otherwise, the Schiedammers’ total of 191 for nine was less than they would have hoped for against Punjab’s normally powerful batting.

It was Myburgh who proved the trump card with an 84-ball 82, including nine fours and three sixes, and after he departed, the third of Rens van Troost’s victims at a cost of 42, Teja Nidamanuru steered Punjab home with an unbeaten 50.

Rod Lyall 02/05/2021

Excelsior’s new South African (and Dutch passport-holding) recruit Tristan Stubbs announced his arrival on Saturday with a mature knock of 79 not out to guide his side to a six-wicket victory over Voorburg at Thurlede.

Coming to the wicket with Excelsior perilously placed at 39 for two (effectively for three because Tom Heggelman had been forced to retire with a hamstring injury), Stubbs soon lost initial partner Joost Kroesen, but then shared in a stand of 75 with Sanjit Shankar (28) which turned the game the Schiedam side’s way.

Unfazed by an attack which included five Dutch international bowlers, he scored at better than a run a ball for much of his innings, and was well supported by Niels Etman once Shankar had gone with 55 still required.

Etman’s solid 19 not out was a vital contribution, but it was Stubbs who ultimately decided the issue, twice hitting Philippe Boisevain for six and then, with the scores level, smacking another off Logan van Beek; in all, he faced 75 deliveries and hit five fours and four sixes.

Excelsior’s target was a relatively modest one, as Voorburg had found the Thurlede going tough after being put in to bat and could only manage 172 for six off their 50 overs.

Against a steady attack they struggled to get the scoring rate up towards three an over, and it was only in the closing stages, as Tom de Grooth and Boissevain added 52 for the seventh wicket, that they looked like setting a challenging total.

Sybrand Engelbrecht top-scored for Voorburg with 31 before he was bowled by Umar Baker, the most successful of Excelsior’s bowlers with three for 29.

On a day of generally one-sided encounters last year’ title-winners-that-weren’t, HCC, made their intentions clear by overpowering a youthful ACC at Het Loopveld.

Skipper Tonny Staal and fellow-opener Musa Nadeem Ahmad raced to 45 off the first five overs, and they had reached 74 in the twelfth before Mies van Vliet removed Ahmad for 25.

This brought little relief for the ACC attack as Staal continued in tandem with Boris Gorlee, making a 63-ball 69 before edging a Chris Knoll delivery to keeper Stephan Hannema.

Gorlee went on to make 60, Hidde Overdijk (33) in another half-century stand, and although ACC fought hard to contain the visitors in the closing stages a total of 254 for six always seemed likely to be beyond the Amsterdammers.

The task became impossible when they quickly found themselves on 8 for three, and despite a dogged captain’s innings from Anis Raza, last man out for 36, they could do no better than 77, Clayton Floyd picking up the first five-wicket haul of the season with five for 18.

At Craeyenhout, HBS made even shorter work of Sparta 1888 after new skipper Ferdi Vink won the toss and inserted the visiting side.

He further seized the initiative by removing Craig Ambrose with the first ball of the second over, and thereafter HBS never took their foot off the pedal, dismissing Sparta for 102 and then knocking off the runs for the loss of just one wicket in 19.4 overs.

Another South African with a Dutch passport, pace man Ryan Klein, took three for 17, his victims including the dangerous Ali Raza and Mudassar Bukhari, and there were two wickets apiece for Vink, Sander Geenevasen and Julian de Mey.

It seemed at one stage that Sparta’s total might have been a good deal lower, but rearguard action from Manminder Singh, Joost-Martijn Snoep and Usman Saleem at least got them past the hundred mark.

Tobias Visée started in his most destructive mode, making 29 from 18 deliveries with three fours and two sixes before falling to Bukhari, but Reece Mason (41 not out) and Navjit Singh (26 not out) saw their side home without further alarums.

A damp pitch caused a delayed start at Hazelaarweg, and with no hour’s grace under the KNCB’s COVID regulations, the match between VOC Rotterdam and VRA Amsterdam was cut to 47 overs.

Young Ashir Abid gave his side a perfect start by bowling Max O’Dowd before he had scored, but Scott Edwards and Tim de Kok then set about the attack, racing to 73 for one by the end of the 13th over.

When De Kok had made 38 he went after left-arm spinner Luke Hartsink and was caught by Ben Cooper at mid-on, and when Edwards followed in the next over, caught behind for 43 by Mitch Lees off Peter Borren’s bowling, VOC were forced to rebuild.

Pieter Seelaar and Dirk van Baren steadied things for a time, but it was left to Arnav Jain to marshal the lower order, and his 33, supported by Corey Rutgers and Jelte Schoonheim, enabled the Rotterdammers to reach a fairly testing 192 for nine.

Helped by some wayward bowling from Pierce Fletcher and Bobby Hanif, Vikram Singh and Zamaan Khan gave VRA a promising start, but once Singh had fallen to Hanif with the total on 39 an experimental and pretty inexperienced batting line-up struggled against Hanif’s seam and Jain’s spin.

When Singh, Cooper and Borren manage 18 between them VRA generally fall short, and as the score slid to 67 for seven it seemed that VOC were on their way to a thumping victory.

Hanif had picked up four for 31 and Jain, bowling unchanged, took three for 31 from his ten-over spell, but by this time Lees and Leon Turmaine had set about lending some respectability to the VRA reply; they added 53 for the eighth wicket before Seelaar, belatedly bringing himself into the attack, removed Lees for 27.

Turmaine stayed to the end, top-scoring with an unbeaten 29, but the introduction of O’Dowd into the attack to claim the last two wickets with successive deliveries, saw VRA dismissed for 142 and VOC claim a 50-run victory.

The KNCB’s testing regime proved its worth during the week, when a positive test among Dosti’s squad led to the players going into quarantine and Sunday’s scheduled match against Punjab Rotterdam being postponed until 9 May.