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HCC march to their not-quite title

Rod Lyall 24/08/20

It was HCC’s day on Sunday, as they prevailed over the weather, the Punjab attack, and ultimately their opponents’ fearsome batting line-up to clinch the bragging rights, if not the club’s 46th national championship, with a 63-run victory over their nearest challengers at the Zomercomplex.

After several hours’ frustrating wait the most decisive match of this abbreviated season was reduced to a 35-over affair and, having been put in to bat, HCC faced the task of setting a target that might be beyond the reach of Stef Myburgh and Co.

Skipper Tonny Staal gave them a promising start with a run-a-ball 24 before falling to Mubashar Hussain, but it was Musa Nadeem Ahmad who created the platform for a sizeable total with a solid 62, sharing a stand of 67 in nine overs with a much more aggressive Hidde Overdijk.

Once Ahmad had gone Overdijk took over, and his 49-ball 83 not out, supported by 35 from 18 deliveries from Yash Patel as the pair added another 84 before Patel was run out off the final ball of the innings, enabled HCC to reach a very imposing 244 for six.

Overdijk’s knock included four fours and seven sixes, while Mubashar Hussain’s figures of three for 28 were outstanding in the midst of so much mayhem.

Faced with making seven an over against a testing HCC attack, Punjab were given a good start in their turn by Myburgh and Rehmat Zulfiqar, but the loss of three crucial wickets in the space of seven deliveries, the big guns of Myburgh, Rehmat and Teja Nidamanuru falling to Hidde Overdijk and his brother Jan Wieger, turned the game the Lions’ way.

The asking rate climbed as wickets continued to fall, Olivier Klaus chiming in with three for 16 in his seven overs, and at 90 for seven with only 13 overs left the Punjab challenge was over.

Then Jan Wieger Overdijk returned to claim two more, finishing with four for 37, but Sikander Zulfiqar was still at the crease, and together with Suleiman Tariq he added 79 for the last wicket in a defiant rearguard action.

Two successive sixes off Musa Ahmad took him to 99, but then he missed the next one and was bowled, having faced 79 deliveries and hit five fours and seven sixes, and Punjab were all out for 181.

Voorburg, the only other side to have beaten Punjab in the Topklasse this season, made the most of the opportunity to move level with them with an untroubled seven-wicket victory over wooden-spooners Dosti-United at Westvliet.

Dosti, after electing to bat, were dismissed for 127, only Sukumar Raji with 37 playing a subsgtntial innings, Viv Kingma the most successful of Voorburg’s bowlers with three for 23.

And then the home side needed just 24 of the 43 overs at their disposal to knock off the runs, skipper Ba de Leede again leading the way with an unbeaten 46 and Aryan Dutt contributing 35.

At the Bermweg Sparta 1888 had one of their better days, beating VRA Amsterdam by 29 runs to move into fifth place on the table.

The basis of their victory was a second-wicket partnership of 117 between Craig Ambrose (53) and Ali Raza (73), compiled after Lenert van Wyk had been dismissed by the first ball he received.

Two mini-collapses, one mid-innings and one towards the end, prevented the Capelle side from fully capitalising on this platform, but their 227 for nine was enough to put VRA under pressure as they replied.

Then Mudassar Bukhari struck two early blows, and the Amsterdammers never really recovered, although Peter Borren top-scored with 38, to add to the three for 40 he had taken in the Sparta innings, and Adeel Raja made 30 not out as he marshalled the tail and enabled his side to reach 198.

Usman Saleem did most of the damage for Sparta, working his way through the middle order and finishing with four for 47, while Bukhari had three for 24.

In another mid-table clash Julian de Mey was again in good form with the bat for HBS Craeyenhout, his 71 not out taking his side to a four-wicket home victory over ACC.

HBS were chasing the Amsterdammers’ 171 all out, in which Shreyas Potdar (47) and Aryan Kumar (36) put on 80 for the fourth wicket before Wessel Coster (four for 24) and Stephan Vink (three for 26) engineered a slump in which seven wickets fell for just 34 runs.

The Crows were in trouble themselves at 51 for four and 74 for five, but De Mey stood firm, supported by useful innings from Benno Boddendijk and Ferdi Vink, the latter remaining until the target was achieved with three overs to spare.

At Hazelaarweg, VOC Rotterdam secured their second win of the season, beating Excelsior ‘20 by 22 runs, mainly thanks to a fourth-wicket stand of 106 between Arnav Jain (62), his maiden Topklasse half-century, and Ahsan Malik (53).

