Review – Page 8 – TKcricket

Punjab and Voorburg take opening-day thrillers

Rod Lyall 27/05/24

For a while on Saturday morning it looked as if the 2024 50-over Topklasse season would begin with a washout, as the cancellation of Excelsior ‘20’s match against ACC at Thurlede was quickly followed by returning Hermes-DVS’s game against VRA Amsterdam at the Loopuyt Oval and the encounter between HCC and Sparta 1888 at the De Diepput.

In the end, however, enthusiasts for the longer format were rewarded with two remarkable finishes, both the games which survived the weather producing the tightest of final-ball results.

At Craeyenhout, where the delayed start was caused as much by the tail-end of the football season as by the rain, Punjab-Ghausia skipper Sikander Zulfiqar won the toss and elected to bat, and by the time the players were forced from the field by a passing band of rain HBS had claimed four wickets for 104 runs.

After Lehaan Botha took a return catch to remove Musa Ahmad, young Elmar Boendermaker chimed in with the scalps of Punjab’s danger-men Shoiab Minhas and Jonathan Vandiar, and then, as the weather closed in, Matthew de Villiers snaffled another return catch to dismiss Mohsin Riaz.

The interruption caused the deduction of seven overs, and after the resumption Asad and Sikander Zulfiqar set about rebuilding the innings.

Sikander made 34, as did Fawad Shinwari, but with Botha taking three more wickets to finish with four for 39, Punjab had to battle their way to 224 for eight, assisted by two sixes from Samir Butt off the final over.

That was reduced to 221 on the DLS adjustment, and HBS were soon in trouble in reply, Sajjad Kamal turning in a fine spell which effected the departure of both Botha and Reece Mason inside three overs.

De Villiers contributed a brisk 34 before falling to Suleiman Tariq, but at the other end Tayo Walbrugh was steadily batting his way back into form, supported first by Lucas del Bianco and then by Martijn Scholte.

The Crows were well in the hunt as Walbrugh eased past fifty, and despite a sustained spell by Sikander only 61 were required from the final ten overs, with six wickets still in hand.

But two further wickets opened up the tail, and it soon became clear that everything depended on Walbrugh as Kamal and Zulfiqar turned the screw.

18 were needed off Sikander’s final over, and although Walbrugh managed to take twelve off the first four deliveries a single from the fifth left HBS short, and despite Walbrugh’s unbeaten 126 from 124 deliveries, Punjab won by four runs.

Meanwhile at the Hazelaarweg a very similar conclusion was taking shape.

The game had been cut to 33 overs a side before the start, and Voorburg, put in to bat by VOC, were able to reach 218 for eight, thanks in large measure to a third-wicket stand of 105 between Gavin Kaplan and skipper Noah Croes.

Croes eventually fell to Jelte Schoonheim for 43, but Kaplan went on to make 84, from 65 deliveries with ten fours and a six, and to see the total past 200 before he was dismissed by Asief Hoseinbaks.

Chasing over six and a half an over, Ryan Schierhout and Francois Fourie gave their side a solid start with an opening stand of 66, but Voorburg’s depleted attack chipped away at their opponents’ top order, and with eleven overs left 102 were still needed.

Jock McKenzie was still there, however, and he and Jason van der Meulen kept their side in the game with a sixth-wicket stand of 81 in just under ten overs, leaving 22 to get off the last two.

Then Michael Molenaar bowled Van der Meulen, but another six from McKenzie left 12 required from the last with Mees van Vliet bowling to McKenzie.

Two came from the first ball, and off the second Tim de Kok was run out, bringing Schoonheim to the crease.

A bye gave McKenzie the strike, but he could only manage a single, and now eight were needed from the final two deliveries.

Schoonheim hit another two, and at this point sensation broke out: Van Vliet bowled a wide, the batters attempted a run which would have reduced the deficit to four, but umpire Ashraf Din ruled that Schoonheim had deviated from his line when running and gave him out Obstructing the field.

So not only did the run not count, but Aaditt Jain was left to face the final delivery.

He contrived to take two, but when attempting another off an overthrow he was run out, and Voorburg had sensationally won by two runs.

Despite the confusion and controversy it had been a sensational finish, and the defending champions, without their national team players, must have been very relieved to take the points home to Westvliet.

Topklasse Team of the Year 2023

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 04/09/23

RL: Once again it’s time for us to select our Topklasse Team of the Year. This year we need to specify that the selection is based on performances in the 50-over competition, and once again we will restrict ourselves to two overseas players in the eleven. So, first the openers. Voorburg’s Michael Levitt certainly stands out, with four centuries in his 655 runs, including a fine 102 in the grand final, and there’s a strong case, too, for Vikram Singh of VRA, although it’s true that 155 of his 548 runs came in one extraordinary innings at Craeyenhout. Still, he did make two other hundreds, and on his day he is capable of destroying an attack like nobody else in the Dutch game. Max O’Dowd (VOC), another brutal batterer of bowling, had a comparatively quiet season by his high standards after hammering 186 against ACC, and another honourable mention should go to Shirase Rasool, often Singh’s opening partner at VRA. But I’d go with Levitt and Singh.

BdJ: A fair shout I’d say, in what’s otherwise been a comparatively lean summer for openers the two youngsters certainly stand out. Another shout out is probably due Ratha Alphonse, who played some more than useful innings at the top of the order for his new club, but the numbers aren’t there for him to challenge Singh or Levitt. Fair to say they benefit from Tayo Walbrugh having dropped down the order for HBS, as have the Crows themselves – to the tune of almost 1,000 runs. With 988 at 61.75 Walbrugh topped the runs table by a distance, with Sparta’s Garnet Tarr more than 200 runs behind in second place. Both merit a place in the team of the year top order for my money, even at the cost of both of our overseas slots. Walbrugh’s weight of runs simply can’t be ignored, while Tarr taking the gloves for much of Sparta’s season saves us an otherwise tricky discussion on the subject of wicketkeepers.

Unless they’re secretly holding Dutch passports, that leaves room for neither VRA’s Johan Smal nor VOC’s Lane Berry, though both comfortably broke the 600-run mark this season. By the same token, ACC’s Heino Kuhn is ruled out despite being in large part responsible for the club’s mid-table finish in what was looking a tough year. Conversely, Voorburg’s Sybrand Engelbrecht is overseas no longer, and his return of 549 runs at 54.9 (coupled with the small matter of captaining his side to the title) certainly gives him a strong claim. Punjab’s Shoaib Minhas and Mohammad Riaz both also finished the season with 50+ averages, but to my mind finished it rather too soon to be considered for inclusion here. If one were minded to include another specialist bat then a case might be made for Scott Edwards, who racked up 509 runs at almost a run-a-ball, or perhaps for VCC’s Musa Ahmad, though his best returns have come in the shorter format this year. I’d be more inclined to go with a genuine all-rounder at here though, and Saqib Zulfiqar’s 534 runs at 44.5 are more than enough to warrant a place in the top six even before considering his 29 wickets.

