Category: Review 2024 TK

Rod Lyall 15/09/24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rod Lyall 08/09/24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rod Lyall 02/09/24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rod Lyall 26/08/24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rod Lyall 19/08/24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rod Lyall 05/08/24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rod Lyall 22/07/24

The first phase of the competition ended as it had begun, with rain, a cancellation, and abbreviated games.

But there was one unresolved issue: if Hermes-DVS beat Sparta 1888, there was a strong possibility that they would squeeze past fellow-Schiedammers Excelsior ’20, who had to take on top-of-the-table Punjab-Ghausia on net run rate and into the top six.

Hermes began as if they meant business, Ralph Elenbaas capturing three wickets inside the first six overs as Sparta slumped to 16 for three.

But Sandeep Sardha and Juandre Scheepers led a fightback, and after Sam van Giezen had removed Sardha and Maninder Singh in quick succession, Cameron Fraser joined Scheepers, who went on to make an invaluable 53.

Fraser remained to hold the lower order together, compiling a solid 78 before becoming the last of four wickets for Olivier Elenbaas, and Sparta closed on 226 for nine, Olivier finishing with four for 42 and his brother three for 19.

By the time Hermes began their reply it was clear that Excelsior faced a demanding chase at Het Zomercomplex, and opener Daniel Doyle seemed determined to put Hermes’ NRR well beyond their reach, hammering a characteristically aggressive 29-ball 48 before he was bowled by off-spinner Umar Baker.

The frantic tempo slowed somewhat as Nick Statham joined Ash Ostling, who once again slipped into the sheetanchor role, but they saw the total into three figures, still well ahead of the required rate, and once Statham had departed CP Klijnhans contributed 25 at better than a run a ball.

When Ostling eventually fell to Khalid Ahmadi for 66 Hermes needed another 47, and Olivier Elenbaas and skipper Sebastiaan Braat knocked off the remaining runs, at a pace just quick enough to ensure that whatever happened at ‘t Zomercomplex, short of an Excelsior victory, they would have a better NRR.

By that time, however, it was clear that Excelsior were not only certain to lose, but that they would do so heavily enough to put the issue beyond doubt.

Having won the toss, Roel Verhagen had invited Punjab to bat, but Excelsior were frustrated by a fine innings from Jonathan Vandiar, who made 116, his eleventh Topklasse century and his fourth for Punjab, holding his side together and enabling them to reach an imposing 244 all out by the end of an innings reduced to 45 overs by the overnight rain.

Lorenzo Ingram again bowled very well, taking three for 38, but Vandiar, coming at at 24 for one after Jason Ralston had bowled Shoaib Minhas, did not depart until 210 had been added to the score, and the end of the innings was enlivened by a rapid 27 not out from Ahmad Shafiq.

Shafiq then excelled with the ball: he had Derek Mitchell caught behind by Fawad Shinwari, and when Excelsior had reached a promising 170 for four, thanks in large measure to 66 from Ingram, he returned to pick up five more wickets, breaking a useful partnership between Niels Etman and Stan van Troost and finishing with his best-ever Topklasse figures of six for 17.

Excelsior’s innings ended on 191, giving Punjab a 52-run victory and putting them in pole position going into the competition’s second phase.

At the other end of the table ACC came close to recording their first win for the second time in as many days, again unable to finish off their opponents’ innings and losing by two wickets to VOC Rotterdam.

Only 40 overs were possible at Het Loopveld, and ACC battled their way to 143 for nine, Izhaan Sayed once more their top-scorer with 54.

Asief Hoseinbaks was again VOC’s main wicket-taker with three for 25, while Jock McKenzie claimed two for 34.

Sayed, Sahil Kothari and Mahesh Hans then put VOC’s batters under real pressure, and at 95 for seven it seemed as if the home side might this time be about to take the points.

But Jason van der Meulen made a crucial 46, and once he had fallen to Sayed, Aaditt Jain proved equal to the occasion, making an unbeaten 23 to see his side home.

Sayed finished with three for 18 and Hans three for 25, and ACC will go into the second phase conscious that their campaign has finally begun to look a little less doomed.

If runs were hard to come by at ‘t Loopveld there was no shortage on the other side of Amstelveen, where VRA put on 230 for five in 43 overs, only to suffer a six-wicket defeat at the hands of HBS Craeyenhout.

The home side’s innings was dominated by opener Vikram Singh, who made 96 out of his side’s first 167 before falling to spinner Julian de Mey.

There were lesser contributions from Shirase Rasool (24), Demari Prince (28) and Johan Smal (30), all of whom got a start but were unable to turn it into a really big innings, and the lack of a decisive partnership was underlined when Lehan Botha and Tayo Walbrugh put on 164 for HBS’s second wicket.

Botha was eventually caught by Singh off Sharad Hake for an 86-ball 90, but Wesley Barresi then helped Walbrugh bring their side to the brink of victory, although it was not until the third ball of the final over that the winning runs came, Walbrugh ending on 89 not out.