This enabled the home side to reach 160 all out despite Rens van Troost taking six for 42, and although Excelsior started steadily in reply they were unable to generate the momentum they needed or any substantial partnership as VOC chipped way at their line-up.

Opener Luuk Kroesen made a patient 30 and Lorenzo Ingram, batting at seven, equalled that score without being dismissed, but he received insufficient support and was left stranded as his side was dismissed for 138.

Jelte Schoonheim, playing his 500th senior game for the club, was the main wicket-taker with three for 23, while there were two apiece for the old stagers Ahsan Malik and Bobby Hanif.

Round 8 Preview

Rod Lyall and Bertus de Jong 20/08/20

It’s not difficult to spot the Match of the Day this week, with the top two sides meeting in what would effectively be the championship decider if there were a championship to decide. But there are some other tasty encounters on the agenda as well, if you’re a real cricket lover or – a more numerous species in the Netherlands – a passionate enthusiast for your club.

RL: Just one point ahead after last Sunday’s DLS tie, leaders HCC make the challenging trip to the Zomercomplex to take on Punjab Rotterdam. The game pits the best batting combination in the competition, which slaughtered the Sparta bowling last week, against the most effective attack, while the corresponding match-up between HCC’s top and middle order and Punjab’s bowlers is less imposing but nevertheless potentially decisive. Even the toss whets the appetite: if Suleiman Tariq wins if for the home side, should he opt for runs on the board or rely on his batters’ awesome chasing capacity; should Tonny Staal call correctly, would it be better to try to get amongst the Punjab top order early and risk a massive chase, or to look to set a target his bowlers can defend? Either way, I know where I would want to be on Sunday if it didn’t involve a 24-hour journey!

BdJ:HCC’s attack has unquestionably impressed thus far, but containing a rampant Myburgh, especially within the limited confines of the Zomercomplex, will prove a tougher task than they have faced thus far, and with an enviably deep batting order behind him avoiding a Myburgh onslaught will likely be necessary but not sufficient to keep Punjab to a manageable total. The point HCC took from Thurlede last week effectively overturned Punjab’s considerable net run rate advantage, however, and with the Rotterdammers facing the tougher final fixture away at VRA next week the hosts will arguably be under the greater pressure come Sunday.

RL: It’s a real test of character to come back from a mauling like the one Sparta 1888’s Bukhari-less attack was handed by Punjab last Sunday, although the batters will have been given heart by their display and especially by the century from Lenert van Wyk. They return to the Bermweg to entertain VRA Amsterdam, who fought all the way against Voorburg but whose batting had ultimately not given the bowlers enough to play with. Capelle a/d IJssel is never an easy place for visiting teams, but VRA will hope to get more from their top order against the Sparta attack, while the home side will be hoping that Ben Cooper doesn’t decide to cut loose in the way that Myburgh and Nidamanuru did for Punjab last week.

BdJ: With the weight of runs he’d accumulated in the T20 competition it seemed almost inevitable that van Wyk would start cashing in in the longer format soon enough, and there’s little reason to believe he’s run out of steam. Yet VRA’s chief strength has been the batting quality of some of their youngsters, and perhaps as much the adequacy of the rest, coupled with the fact that their Pros are both Dutch and Dutch-based. Thus even another ton from van Wyk may not be enough, though with weather expected to play a role VRA’s greater depth may not be as influential as they might hope.

RL: Voorburg had a couple of unquiet moments towards the end of their modest run chase in the Amsterdamse Bos but their attack proved its strength against Borren and Co. and will expect to find Dosti-United Amsterdam a considerably less menacing proposition. The Amsterdammers put up their best batting performance of the season against ACC, both Shahdab Ghori and Mahesh Hans making half-centuries, but the new-ball pairing of Kingma and Qasim, not to mention Philippe Boissevain’s leg spin, will give them plenty to think about as they try to consolidate the progress they have gradually made. The solidity of Voorburg’s batting, especially in the absence of Tom de Grooth, remains a cause for concern, but the question is whether Dosti have the bowlers to exploit that weakness.

BdJ: It would be easy to make too much of Dosti’s first serious total last week given that it came against and ACC side bowling to defend, and comfortably defending, a much higher target. But nonetheless the Amsterdammers showed a capacity to make runs even in the absence of skipper Vinoo Tewarie, and both Waheed Masood and Mahesh Hans continued to prove themselves capable of taking wickets. Dosti’s performances have been trending irregularly upwards since their admittedly abject start, having come close to finding their first points against VOC the week before. They remain underdogs against VCC of course, coming up against an attack that undid VRA’s much more resilient line-up last week, but at least don’t look like rolling over just yet.