RL: A top six of Singh, Levitt, Walbrugh, Tarr, Engelbrecht and Saqib Zulfiqar works for me. If we’re going to slip our keeper in as a top-order batter, though, I’d also want to give a shout-out to Voorburg’s Noah Croes, whose 18 catches and seven stumpings was a not inconsiderable factor in their success. (I’d acknowledge, however, that a bowling unit like Voorburg’s is bound to be healthy for any keeper’s statistics.) If we have room for a bowling all-rounder at number seven, then the choice seems to me to lie between Hidde Overdijk, whose 32 wickets at 20.62 made a big contribution to HCC’s reaching another grand final and who also averaged 24.42 with the bat, and Sikander Zulfiqar of Punjab, who only took 18 wickets but who made 411 runs at 41.10 and played several very significant knocks to keep his side in contention longer than they might otherwise have been. Forced to choose, I’d go for Overdijk, but I’d be happier still if we could find room for both.

BdJ: I’d hesitate to call Sikander a bowling all-rounder at this point, given he’s generally occupied the number four spot for Punjab this season, and while 18 scalps is a decent tally those wickets have come at an average of almost 30 and an economy rate over a run a ball. If we were to go looking for another seam bowling all-rounder, I’d say that Kyle Klein, whose contributions with both bat and ball have been indispensible for HBS, arguably has the strongest case after Overdijk, though not an overwhelming one.

Turning to to the spinners, one name comes pre-printed on the sheet. With 47 wickets at 10.66 Voorburg’s googly-merchant Shariz Ahmad has been instrumental in their title run, his wrist-spin partnership with the more conventional Philippe Boissevain crucial to their near-perfect run through the competition. With Saqib Zulfiqar already inked in there’s little room for another leggie, but two left armers do stand out among the finger spinners for their parsimony. The evergreen Lorenzo Ingram bowled 120 overs for Excelsior at the cost of just just 383 runs and claimed 26 wickets into the bargain, yet the veteran has been eclipsed this year by fellow West Indian Daniel Doram, the Sint Maartener taking one more wicket while matching Ingram’s economy of 3.13. Right arm off-spinners have had tougher time this season, with the notable exception of VOC’s Arnav Jain. Despite struggling with a shoulder injury Jain took 23 wickets opening the bowling for VOC at an average of just 16 while going for just 3.5 an over, head and shoulders above rival right arm tweakers.

RL: I’m not sure that Ingram, despite his long and distinguished service with Excelsior, doesn’t still count as overseas, but I completely agree that Doram, in a very different way from Shariz, has been a stand-out spinner this season. If we include these two spinners and Overdijk as a fast-bowling all-rounder, we have two places left for specialist pace bowlers. Voorburg’s Ryan Klein only played 12 matches, but he claimed 27 wickets at 11.56, with a strike rate of 17.93 (second only to Shariz among the regular bowlers) and an economy rate of 3.87. Who should join him is a tougher call: Ahsan Malik and Khalid Ahmadi of Sparta were excellent before the break but did not reappear after it, and, as Bertus noted earlier, Kyle Klein’s 21 wickets at 27.24 don’t constitute an overwhelming argument even when his batting is taken into account. My inclination would be to go for one of the genuine servants of the domestic game in Sparta’s excellent captain, Joost Martijn Snoep, who took 22 wickets at 19.23, with an economy rate of 3.63. In the absence of Malik and Ahmadi and Mudassar Bukhari struggling with injury, he bore much of the burden as well as proving a dogged number eleven with the bat.

BdJ: Well it seems we find ourselves in furious agreement here. In light of expectations at the start of the season, coupled with the difficulties posed by the unavailabilities and injuries that dogged the Spartan seam section, I’d argue that Snoep leading his side to a top-four finish is a more impressive accomplishment than Voorburg’s deservedly claiming the silverware, and one that warrants the armband this year for Sparta’s skipper-chair. With ball in hand he was not only Sparta’s lead wicket-taker, but also the second most economical seamer in the competition behind only VCC’s Vivian Kingma who deserves a mention here as the only quick to go at less than 3.5 an over this season. At the other extreme we’d be remiss not to make some mention of Eduard Visser’s tally of 31 wickets, second best of the seamers and third overall behind only Overdijk and Ahmad by that metric, but the 752-run price tag attached puts him behind Klein for mine too, even before considering the latter’s title-sealing performance in the Grand Final.

RL: So, TKcricket’s Topklasse Team of the Year is:

Vikram Singh (VRA), Michael Levitt (Voorburg), Tayo Walbrugh (HBS), Garnett Tarr (Sparta), Sybrand Engelbrecht (Voorburg), Saqib Zulfiqar (Punjab), Hidde Overdijk (HCC), Shariz Ahmad (Voorburg), Ryan Klein (Voorburg), Daniel Doram (HCC), and Joost-Martijn Snoep (Sparta, captain).
12th man: Arnav Jain

Previous TOTYs | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

Topklasse Team of the Year 2022

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 04/10/22

BdJ: While the TK-TOTY teamsheet this year doesn’t quite come with one of the openers pre-printed as it did for the last couple of seasons, one might say Tonny Staal’s name has been helpfully pencilled in for us at the top already. HCC’s former skipper amassed 767 runs at an average of 48 at a healthy strike rate just a shade under 81, his contributions at the top of the order despite the lack of a dependable regular opening partner being instrumental to HCC’s successful title run. A stand-out innings of 143 off 144 against Excelsior in their first phase 2 clash key to HCC’s second-place finish and double-shot at a place in the final. The choice for second opener is perhaps less clear cut, largely because season stop-scorer Tayo Walbrugh did not consistently play that role for HBS, yet though Walbrugh occasionally dropped down to three for the Crows, even on the handful of occasions he’s not opened the batting he might as well have done, generally finding himself in the middle after a few balls regardless. Walbrugh’s tally of 844 runs at an average little over 60 certainly warrants a place somewhere in the top three, but the chief reason to push him down to three would be to make room for VOC’s Max O’Dowd, whose 669 runs from just 13 matches helped keep the Bloodhounds clear of danger this season, and indeed had he and opening partner Scott Edwards not been preoccupied with the national team’s frenetic schedule VOC’s 2022 might have looked quite different. Similarly Voorburg’s Andre Malan would be a strong contender here had he played a whole season, having taken to Dutch conditions rather better than his more celebrated brother. Malan racked up 395 runs at an average of 65.8 and a strike rate of 110 from the eight games he played, and one suspects if he comes back for a full season he’ll be getting more than an honourable mention.