Before the drama had begun, the match between Voorburg and HCC at Westvliet had been abandoned without a ball being bowled, each side taking a point, but their positions in the top six, like those of HBS and VRA, had already been confirmed.

Rod Lyall 15/07/24

A normal day’s cricket has become something of a luxury this summer, and the leading Topklasse sides took the opportunity on Sunday to show off their batting skills.

None more so than leaders Punjab-Ghausia, who cruised to an 8-wicket victory over Rotterdam rivals VOC at the Hazelaarweg.

To do so, however, the Punjab attack had to stage a recovery, after the home side had reached 148 for two and appeared to be heading for a very big total.

Ryan Schierhout had made 47, Taylor Bettelheim 56 and Jock McKenzie, returning after a hand injury, 50, but VOC’s excessive dependence upon their top three overseas players was in full evidence as the middle order failed to build on this platform, and the side was dismissed for 224.

Saqib Zulfiqar started the rot by removing Bettelheim, but it was his brother Sikander who did much of the damage, claiming three for 30 in five overs, while Sajjad Kamal ran through the tail with three for 40.

Musa Ahmad and Shoaib Minhas then led the chase with an opening stand of 161, and although Minhas was eventually dismissed for 89 and Musa narrowly missed out on a century, caught behind off Roman Harhangi for 96, Jonathan Vandiar and Saqib were able to finish the job with almost eight overs to spare.

On the batter-friendly surface at Craeyenhout HBS set the day’s biggest total, posting 288 for five against Hermes-DVS.

Matt de Villiers contributed a solid 80, but the most decisive element was an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 104, made from just 70 deliveries, between Kyle Klein and Lucas de Bianco; Klein’s 62 not out came from 40 balls and included seven fours and two sixes, while Del Bianco made 40 from 31.

Daniel Doyle replied in kind, despite being hit twice on the helmet and being forced to retire for a time, his 49-ball 65 including eight fours and three sixes, but once he had gone the HBS seam attack of Klein, Lehan Botha and Henrico Venter was too strong for the Hermes batting, and the side was all out for 182, giving HBS a 106-run victory.

The only match between teams in the current top six was at Thurlede, where Excelsior ’20 took extremely valuable points from VRA Amsterdam, who dropped to sixth on the table as a result of their five-wicket defeat.

Put in to bat, VRA’s innings never really got out of first gear, and although Vikram Singh made 46 and Shariz Ahmad, Udit Nashier and Clayton Floyd all got a start, Excelsior dismissed them for 175, Gijs Kroesen taking three for 35 and his brother Luuk, Jason Ralston and Lorenzo Ingram all picking up a couple apiece.

The home side’s batters struggled in their turn, the most assured Derek Mitchell with an 88-ball 64 before he was run out by a direct hit from Johan Smal, but Ingram and Stan van Troost added a crucial 48 for the fifth wicket, battling against VRA’s four-man spin attack to take their side to within 20 of their target.

Ingram stayed to the end with Joost Kroesen, his unbeaten 38, made from 107 deliveries, the ultimate professional innings which made sure of the points for his side.

At the Bermweg, Gavin Kaplan’s phenomenal season for Voorburg continued with a vengeance, his 107 and four for 36 the difference between the sides as Sparta 1888 pushed the defending champions all the way and lost by just 27 runs.

Kaplan was ably assisted in the early stages by opener Cedric de Lange, who hit a maiden Topklasse half-century, and at 131 for one Voorburg also seemed to be on the way to an imposing total.

But Sparta’s pace attack fought back, and with Cameron Fraser claiming five for 45 and Martijn Snoep four for 38 the last six wickets fell for the addition of just 23 runs, and Voorburg were all out for 217.

Another top-order collapse, engineered mainly by Kaplan and young Alejo Nota, left the home side on 66 for five, but they were rescued by a fine knock from Juandre Scheepers, whose 84 came from 85 deliveries and included nine fours and two sixes.

His effort needed more support from the other end, however, and Sparta were eventually dismissed for 190.

Wooden-spooners ACC suffered another heavy defeat, this time at the hands of HCC at De Diepput.

A redeeming feature for the Amsterdammers, though, was the performance of Mark Wolfe, brought into the side to take over wicketkeeping duties from Ben van der Merwe: he took four catches in the HCC innings and then made 22, enabling ACC to recover from 46 for six to a slightly less parlous 101 all out.

For the rest, HCC were simply too strong in all departments, a patient 48 from Shirsak Banerjee, a more aggressive 40 from Boris Gorlee and 42 from Jed Wiggins creating the platform for a punishing 93-run sixth-wicket stand between Yash Patel (55 from 31 deliveries) and Daniel Crowley (37 not out).

Crowley then took three for 25 when ACC replied, with Wiggins claiming three for 24 and Adam Leonard two for 19.