RL: Both winners last week, HBS Craeyenhout and ACC meet in Den Haag with a chance of finishing in the right half of the table. ACC are currently fifth, but their margin over their hosts is just one win, and on paper they look pretty evenly matched. The fact that HBS got to 251 last Sunday despite the early loss of Tobias Visée should encourage them enormously, and it’s a good sign that Julian de Mey and Navjit Singh were able to bat with so much self-possession. ACC, on the other hand, saw Charles McInerney and Chris Knoll do the same job for them, while both sides have attacks which are hard-working rather than spectacular. Sander Geenevasen can scarcely expect ACC’s top order to thrash about as accommodatingly as VOC’s did last Sunday, but the combination of his seam bowling with that of Wessel Coster and Singh, along with the spin of De Mey and Adil Ahmed, may be enough to give HBS the edge.

BdJ: ACC have continued to outperform expectations through the season, most notably with the bat. The likes of Ramesh Babu, McInerney, Potdar, Kothari and now Knoll have all stepped up in turn to plug the holes left by the Zulfiqar exodus, but the bowling remains a vulnerability. Last week Dosti tripled their tally of half-centuries for the season against them, while Marcus Andrew and Stephan Myburgh have shown that a suitably aggressive bat, with good luck and a following wind, can take the ACC attack entirely apart. Such a one is Toby Visee, and with the rest of the HBS line up looking somewhat less vulnerable the skipper may allow himself a measure of freedom come Sunday. “Gotta get Visee early” is such a Topklasse truism at this point that it’s scarcely worth saying, but one feels it is doubly true for ACC.

RL: Both VOC Rotterdam and Excelsior ’20 Schiedam were chasing hard last Sunday when the weather closed in, but the Rotterdammers had to leave Craeyenhout empty- handed while Excelsior were able to escape with a point from their tie at De Diepput. Last season’s encounter between these sides at Hazelaarweg was a hard-fought, ill-tempered affair, and it is to be hoped that the atmosphere is a little more congenial this time. Excelsior owed their point last week to Lorenzo Ingram’s mastery in a tight situation, and they will be hoping he can continue in that vein against VOC, for whom Corey Rutgers’ contributions with the bat are scarcely less crucial. But Ahsan Malik was also impressive against HBS in the unfamiliar role of middle-order batter, while Jelte Schoonheim has been bowling as well as ever. The Schiedammers, of course, are a very young side, but their bowling unit maintained the pressure well against HCC, and if the batters are still gaining experience they have done enough to show that they will eventually blend into a significant line-up.

BdJ: Coming into the season missing the majority of their first team, VOC were keen to downplay their ambitions for the Summer, and fair to say they have lived down to those low expectations. That said, on return from semi-retirement, Rutgers has done a decent job of marshaling the resources available to him. Even if their sole points thus far have come against Dosti, the Belgium head coach has stepped up admirably in the absence of Pieter Seelaar and with Hanif and Malik back for the tail end of the season the Rotterdammers no longer look like walkovers. That said, Seelaar’s absence does rather undermine VOC’s traditional home advantage at the spin-friendly Hazelaarweg, and with Inrgam and Umar Baker (who has plenty of experience at his former home ground) the visitors arguably have an attack better suited to the conditions.

Rod Lyall’s tips: Punjab, Sparta, Voorburg, HBS, Excelsior.
Bertus de Jong’s tips: Punjab, VRA, Voorburg, HBS, Excelsior.

Myburgh lights up the Zomercomplex

Rod Lyall 17/08/20

An eventful weekend’s cricket ended in bizarre circumstances on Sunday evening when bad light forced the players from the field at De Diepput with nine overs left and the match between HCC and Excelsior ‘20 hanging in the balance.

Chasing HCC’s 171 for nine, Excelsior had reached 132 for six with Lorenzo Ingram on 45 not out when play was interrupted, and with heavy rain rolling in the DLS calculations began.

It seemed that, thanks to a sudden onslaught immediately before the stoppage in which ten runs came of Damian Crowley’s final over, including a six by Ingram, Excelsior was exactly on the DLS par score and that the match was therefore tied.

But at the fall of the previous wicket 14-year-old Jelte van Troost had collapsed with cramp on his way to the crease and retired hurt without facing a ball, and the question arose whether his departure represented a seventh wicket.