RL: Staal and Walbrugh were certainly top of my list, but O’Dowd wasn’t far away, and a top three of Staal, O’Dowd and Walbrugh makes perfect sense to me. One might think this is a bit rough on HCC’s Zac Worden, whose admirable consistency brought him 782 runs at 52.13 without his reaching three figures; nine half-centuries in 17 innings was a pretty remarkable effort and contributed significantly to HCC being anywhere near contention for the grand final, although a strike rate of a tad below 60 is a point against him. Others worthy of an honourable mention include Voorburg’s Musa Ahmad and Kampong’s overseas Cole Briggs, the latter too often having to try to hold a fragile batting line-up together.

RL: If we’re repeating last year’s decision to restrict ourselves to two overseas players, then Jonathan Vandiar of Punjab must surely have a decent claim to join Walbrugh in the side: it’s true he only played ten matches, but his tally of 581 runs at 83 with a strike-rate of 95 and including three centuries and two fifties in only eight innings was unquestionably one of the outstanding individual efforts of the season, and it brought some solidity to a Punjab side which fired a good deal below its championship-winning form of last season. There certainly has to be a spot for Voorburg’s skipper Bas de Leede, whose 627 runs came at 48.23 and again did not include a hundred, although he made seven half-centuries. Nor should we forget his 16 wickets at 22.50. Among the wicketkeeper-batters who might tuck into the middle order there’s a strong case for Scott Edwards (VOC), who filled this role successfully in national colours and who did make over 500 runs at an average of almost 50, and he should probably be preferred to either ACC’s Robin Smith or the mercurial but inconsistent Ali Raza of Sparta, who did top the keeping table along with Excelsior’s Roel Verhagen. That brings me to six, but it’s not entirely for sentimental reasons that I want to make a case for VRA captain Peter Borren, who bade farewell to the Topklasse with 377 runs at a strike rate of almost 92 and 15 wickets at an average of 21: as a captain and as a role model he has been a giant in the Dutch game, and I’d unquestionably have him leading this side.

BdJ: Walbrugh’s overseas status is of course not as clear-cut as it once was of course given his rumoured aspirations to orange, and there’s a couple of reasons it might be tempting to fudge things a little on that front. First among them is Delano Potgieter, who was a big reason VCC looked nigh-unbeatable early in the season. 17 wickets at an unmatched average of 10.94 and 259 runs at 43 across his ten matches make him one of the summer’s most impressive acquisitions, despite his status as a short-stay. Excelsior too picked their overseas wisely, Brett Hampton bagging 21 wickets and kicking in some decisive knocks down the order, and Lorenzo Ingram again proving his worth with 647 rns at 59 despite a comparatively quiet season with the ball. Failing overseas rule-bending, a case might also be made for Wesley Barresi whose 626 runs at 48 for HBS kept the Crows in contention deep into the season. As m’collegue observes, however, there are good reasons to argue for Borren’s inclusion beyond valedictory nostalgia and a vague feeling that we’ve unjustly overlooked him in the past. While Borren would be a shoe-in for team of the decade, he has admittedly had a merely adequate personal season by his own standards. As captain, however, he saw VRA through a season that many speculated would be a relegation battle – without any overseas and denied the services of Quirijn Gunning, Eric Szwarczynski and Ben Cooper – and took what was essentially a youth team with hangers-on into the championship group.

BdJ: Of Borren’s young charges, Aryan Dutt stood out in the slow-bowling department, taking 24 wickets at 16 in the Topklasse when not bagging likes of Nicholas Pooran or Babar Azan in orange. Fellow teenaged spinner Shariz Ahmad likewise managed to fit in an excellent domestic season around his international commitments, taking 31 wickets at 17 for VCC, and when it comes to spin options it’s hard to look past the two 19 year-old break-outs. That said, HCC’s Clayton Floyd has a winners’ medal to go along with his 25 wickets, while Alex Roy’s efforts in Kampong’s doomed campaign were among the few positives in the Utrecht side’s ill-fated top-flight return. Salland’s German spin pair Venkat Ganesan and Elam Bharathi are also worth a mention here, though it’s perhaps hard to make a case for either individually (if only because there’s little to choose) they did take 42 wickets at 17.5 between them, and their contribution to Salland’s survival is difficult to overstate.

RL: To take the quicker bowlers first, Roy is certainly a strong contender with his 23 wickets at 20.48. So too is ACC’s Mees van Vliet, who had the best strike rate of all the front-line bowlers and who led the wicket-taking table for much of the season, only pipped by Hidde Overdijk as HCC played three extra games in the finals series. With 38 wickets at 16.18 Overdijk surely has to be included, and to have him coming in at eight would also give the batting additional depth. Others deserving serious consideration include Ahsan Malik of Sparta, who often kept his side in contention by securing the early breakthrough, Excelsior’s new-ball combination of Niels Etman and the evergreen Tom Heggelman, and Ryan Klein of HBS. With De Leede and Borren in the side and Overdijk getting a shout as well, I’m left with a difficult choice between Roy and Van Vliet, and I’m happy in the end to go along with m’colleague’s nomination of the former. In the spin department it is indeed a choice of two from off-spinner Dutt, the leg-breaks (or more accurately, wrong’uns) of Shariz, and the left-arm spin of Floyd. Seemingly under-rated at international level, Floyd is a proven wicket-taker, but in another very close call I too would give the last two places to Dutt and Shariz.

So there you have it, TKcricket’s Team of the Year:

Tonny Staal (HCC), Max O’Dowd (VOC), Tayo Walbrugh (HBS), Bas de Leede (Voorburg), Jonathan Vandiar (Punjab), Scott Edwards† (VOC), Peter Borren [c] (VRA), Hidde Overdijk (HCC), Alex Roy (Kampong), Aryan Dutt (VRA), Shariz Ahmad (Voorburg).