That led to some intense discussion before it was ruled that of course it didn’t, and that the match had ended in a tie.

It had been hard-fought from the outset, HCC finding runs hard to come by against a disciplined Excelsior attack, and it took a solid 29 from Yash Patel and an unbroken last-wicket stand of 30 between Olivier Klaus and Jan Wieger Overdijk to get them up to a defensible 171.

Excelsior also battled with the bat, but Ingram was the trump card, and he and skipper Tom Heggelman had ensured that the match was dead level when the weather finally intervened.

Things were at a similar point across at Craeyenhout, where almost at the same moment proceedings were halted with VOC Rotterdam just six runs behind the DLS par score in their pursuit of HBS’s 251 for nine.

It had been the home side’s best batting performance of the season, but it was almost entirely due to the innings of Julian de Mey (92) and Navjit Singh (64), who shared a third-wicket partnership of 128.

After Singh departed, trapped in front and the first of four wickets for Jelte Schoonheim, De Mey continued until he was last out, caught and bowled by Ahsan Malik shortly before the end.

Schoonheim finished with four for 50, with two wickets apiece for Malik and Bobby Hanif.

VOC responded at first as they were in a T20, lashing out at everything and quickly subsided to 6 for three, Sander Geenevasen taking all three in the space of eight deliveries without conceding a run.

But Ahsan Malik set about restoring some sanity to the innings, and he and Corey Rutgers put on 71 for the fifth wicket before he was bowled by Benno Boddendijk for 52.

Rutgers continued in tandem first with Schoonheim and then in turn with Hanif and Rohan Malik, and as long as he was at the crease it seemed that VOC might be in with a chance.

Then Geenevasen returned, Rutgers, on 74, edged to Visée at slip, and the balance of the match swung back HBS’s way.

No further wicket fell, but VOC were unable to get their noses in front in the DLS Stakes, and when the players left the field, Geenevasen having taken four for 24, it was HBS who pipped their opponents at the post.

Dramatic as all this was, there was drama of another kind at the Zomercomplex in Rotterdam, where Stef Myburgh continued his dream summer with a chanceless, almost unbelievably destructive, 60-ball 130 not out, sharing a stand of 218 with Teja Nidamanuru which saw Punjab Rotterdam cruise to an eight-wicket victory over Sparta 1888.

Myburgh now has an extraordinary 501 runs in just six innings, with a strike rate of 134.68 and an average of 167.00, and he hit seven fours and 11 sixes in reaching his third century of the season; Nidamanuru was scarcely less damaging, his 95 coming from 65 deliveries with 11 four and five sixes.

Sparta, missing captain Mudassar Bukhari, had set Punjab a reasonable target of 244, mainly thanks to 113 from 106 deliveries from Lenert van Wyk, his first Topklasse century for the club, with Ali Raza contributing 31 and another useful last-wicket from Nasratullah Ibrahimkhil and Usman Saleem.

But with the Zomercomplex’s bijou dimensions and Myburgh’s range-finder in excellent working order it quickly transpired that this was nothing like enough.

Voorburg meanwhile moved level with VRA Amsterdam by virtue of their six-wicket victory over their nearest rivals in the Amsterdamse Bos.

The home side never really settled to their task after Peter Borren, back in charge, elected to bat first, and struggled to 159 all out, Eric Szwarczynski top-scoring with 32 before becoming the first of four victims for Philippe Boissevain.

Borren himself made 26 and keeper Mitch Lees chipped in with 27 towards the end, but the Voorburg attack never let up, Boissevain finishing with four for 35.

But Voorburg’s batsmen found conditions little easier, and with patient innings from Righardt Pieterse (52) and Bas de Leede (34) it took them until the 48^th over to reach their target, Aryan Dutt and Viv Kingma showing the necessary aggression to get their side over the line.

On Saturday Dosti-United Amsterdam showed much greater resilience with the bat in their rearranged match against ACC at Het Loopveld West, but still lost their seventh match on the trot.

They had been set an imposing target after ACC posted 291 for eight, Charles McInerney (80) and Chris Knoll (107) putting on 186 for the third wicket to set their side on course for a substantial score.

Waheed Masood and stand-in captain Mahesh Hans took three for 60 and three for 49 respectively.

Half-centuries by Shahdab Ghori and Hans were the core of Dosti’s reply, Sukumar Raji chipping in with 40 as they reached a relatively respectable 239, but Devanshu Arya had his best return of the season with four for 41 and the inning closed 52 runs short.

Gallery | HCC vs Excelsior | 16.08.20

Umpires Das and Muthucumaru testing the wet spot on the pitch

Boris Gorlee with the airblower

Captains’ box

Tonny Staal plays off the hip

Tom Heggelman

Staal swings wildly

Danger outside off for Staal

Musa Ahmed survives his first appeal

Driven by Staal

Ahmed is not interested in the lbw appeal against him

Damian Crawley plays a let-stroke

Niels Etman bowling

Ahmad swings at a wide one

Crowley belts one through cover

Umar Baker

Ahmad takes a quick single

Ahmad plays to the hands of Ingram at gully

Crawley drives square

Boris Gorlee plays a cover drve

Felix Vecchi plays to leg

Boris Gorlee is out caught by first slip Etman

Vecchi on the drive

Ingram takes a blinder and Vecchi is gone

Clayton Floyd plays fine to leg

Floyd puts one on the roof of the pavalion

Hidde Overdijk hits a straight six

Six more for Overdijk

Hidde Overdijk is in fact run out…

…contrary to general opinion. Excellent call Umpire Das!

Jelte van Troost bowling

Jan-Wieger Overdijk plays uppishly to cover

Ollie Klaus hits a four from the backfoot

Hidde Overdijk

A horrible drop from Ollie Klaus

Luuk Kroesen misses a sweep shot…

… and is out lbw

Roel Verhagen goes over the top…

…and Vecchi makes no mistake

Joost Kroesen is lbw to Floyd

Niels Etman hits out

A boundary for Etman

Etman is the third lbw

Celebrations for HCC

Ollie Klaus bowling

Lorenzo Ingram comes out to drive

Rens van Troost is lbw off the hip

Shankar scores a boundary over midwicket

Six into the crowd by Shankar

Shankar works the ball to the leg-side (

Ingram scores in style

As the thunder-storm comes nearer Ingram ups the tempo

Jelte van Troost gets an injury while walking out to bat

Musa Ahmad bowling

In the middle of darkness play continues…

…until lightning makes further play impossible. The match is tied on DLS

Voorburg conquer Punjab, but HCC march on

Rod Lyall 10/08/20

Punjab Rotterdam’s unbeaten run came to an end at Westvliet on Sunday as batsmen prospered and bowlers sweltered on the warmest weekend of this exceptional summer.

It had been an open question how the Rotterdammers’ batting would respond if they were put under real pressure, and Bas de Leede and his Voorburg side put them to the test by running up an imposing 274 for four, De Leede himself making an unbeaten 106 and sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 120 with Tom de Grooth (65).

Once De Grooth had departed Philippe Boissevain piled on the agony for the tiring Punjab attack, smacking three sixes in his 17-ball 37 not out.

But Punjab were unfazed, and Stef Myburgh and Rehmat Zulfiqar gave their side a dream start, putting on 101 in 17 overs before the former was run out for 54.

Rehmat continued in tandem with brother Asad, and the total had advanced to 172 before Boissevain secured the breakthrough, Asad caught by Viv Kingma for 22.

Now on 81, Rehmat pressed on to his hundred, but as soon as he had reached that milestone he, too, fell to Boissevain, and his departure triggered a mid-order collapse which saw Punjab go from 196 for two to 200 for five and then to 222 for six.

It was now left to Teja Nidamanuru to manage the tail, but with wickets falling at the end and the asking rate steadily climbing, he was unable to raise the tempo sufficiently, Kingma bowling with admirable control at the death and Ali Ahmed Qasim chipping in with two wickets in an over.

Punjab closed on 257 for nine, 18 runs short of their target, with Nidamanuru on a run-a-ball 28, while Boissevain finished with three for 57.

Punjab’s narrow defeat meant that HCC moved clear at the top by virtue of their 153-run victory over Sparta 1888 at the Bermweg.

Their total of 237 was a real team effort, Felix Vecchi top-scoring with a maiden Topklasse 50, opener Musa Nadeem Ahmed contributing 34 at the outset, and Olivier Klaus smacking 34 once Vecchi had gone, helping his side well clear of the 200 mark.

Manminder Singh was again the most successful of the Sparta bowlers with three for 38, and there were two wickets apiece for Max Hoornweg, Lenert van Wyk and Joost Martijn Snoep.

HCC’s attack has been as vital for their victories this season as Punjab’s batting for theirs, and Hidde Overdijk immediately seized control, taking four quick wickets, including that of Van Wyk, to leave Sparta struggling.