Previous Seasons TOTY | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

Topklasse Team of the Year 2021

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 08/10/21

Having had some time to reflect on the highs and lows of a fortunately full season 2021 of Topklasse, we at TKcricket are once again seating ourselves in the selector’s chair (or bench?) to fill out the roster for the 2021 Topklasse Team of the Year.

BdJ: Once again the easiest pick this year is also the first, VOC’s Max O’Dowd appears at the top of the run aggregates this year, and so at the top of our batting order. His 820 runs at a shade over 63 included five 50s and three centuries, and the Netherlands’ opener has been unmatched at the top of the order all season. The question of who partners him at the top is a little trickier, however. VCC’s keeper-opener Mohit Hingorani deserves a mention, having had a quietly effective season seeing off the new ball at Westvliet, and this despite the added burden of keeping to the league’s most intimidating pace attack, a task which he has performed admirably. But his numbers just don’t quite justify a claim to an opening slot, nor indeed the gloves, over O’Dowd’s usual partner at the top of VOC’s line-up, Scott Edwards. Edwards’ tally of 533 runs at 53 certainly makes a strong case for including him alongside O’Dowd, but for the fact that this season Edwards could not always be relied upon to take the field at the top of the order as scheduled. Assuming we’re not willing to risk our Team of the Year opener being caught short at the start of the innings, Edwards’ natural spot, it seems to me, is that of “floater.” This would also make room for Punjab’s Stephan Myburgh, who didn’t quite replicate his phenomenal showing last season but nonetheless racked up 570 runs at a brisk strike rate of 109.6, along with a Topklasse winner’s medal of course.

RL: In a season in which several well-established openers couldn’t quite come up to expectations – one thinks of VRA’s Vikram Singh (338 at 21.12), HCC’s Tonny Staal (261 at 21.75), Myburgh’s partner at Punjab, Rehmat Zulfiqar (334 at 19.65), and Tobias Visée (231 at 17.77) – the choice of O’Dowd and Myburgh seems immensely reasonable. It may be that the wettest summer in living memory had something to do with the batters’ modest returns, but it also confirms a pattern whereby Dutch-produced players have been less successful with the bat than with the ball.

RL: The same applies to the rest of the top six, which makes it all the more sensible to adopt m’colleague’s suggestion and bat Edwards at four or five. My number three would be Punjab’s Asad Zulfiqar, whose 529 runs at 37.79 lent solidity to a top order which blazed brightly much of the time but which could be extinguished on occasion. Asad hit three fifties, and the same argument of consistency in a line-up which often faltered leads me to find a place for VRA’s Eric Szwarczynski in his valedictory season; he only played 14 matches, but made 345 runs at 28.75, including four half-centuries. Another strong contender, if we pick him as a batsman-who-can-bowl rather than as an out-and-out all-rounder, is Navjit Singh of HBS, who contributed 519 runs at 39.92, earning himself a place in the Dutch A squad. This assumes we aren’t going to avail ourselves of the services of one of the handful of overseas players who graced the competition this year; if we are, then there’s a quartet of contenders for a spot in the top order.

BdJ: We’ve not specified our rules regarding overseas players with any more clarity than the League itself, but whatever the allowance you’d think Tayo Walbrugh’s 780 runs at 65 for HBS would give him a stronger claim to the number three slot than any potential challenger, likewise even if we count the Netherlands-eligible Tristan Stubbs as an overseas for as long as Cricket South Africa continue to be difficult about his potential call-up, his three figure average for Excelsior makes a strong case for finding space for him in the top order despite his early departure. Sybrand Engelbrecht’s overseas status must likewise be fading somewhat now that he’s settled in the Netherlands, though the desire to include him may stem somewhat from recency bias, having had a fairly quiet season until his magnificent innings against VRA propelled VCC into the final. Among the overseas contingent Garnett Tarr also deserves at least an honourable mention, his 637 runs at a shade under 40 one of the few positives for Sparta in an otherwise miserable season. All told Walbrugh and Stubbs remain head and shoulders above the rest of the Topklasse pros this season however, and would be my picks if we restrict ourselves to the rather retro two-overseas maximum. If the gloves go to Edwards I’d say Navjit Singh shades it over Asad Zulfiqar or Szwarczynski, by a distance the most improved bat in the competition over the past couple of seasons, and his busier, hard-running style makes him a fine foil to his HBS team-mate Walbrugh and the big-hitting Stubbs.

BdJ: On to the all-rounders, and two names immediately stand out here, or one if we’re going by surnames. Sikander and Saqib Zulfiqar have both had excellent seasons with bat and ball, and indeed their stats these season look as similar as do the brothers themselves. Both averaging just over 30 with the bat, and 27 wickets each with the ball, the pair have been instrumental in Punjab’s successful title run throughout the season. Sikander’s game-changing century in the first qualifier was a strong contender for knock of the season, and the pair’s six consecutive wickets were instrumental in the Rotterdammers defending 157 against VCC in the final. HCC’s Hidde Overdijk likely has the next strongest claim, despite only playing 12 matches, 19 wickets at 15.5 and 225 runs at 44.8 is an excellent return. VCC’s Bas de Leede, with 26 wickets at 12.4, would be a tempting option as a bowling all-rounder despite a middling season with the bat.

RL: Of the faster bowlers, De Leede’s season looked up after a slowish start, but Overdijk’s contribution to the HCC attack during that period when they were consistently ripping through opponents’ top order – the run which would have taken them into the play-offs but for that nonsense in the final round – gives him the edge in my view, as a bowler who can bat if not as an allrounder. But pride of place among the pacemen must go to Ryan Klein of HBS, whose 27 wickets at 12.93 gave his side’s attack an invaluable cutting edge. Not far behind comes Voorburg’s Viv Kingma, who claimed 23 at 12.78 despite another bout of injury worries; his partnership with Logan van Beek (who deserves an honourable mention in the allrounders category) was a key factor in the side’s elevated position, and their absence mid-season was a considerable blow. An honourable mention, too, for Suleiman Tariq, both as a tireless seamer who often bowled his ten overs unchanged, and as a canny captain, whose role in Punjab’s first championship should not be underestimated.

BdJ: Klein’s appearances in an orange shirt this summer have put his local status beyond question, and his place near the top of the wickets table would make him a shoe-in for this side even without his occasional but crucial cameos for HBS with the bat. Of the competitors to share the new ball Kingma has the edge over his VCC partner van Beek or Punjab’s Tariq by dint of his superior strike rate, and by the same token I’d say De Leede probably has the strongest claim as first change, and if we are to go with four seamers likely worth his spot as a dedicated bowler this season. That doesn’t leave us a lot of room in the spin section of course, if Stubbs and Saqib Zulfiqar both make the cut we’ve only one slow-bowling slot to play with, and despite some notable performances filling it ought not to be the toughest assignment for the selectors.