Then Klaus took over, and when he removed Mudassar Bukhari for 23 seven wickets were down for 73 and there was no way back for the home side.

Clayton Floyd cleaned up the tail and Sparta were all out for 84, Overdijk finishing with four for 24, Klaus three for 9, and Floyd three for 21.

Another beneficiary of Voorburg’s victory was VRA Amsterdam, who triumphed by 30 runs over a spirited ACC in the Amsterdam derby at Het Loopveld West.

VRA posted 259, stand-in captain Vikram Singh again leading the way with 48 and sharing useful partnerships with Shirase Rasool (38) and Marcus Andrew (52).

They, too, suffered a mid-order collapse, but they were rescued by an enterprising 41 from Quirijn Gunning and an unbeaten 40 by Mitch Lees, while Chris Knoll was the pick of the ACC bowlers with three for 24.

ACC made a positive reply, and at 100 for two they seemed to be well placed to take the points.

But another three-wicket haul for Luke Hartsink pegged them back, and it took a sixth-wicket stand of 70 between Ram Ramesh Babu (47) and Shreyas Potdar (41) to bring the home side back into contention.

VRA’s trump card turned out to be Ben Cooper, who removed first Babu and then Potdar, and the innings closed on 229; Hartsink had three for 32 and Cooper three for 31.

After a shaky start to their season Excelsior ‘20’s youngsters continued their run into form with a comfortable six-wicket victory over HBS Craeyenhout at Thurlede.

The Schiedammers seized control of the match from the moment Niels Etman had Tobias Visée caught by Umar Baker for an 8-ball 19 which included four fours, and although Adil Ahmed top-scored with 26 it took some late resistance from Wessel Coster and Steven Vink to get them through to 140.

Rens van Troost and Baker took three for 18 and three for 27 respectively.

A second-wicket stand of 96 between 18-year-old opener Stan van Troost and Etman set Excelsior well on the way to victory, and Van Troost batted throughout the reply, finishing on 65 not out – another maiden Topklasse half-century – as the home side reached their target with more than 15 overs to spare.

The two remaining winless teams, VOC Rotterdam and Dosti-United Amsterdam, fought out a somewhat attritional battle at the Hazelaarweg.

VOC were in trouble early on, Waheed Masood claiming two quick wickets and Mahesh Hans also collecting a couple to reduce the home side to 39 for five.

Corey Rutgers led a fightback, however, first in company with Jelte Schoonheim and then with Ayaz Durrani; he made 63 and Durrani 37, and with Vinoo Tewarie taking four for 32, including both the main run-scorers, VOC finished with 180.

Dosti’s reply began promisingly, Tewarie and Masood putting on 69 before Bobby Hanif removed the latter for 35, but with the departure of Tewarie for 37 with the total on 82, a flurry of wickets suggested that another of the Amsterdammers’ dramatic collapses might ensue.

At 103 for six they seemed to be down and out, but Sukumar Raji stiffened the resistance, initially in company with Arief Hoseinbaks, and when the total reached 160 for seven the balance appeared to have swung Dosti’s way.

The last three wickets, however, fell without further addition to the score, Raji going for 33 and Hanif finishing with four for 46, and VOC took their first points with a 20-run victory.

Preview Round 6

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 07/08/20

The luck of the draw gives us an absorbing set of match-ups this week, with every game of great potential significance for the final standings, and in some cases a real index of the longer-term prospects of clubs which are – or more worryingly, are not – pursuing strong youth development policies.

RL: HCC’s visit to the Bermweg to take on Sparta 1888 has been given extra zest by the hosts’ nail-biting victory over Voorburg last week. Leading sides have found in the past that the Capelle ground can be something of a banana skin, and Sparta have the attack, led by Mudassar Bukhari, to exploit the fragilities of HCC’s batting. On the other hand, the fact that Sparta had to rely on heroics from their last pair to get them past Voorburg’s less-than-imposing total points to batting weaknesses of their own, and if neither Lenert van Wyk nor Bukhari makes a substantial contribution they can soon be in serious trouble. The Leeuwen managed to survive without Boris Gorlee or Hidde Overdijk last Sunday, and if they are back to anything like full strength they might be expected to carry the day again. But at the Bermweg anything can happen.

BdJ: Van Wyk and Bukhari both have been in menacing form with the bat of late, the former especially in the T20 competition, and Manminder Singh has looked increasingly confident with the bat down the order. Nonetheless the line-up remains top-heavy, and as Hidde Overdijk and Reinier Bijloos showed against VRA a couple of weeks ago, HCC do have an attack that can make things happen. That said, they lack a spinner of the quality of Flip Boissevain and the seam attack isn’t quite the same calibre as that of VCC. Given the difficulty of prognosticating on events at Bermweg, this seems as good a game as any for a sporting disagreement.

RL: Very clearly the team to beat now, Punjab Rotterdam will travel to Westvliet full of confidence for their clash with Voorburg. The encounter between their powerful top order and the home side’s seam attack will fill any neutral cricket fan with anticipation, and with Stef Myburgh in outstanding form and a quartet of Zulfiqars to keep him company, Viv Kingma and Co. will need to be at their best if they are to prevent the visitors from getting way to another lightning start. Voorburg’s batting is a good deal less intimidating, but then so is Punjab’s attack. This asymmetry makes the outcome more difficult to predict, but barring some drama at the top of the Punjab innings it would be surprising if the Rotterdammers came away without the points.

BdJ: Given Boissevain’s showing last week and Viv Kingma’s form in the KNCB intra-squad games this last week, VCC look to be the side best placed to break Punjab’s march toward the title, but the depth that the quartet of Zulfiqars lends to Punjab’s batting lends the Rotterdammers a degree of resilience that VCC have yet had to face. No doubt the Voorburgers will pose Punjab their toughest challenge thus far, but they remain marginal favourites going in.

RL: One of the longest-standing derbies in Dutch cricket, the game between ACC and VRA Amsterdam at Het Loopveld is all the more intriguing this year because of the youthfulness of the two sides. This is not new for the hosts, whose team has for a couple of seasons past, in addition to the now-departed Zulfiqars, featured – at some cost to its results – teenagers like Shirase Rasool, Aryan Kumar, Jamieson Mulready, Ammar Zaidi and Shreyas Potdar. Now Rasool has crossed the Buitenveldertselaan to join VRA, but several of his peers are playing an increasingly significant role in a reconstructed side and have now been joined by Mees van Vliet. VRA, of course, have a rising star in Vikram Singh, stand-in captain last week in the absence of the injured Peter Borren and now developing an opening partnership with Rasool. But with seamer Ashir Abid, allrounder Debrup Dasgupta and left-arm spinner Luke Hartsink all enjoying some success, this match could be a forerunner of Amsterdam derbies for years to come.

BdJ: The injury that Borren acquired at the two team’s last meeting in the T20 comp last week will likely keep him out for the rest of the season, but given what else happened that game that’ll be of little comfort to the hosts. Their main memory will be Ben Cooper making runs for fun against a promising but still raw young attack, who will have to raise their game if they are not to repeat the experience. Having poached Rasool, VRA have the edge in terms of properly-blooded youngsters too. ACC have done better this season than many had expected, but a win over their neighbours would nonetheless be a serious upset – but doubtless one they will be reminding their rivals of for years to come should they pull it off.

RL: Having posted their first win of the season at the expense of Dosti last Saturday, Excelsior ’20 Schiedam will entertain HBS Craeyenhout at Thurlede. Neither side has had a very convincing start to the season but, while it’s hard to take the true measure of the win against hapless Dosti, the success of the opening partnership of Luuk Kroesen and Roel Verhagen, together with the return to batting form of Joost Kroesen and Lorenzo Ingram, suggests that the Schiedammers may be beginning to find some rhythm. The return of Tom Heggelman from holiday adds substance to the side, and they may be too strong for a rather stuttering HBS, distinctly second-best against HCC last week. The Crows’ batting depends so much on Tobias Visée that his early dismissal almost guarantees a modest total, and the attack has too often found itself defending indefensibly low scores. If HBS field first, however, the bowling is talented – and varied – enough to cause Excelsior some problems.

BdJ: After an underwhelming start, Excelsior’s youngsters have warmed to their task. A win against a hollowed-out Dosti side admittedly says little, but nonetheless things look to be coming belatedly together for the title-holders. With HBS’ once-vaunted batting depth looking increasingly like the Aral Sea, it’s hard to see the Crows coming out on top in the absence of another hitting exhibition from Visée. An unbeaten 139 in last week’s T20 from the Crows’ skipper rather underlined that ever-present danger, but bar some thus-far absent support from the middle order, Visée will struggle to win it on his own.