RL: If O’Dowd is the first name on the sheet, HCC’s slow left-armer Clayton Floyd is fairly certainly the second: with 37 wickets at an average of 7.32 he was ten wickets ahead of his nearest rivals, and he claimed five in an innings on three occasions. That gives us two or three spinners turning the ball away from the right-handers, but to be fair none of the leading off-spinners has made an overwhelming case for inclusion. With 26 wickets Voorburg’s Philippe Boissevain, another leggie, deserves a shout-out, while another to watch out for in future is VOC youngster Siebe van Wingerden, who only bowled 65.1 overs in his 16 matches but still took 22 wickets at 13.77 and finished seventh in the bowling averages. That gives us then, an almost settled selection, with issues balance leaving us with one spot still up for debate…

BdJ: Saqib Zulfiqar or Bas de Leede is indeed the last question left to us, and though it leaves the side looking a little spin-heavy I feel that team balance must take a back seat to the weight of a champion’s medal in this case. Cruel as the cut may be, one hopes that de Leede will be able to find some solace in his call-up for the Netherland’s World Cup squad.

Our Topklasse Team of the Year:

Max O’Dowd (VOC), Stephan Myburgh (Punjab), Tayo Walbrugh (HBS), Navjit Singh (HBS), Tristan Stubbs (Excelsior), Scott Edwards (VOC), Saqib Zulfiqar (Punjab), Sikander Zulfiqar (Punjab), Clayton Floyd (HCC), Ryan Klein (HBS), Vivian Kingma (Voorburg)

12th man: Sieb Van Wingerden (VOC).

Previous Seasons TOTY | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

Punjab’s bowlers clinch the championship

Rod Lyall 06/09/21

Punjab Rotterdam claimed their first national championship in their 30-year history at the Zomercomplex on Sunday, and it was entirely appropriate that it should be their bowlers, who have worked so tirelessly all season, who had the last word.

Bowled out for 157 after being put in to bat by Voorburg captain Bas de Leede, Punjab’s attack produced another disciplined, determined performance to dismiss their opponents for 102 and set the seal on a campaign in which they had previously bowled sides out for under 150 on no fewer than nine occasions.

Even so, the wind appeared to be in Voorburg’s sails after their own attack, chock-full of internationals, had restricted the powerful Punjab batting line-up to such a meagre total.

The Rotterdammers have justly developed a reputation for brutal hitting on their bijou Zomercomplex ground: their batters had smacked a total of 67 sixes there in the season so far at better than one every two overs but on Sunday they managed only two and, more importantly, openers Steph Myburgh and Rehmat Zulfiqar, both fell trying to add to that total.

Myburgh had contributed a typically aggressive 20-ball 24, but it was the more conventional techniques of Asad Zulfiqar (30) and his brother Saqib (22) which enabled Punjab to reach 93 for two at the 25-over mark.

With the Zulfiqars starting to play their shots a total in excess of 200 seemed on the cards, but then Philippe Boissevain, who had had trouble finding a length, trapped Saqib in front, and when De Leede removed Asad the same way in the following over Punjab, without Teja Nidamanuru, needed some serious reconstruction work from the middle order.

But neither Sikander Zulfiqar, batting hero of Punjab’s semi-final victory over the same opponents the previous Sunday, nor Irfan ul Haq stayed long as Logan van Beek and De Leede pressed home Voorburg’s advantage, and the last six wickets fell for just 32 runs.

The wickets were deservedly shared: Kingma’s two for 14 from eight overs and Van Beek’s two for 26 from ten were just reward for some genuinely hostile bowling, while Aryan Dutt with one for 29 maintained the pressure well.

Punjab needed to make early inroads into Voorburg’s line-up, and Sohail Bhatti duly obliged by getting Tom de Grooth caught behind by Asad Zulfiqar in the second over of their reply.

It was once again skipper Suleiman Tariq, however, who set the tone, bowling his ten overs unchanged and claiming the crucial wickets of De Leede, brilliantly caught by Saqib Zulfiqar at slip, and Sybrand Engelbrecht, who had made 59 and 103 not out in his last two innings and who now fell to an equally fine catch by Mohsin Bajwa in the gully.

Bowling three consecutive maidens in the powerplay, Tariq denied the Voorburg innings any real momentum, and although Dutt and Van Beek put on 33 for the fifth wicket, Sikander Zulfiqar then took a hand with the ball, claiming four for 10 in three overs to run through the lower middle order and end any chance of a Voorburg recovery.

Dutt remained to the end, hitting Saqib for a defiant six, but he was eventually caught behind off the leg-spinner, and the innings finished 55 runs short.

Low-scoring matches are often the most absorbing, and this one, dominated by two contrasting but equally outstanding attacks, was no exception. It was, moreover, a complete vindication of the KNCB’s decision to bring back play-offs as a climax to the Topklasse season.

Engelbrecht century takes Voorburg into grand final

Rod Lyall 05/09/21

A near-chanceless century from Sybrand Engelbrecht was the difference between the sides at Westvliet on Saturday as Voorburg chased down VRA Amsterdam’s 210 for seven to win by five wickets with two overs to spare.

In a match of fluctuating fortunes altogether worthy of a preliminary final VRA, put in to bat, began at a gallop, reaching 111 for one after twenty overs, thanks to Luke Scully’s 27-ball 39 and a valuable, if somewhat less frenetic stand between Vikram Singh (31) and Ben Cooper (22).

When spinners Philippe Boissevain and Aryan Dutt took over, however, the character of the innings changed, and with three wickets falling for one run in the space of nine deliveries, two of them to Boissevain and the other to Dutt, the Amsterdammers were rocked back on their heels.

On a pitch where scoring was never easy, especially with pace taken off the ball, it took a diligent partnership between Eric Szwarczynski and Jack Balbirnie, largely comprising singles with an occasional two and punctuated by a regrettable flow of wide, to keep VRA in the game; at one stage 14 overs passed between two Szwarczynski boundaries as the spinners, backed up by Stef Mulder’s mostly accurate seamers and short bursts by Viv Kingma and Logan van Beek, steadily turned the screw.

The stand was worth 51 when Balbirnie became Boissevain’s third victim, but Szwarczynski held firm, and in company with keeper Mitch Lees he was able to achieve a slight improvement in the scoring rate, 31 coming from the last five overs before, having reached 41, he swept Kingma’s final delivery of the innings onto his leg stump.

Boissevain’s three for 25, supported by Dutt’s one for 33, had kept VRA’s total within bounds, though the target would have been a lot more manageable without a total of 40 extras, 30 of them from wides, which also meant that Voorburg had bowled no fewer than four additional overs.

The home side suffered two early setbacks, Quirijn Gunning trapping Mohit Hingorani leg-before and Bas de Leede run out by some smart work from Udit Nashier and Lees after a mid-pitch mix-up, and when Tom de Grooth, on 29, fell to Singh and Dutt went almost immediately to an outstanding one-handed, diving catch by Borren off Nashier, they were on 73 for four and in real trouble.

Van Beek now joined Engelbrecht, and they steadily rebuilt the innings, more than doubling the score over a 20-over stand in which Van Beek was the more enterprising, declaring his intentions by hitting Nashier for the first six of the match.

That apart, Nashier kept things tight, but the required rate never nudged much above six an over; unlike their opponents VRA kept the extras to a minimum, but they were never able to eliminate the boundaries, and gradually the deficit became smaller.

Van Beek hit another six off Turmaine, but when he tried to do it again later in the same over he succeeded only in holing out to Cooper at long on and as he departed for 38 60 were still needed with ten overs remaining.

Engelbrecht was still there, however, now on 70, and it was clear that it was his wicket which was crucial to the outcome.

His shot selection became more adventurous as the target approached, with Karl Nieuwoudt giving him excellent support, and with four overs left he brought up his own century and the side’s 200.

It was, in fact, Nieuwoudt who hit the winning boundary, his 30 not out coming from just 23 deliveries, while Engelbrecht’s unbeaten 103 came from 135 balls with ten fours.

VRA had stuck to the task well, but Engelbrecht, Van Beek and Nieuwoudt made batting on a tricky pitch look deceptively easy, and they will go into Sunday’s grand final against Punjab with renewed confidence.

VRA make the play-offs as HCC walk off against VOC

Rod Lyall 16/08/21

Among the many scenarios leading into Sunday’s final round of Topklasse league matches, no-one could have predicted the regrettable scenes at De Diepput, where HCC walked off amidst allegations of a racial slur, apparently forfeiting the match to VOC Rotterdam and thus surrendering their chance of reaching the top four.

16 and a half overs of the VOC innings had been bowled when the match came to a premature end, but the incident may have had its origins in the fifth over, when a lifting delivery from Hidde Overdijk caught the shoulder of Dirk van Baren’s bat and flew into the gully.

The home side were convinced they had their man but Van Baren stood his ground, and after a consultation between the umpires he was given not out.

There was some compensation for Overdijk a few minutes later when Max O’Dowd, trying to work him to leg, got a leading edge and speared an easy return catch.

Van Baren continued in company with Scott Edwards, but when he edged a boundary off Reinier Bijloos to move to 22 and to take the VOC total to 45 for one, words were exchanged between keeper Yash Patel and Van Baren which ignited the blaze, causing the umpires to intervene in an attempt to cool tempers.

Patel, however, remained apparently furious, and after a conversation with two of his teammates he took off his gloves and left the field, followed by the rest of the players and the officials.

After almost 25 minutes the umpires returned to remove the stumps, and word came through that HCC, in support of Patel’s stand over what they said was a racist comment, had refused to continue.

Under the Topklasse playing conditions it would appear that VOC should be awarded the points, while HCC could also be liable for a two-point penalty; the KNCB Board, however, will need to see the umpires’ report before taking any action.

This result would in any case see HCC drop out of the top four, but the final standings were also dependent on events elsewhere, and especially at Thurlede, where VRA Amsterdam, level on points with VOC before the final round, were playing Excelsior ‘20.

Fielding a makeshift side which saw former national captain Luuk van Troost, who had played his last Topklasse match in 2015, and Adam Woutersen come out of retirement, Excelsior were nevertheless in charge for the early exchanges, reducing VRA to 72 for six before Jack Balbirnie (45) and Leon Turmaine (41 not out) turned things around with a seventh-wicket stand which more than doubled the total.

Umar Baker eventually dismissed Balbirnie to finish with three for 34, but VRA had given themselves a chance with a total of 176 for seven, much better than had appeared likely early on.

Skipper Tom Heggelman, opening the innings for Excelsior, saw Tim Etman trapped in front by Quirijn Gunning off the first ball of the reply, but he batted doggedly on as wickets fell around him.

The total was only 71 when he was the seventh to go, having made 30, and it was left to Luuk van Troost, who had earlier claimed two for 37 in VRA’s innings, to see the score past the hundred, making 24 in a total of 106 before he was the last man out.

His wicket fell to VRA skipper Peter Borren, playing his 300th top flight match for VRA, who has led his side back from an apparently hopeless position to third place in the table, nudging just ahead of VOC on net run rate and securing a home semi-final next week.

Already sure of topping the table, Punjab Rotterdam completed their league programme with a surprisingly hard-fought victory over ACC at Het Loopveld.

That Punjab posted the highest total of the day with 214 for five was due in part to Steph Myburgh’s 42, but even more to an unbroken sixth-wicket stand which featured contrasting innings from Saqib Zulfiqar and Yasir Usman.

Coming in at 74 for three, Zulfiqar anchored the rest of the innings with an 82-ball 53 not out, while Usman needed only 42 deliveries for his unbeaten 48, hitting two fours and three sixes and just missing out on what would have been a notable half-century.

ACC had their customary difficulties with the scoring rate when they replied against the steady Punjab attack, but Shreyas Potdar’s 37 and Ammar Zaidi’s 26 gave them a platform from which Anis Raza (44) and Aryan Kumar (25) were able to give their side an outside chance of victory.

Both were removed, however, by Suleiman Tariq, and ACC were finally dismissed for 184, 30 runs short, with ten deliveries remaining.

Punjab’s semi-final opponents will be Voorburg, who remained in second place despite losing to HBS Craeyenhout by 28 runs.

Voorburg appeared to be in complete control when they dismissed their opponents for 130, Bas de Leede taking three for 21, but they then collapsed in their turn, losing their last eight wickets for 35 runs as they slumped to 102 all out.

Stephan Vink took three for 12 in nine overs for HBS, with two wickets apiece for Ryan Klein, Julian de Mey and Sander Geenevasen.

At Sportpark Drieburg, Dosti Amsterdam ended their long losing run with a 31-run victory over ten-man Sparta 1888.

Waheed Masood top-cored in a Dosti total of 164, Martijn Snoep taking four for 51 for Sparta, but Asief Hoseinbaks’ four for 29, including the vital wicket of Garnett Tarr, turned the match decisively the home side’s way.

VRA give themselves a play-off chance

Rod Lyall 09/08/21

Another round was disrupted by rain on Sunday, but the four matches which produced a result confirmed Punjab Rotterdam’s position at the top of the table, saw Voorburg go clear in second place, and gave VRA Amsterdam a very good chance of reaching the play-offs.

The one game which fell victim to the extreme weather ended Excelsior ‘20’s hopes of making the top four, as a torrential downpour brought an end to proceedings in their game against VOC Rotterdam at an already sodden Hazelaarweg.

Batting first in a match reduced to 45 overs, Excelsior had reached 72 for two just past the halfway point of their innings when the heavens opened, and no further play was possible.

VOC’s one point from the No result kept them in fourth place, ahead of VRA on net run rate, but Excelsior’s – their fifth such outcome in a record-breaking wet season – meant that even a win next week could see them finish no higher than sixth.

VRA moved level on points with VOC by virtue of a six-wicket victory over HBS Craeyenhout in Amstelveen, which enabled them to leapfrog their opponents and into fifth place on the table.

That HBS were able to reach 199 before they were dismissed off the final delivery of their 50 overs owed much to Wesley Barresi’s fighting 81, but he was finally out off the first ball of that last over, one of three victims of Jack Balbirnie, who finished with three for 29.

Balbirnie and his fellow-spinners, Leon Turmaine and Udit Nashier, managed to keep the brakes on the HBS batting line-up, and VRA were comparatively untroubled in reaching their target with 4.1 overs to spare, Vikram Singh making 60 and Ben Cooper, back from injury, contributing an unbeaten 62.

The top-of-the-table clash between Punjab and HCC at the Zomercomplex was the most affected by rain of all the completed matches, but ended in a fairly comprehensive win for the home side, now confirmed as what the Australians call ‘minor premiers’.

Seepage under the covers overnight led to a long-delayed start and an initial reduction to 35 overs a side, and after Suleiman Tariq had put HCC in to bat he and Teja Nidamanuru did their usual job of containing the opposition’s scoring so effectively that when rain drove the players from the field HCC had reached just 91 for one in 22 overs.

By the time they returned the Hagenaars had only five more overs to bat, and they lost five more wickets – four of them to Sikander Zulfiqar, who finished with four for 25 from four eventful overs – in posting another 40 runs.

The DLS calculation extended the target to 154, and Steph Myburgh and Asad Zulfiqar set their side on course with a second-wicket stand which took them to 68 for one in ten overs before a further interruption adjusted the demand to 118 from 20 overs.

Myburgh’s unbeaten 54 ensured that this was well within their capabilities, and the winning boundary came from the first ball of the final over.

The quickest and easiest win of the day came at Westvliet, where Voorburg dismissed Dosti Amsterdam for just 45 in 25.1 overs and needed only 9.4 overs to complete a nine-wicket victory.

Only Vinoo Tewarie, with 13, reached double figures in another abject display by Dosti’s batters, with Aryan Dutt’s spin yielding him four for 6 from eight overs, four of them maidens; Bas de Leede took three for 9 and Viv Kingma two for 16.

Alyan Razzaqi contributed the lion’s share of Voorburg’s runs, making 28 not out and ending the match with a six and a four.

The least significant match of the round also proved to be the most absorbing, with ACC pulling off an 18-run DLS victory over Sparta 1888 at Sportpark Bermweg.

The Amsterdammers’ total of 155 was built around Ammar Zaidi’s painstaking 56, but also owed much to a 50-run stand for the seventh wicket between Zaidi and Mies van Vliet, who made a career-best 23.

Sparta were already in some trouble when rain intervened at 36 for two, one of those dismissed being Garnett Tarr, and immediately after the resumption, the target now being 149 in 45 overs, a flurry of four wickets in as many overs for the addition of only three runs left the home side facing another ignominious collapse.

They were rescued by Ali Raza and skipper Martijn Snoep, who more than doubled the score before Ali, on 45, danced down the wicket to Anis Raza and was stumped.

This left Snoep to manage the tail, but once he had departed for 22 the odds were stacked against Sparta, and they were all out for 130.

Sahil Kothari, the agent of Sparta’s mid-order collapse, took four for 17 in nine overs.

O’Dowd and Rutgers take VOC back into the four

Rod Lyall 02/08/21

A fine stand of 186 between Max O’Dowd and Corey Rutgers enabled VOC Rotterdam to recover from a perilous 14 for three and reach 271 for four against HBS at Craeyenhout on Sunday, laying the foundation for a 62-run victory and taking them back into fourth spot in the densely-packed table.

The total was all the more remarkable because the match had been cut to 37 overs a side after overnight rain, which means that it was equivalent to more than 350 over a full 50 overs.

HBS had a dream start after winning the toss, with Dirk van Baren, Tim de Kok and Scott Edwards all dismissed without scoring in the space of the first 23 deliveries, two falling to Ryan Klein in the first over and the third to Ferdi Vink, but this brought O’Dowd and Rutgers together for the partnership which turned the game around.

O’Dowd passed fifty for the eighth time in 14 innings and went on to post his third century of the season, taking his tally to 810; he faced 99 deliveries and hit nine sixes to go with his seven fours.

Rutgers continued in company with Pieter Seelaar, returning after missing six games with a back injury, after O’Dowd departed for 118, and this pair added 71 in five and a half overs, Rutgers finishing on 114 not out, also made from 99 deliveries.

This left HBS with a massive task, and although they began brightly enough, their chances receded once Tobias Visée fell to Pierce Fletcher and, even more decisively, Dirk van Baren removed leading run-scorer Tayo Walbrugh.

The hosts never recovered, and although Navjit Singh made 36 before he became the first of three victims for Siebe van Wingerden, and last man Sander Geenevasen weighed in with a defiant 37 not out in the dying overs, their closed on 209 for nine.

If VOC’s total was imposing it was surpassed by Punjab Rotterdam’s 325 for six in 39 overs against Sparta 1888 at the Zomercomplex.

There were four half-centuries in the Punjab innings, Stephan Myburgh making a 51-ball 84 and sharing a second-wicket stand of 134 with Asad Zulfiqar (53), and Saqib Zulfiqar (69 not out from 52 deliveries) adding 115 for the fifth wicket with Sikander Zulfiqar (57 from 34).

Between them the Punjab batting line-up smacked 28 fours and 17 sixes off Sparta’s long-suffering attack, which was missing both Mudassar Bukhari and Max Hoornweg; Manminder Singh was the most effective with three for 65 from his eight overs.

Sparta reached 57 for two in reply, but then spinners Saqib Zulfiqar and Irfan ul Haq took over, and the last eight wickets fell for just 21 runs, Saqib taking three for 24 and Ul Haq five for 11 in eight overs as the side was all out for 78, Garnett Tarr top-scoring with 38.

Excelsior ‘20 became the first side in seven games to take more than 50 off the HCC attack, but their total of 180 was insufficient to stop HCC’s batters from pulling off a six-wicket victory as Damian Crowley (93 not out) and Tonny Staal (53) added 119 for the fourth wicket and took their side to within sight of their target.

Earlier, Lorenzo Ingram played a largely lone hand in Excelsior’s innings with 69, but apart from Stan van Troost (28) he received little support; HCC missed Hidde Overdijk from the attack, but Musa Nadeem Ahmad claimed three for 21 and Clayton Floyd extended his season’s tally to 37 with two for 35.

At Het Loopveld Voorburg stayed on terms with HCC with a comfortable win over ACC, whose batting woes continued as they struggled to 91 for seven in 45 overs in a rain-punctuated innings.

Logan van Beek celebrated his return to the Voorburg colours with four for 17, while Viv Kingma also bowled for the first time in weeks, collecting a wicket.

Bas de Leede then steered his side to an eight-wicket victory with an unbeaten 40.

VRA Amsterdam kept their outside chances of a play-off place alive with a five-wicket win over Dosti Amsterdam at Sportpark Drieburg.

Here, too, rain interrupted Dosti’s innings, which was held together by a career-best 60 from opener Mahesh Hans as they reached 127 for seven in 39 overs, Quirijn Guinning leading the VRA attack with three for 24.

Zamaan Khan’s 31-ball 44 set VRA on the path to victory, but they lost five wickets along the way before completing the win with 17 overs to spare.

Punjab lose again as HCC demolish Sparta

Rod Lyall 12/07/21

The 2021 Topklasse season continues to do its impersonation of a cycling road race, with leaders Punjab Rotterdam dropping back on Sunday as the peloton gathers for the final print.

It was Voorburg who were the agents of Punjab’s defeat, bowling them out for 84 and then reaching their target in 27.4 overs for the loss of two wickets.

New ball bowlers Karl Nieuwoudt and Bas de Leede put the powerful Punjab top order under pressure from the outset, Nieuwoudt claiming the vital wicket of Steph Myburgh, but it was Sajjad Kamal and Stef Mulder who did the real damage in a ten-over passage which saw the leaders slump to 59 for six.

Suleiman Tariq again offered some resistance, but once he was run out by Aryan Dutt the end came quickly, Mulder finishing with four for 19 and Kamal with three for 16.

Punjab made Voorburg work hard for their victory, but Mohit Hingorani batted through for 35 not out, sharing useful partnerships with De Leede (26) and then Sybrand Engelbrecht (16 not out) to see his side home.

HCC’s attack again ruled supreme at Sportpark Bermweg, shooting Sparta 1888 out for just 42 and setting up a rapid seven-wicket victory.

After Clayton Floyd had bowled his usual token opening over, Hidde Overdijk and Reinier Bijloos bowled for 20 overs unchanged, with Overdijk taking three for 12 and Bijloos four for 17 as Sparta, without captain Mudassar Bukhari, collapsed to 32 for seven.

Floyd then returned to claim the final three wickets in the space of ten deliveries to finish with three for 3 and take his season’s tally to 35 at an extraordinary average of 6.49.

HCC needed only 38 deliveries to reach their target, although their rapid-fire approach saw Musa Nadeem, Boris Gorlee and Damian Crowley all back in the metaphorical pavilion before they did so.

The only significant totals of the day were posted at Thurlede, where HBS Craeyenhout maintained their four place with a victory over Excelsior ‘20 by six wickets.

If the bowlers were less completely in command there than elsewhere, stroke-play was never a straightforward matter either, and two attractive top orders found themselves compelled to graft against disciplined, accurate attacks.

Having elected to bat first Excelsior had to battle their way to 171 for six, Roel Verhagen, Lorenzo Ingram, Tristan Stubbs – playing his last game for the club this season – and Joost Kroesen all getting a start but unable to up the tempo appreciably.

It was, indeed, Niels Etman whose 48-ball, unbeaten 36 which enabled them to set as big a target as they did, with Ryan Klein, Sander Geenevasen, Wesley Barresi and Julian de Mey all putting in solid performances with the ball.

When HBS replied Klaas Roelfsema and Ingram quickly had them on the back foot at 18 for three with Tobias Visée, De Mey and the dangerous Tayo Walbrugh all gone, but Najvit Singh and Barresi settled into a determined fourth-wicket partnership of 109 before Barresi fell to Joost Kroesen for a patient 48.

45 were still needed at this point, but Navjit with an unbeaten 73 and Klein with 20 worked their way steadily to the win, reaching their target with 17 deliveries to spare.

Vinoo Tewarie (31) and Arief Hoseinbaks (35) managed to get Dosti Amsterdam up to a total of 143 against VOC Rotterdam at the Hazelaarweg, Pierce Fletcher taking four for 20, but this was nowhere near enough against opponent for whom openers Max O’Dowd and Dirk van Baren both made half-centuries.

Both fell immediately after reaching that landmark, O’Dowd for a punishing 39-ball 52 which included four fours and as many sixes, Van Baren for a more sedate 54 from 53 deliveries, and it was left to Scott Edwards to steer his side home with 29 not out.

There was a dramatic start in the Amterdamse Bos, where VRA Amsterdam left-armer Ashir Abid reduced ACC to 15 for three in the space of the first 19 deliveries.

Krishna Hosur (25), Ammar Zaidi (38) and Chris Knoll (26) were able to engineer a partial recovery, but once they had been dismissed the innings folded, and ACC were all out for 121.

After the early loss of Vikram Singh Zamaan Khan and Luke Scully shared the best partnership of the match, putting on 81 for the second wicket, and although Khan was eventually bowled by Zaidi for 33 Scully continued in tandem with Shirase Rasool to finish with an unbeaten 62 as VRA completed an eight-wicket victory.