RL: Two sides still looking for their first win, VOC Rotterdam and Dosti-United meet at the Hazelaarweg. Even without Pieter Seelaar the Rotterdammers have not been a million miles away from breaking their duck in recent weeks, and the return to the attack of first Bobby Hanif and then Ahsan Malik has given it a much more menacing look. Dosti, on the other hand, have looked completely out of their depth, and even Touseef Ahmed has not been able to give them a competitive edge. Deprived not only of their core overseas players but also of Rahil Ahmed, Anees Davids and Mohammed Hafeez, they are a shadow of their former selves, and the absence of a strong group of young players to support Vinoo Tewarie and Mahesh Hans is desperately worrying for the future of the club. For VOC, by contrast, 16-year-old Siebe van Wingarden has been bowling ten economical overs every week, and with Arnav Jain and the returning Tim de Kok having slotted into the side they will be confident of claiming their first points this week.

BdJ: There’s little more to be said there. Dosti have been abject this season, and despite Tewarie and Hans occasionally hauling them toward respectability and Waheed Masood enjoying a personally solid season, VOC will have to lower their game substantially if they are to get through the season with their record unblemished by points.

Rod Lyall’s tips: HCC, Punjab, VRA, Excelsior, VOC.

Bertus de Jong’s tips: Sparta, Punjab, VRA, Excelsior, VOC.

Gallery | Sparta vs VCC | 02.08.20

Sparta 1888 vs Voorburg CC at Bermweg – 02/08/20
scorecard | as it happened

Tails! Heads it is…

Umpires Hilhorst and Hussein with Captains De Leede and Bukhari

A shaky start for Righardt Pieterse

Tom de Grooth gets a tester from Bukhari

Bowler Max Hoornweg stops a drive with a great reflex

De Grooth is adjudged lbw

Next question?

Bas de Leede tucks one to leg

Usman Saleem

De Leede scores a boundary over square

Lenert van Wyk from the Pavilion End

Pieterse plays an effective shot

Aryan Dutt pulls for a four

A straight slog by Pieterse

Pulled for a boundary by Dutt

Dutt is lbw to Manminder Singh

Pieterse plays with soft hands

Manminder Singh

Philippe Boissevain lofts a square drive

Pieterse plays the ball delicately into his stumps

Boissevain misses a sweepshot and is lbw

Hoornweg makes a meal of a sitter

Ali Ahmed Qasim is bowled on a free hit

Remco van der Giessen is bowled by Hoornweg

Vivian Kingma plays to leg

A big shot by Kingma

Qasim goes over top

Qasim steals a second

Mamoon Latif starts with proper aggression

Latif is bowled by Ahmed Qasim

Viv Kingma

Craig Ambrose lofts over cover

Ambrose plays through point

Ambrose is castled by Kingma

Mudassar Bukhari has to hurry

Lenert van Wyk shows his class

A blistering straight drive by Van Wyk

Bukhari survives an lbw situation

Aryan Dutt

Smashed from the backfoot by Van Wyk

Bukhari drives square

Boundary for Bukhari

Dutt is congratulated on taking the wicket of Van Wyk

Bukhari goes for the big one

Ali Raza in active defence

Joost-Martijn Snoep gets a serious bouncer from De Leede

Raza holes out to Kingma at deep midwicket

A boundary for Hoornweg

Nasratulah Ibrahimkhil gets another life

Ibrahimkhil edges through a vacant slip-area

Ibrahimkhil keeps on scoring

Snoep is lbw to Boissevain

Philippe Boissevain on his way to 6 for 34 from 9

A fine drive from Ibrahimkhil

Usman Saleem clips the ball to leg

Ibrahimkhil rides his luck with a lofted shot

Saleem gets into the action

A determined Ibrahimkhil

Ibrahimkhil digs out a Kingma yorker

Congrats for Usman Saleem

Saleem and Ibrahimkhil leave the field as heroes

Sparta’s last pair win a thriller

Rod Lyall 03/08/20

Leaders Punjab Rotterdam and HCC both had comfortable wins on Sunday to preserve their unbeaten records, but most of the drama of the round came at the Bermweg, where Sparta 1888 hung on to achieve a remarkable one-wicket victory over Voorburg.

Chasing Voorburg’s relatively modest total of 191 for eight, Sparta began well, a useful third-wicket stand between Lenert van Wyk and Mudassar Bukhari, both of whom made 36, getting them almost halfway to their target.

But once they had gone, a mid-order collapse triggered by international leg-spinner Philippe Boissevain saw the home side slump from 104 for three to 150 for nine.

42 were still needed when Usman Saleem joined Nasratullah Ibrahimkil at the crease, and with Boissevain in rampant mood Voorburg appeared to be on the brink of victory.

But there were plenty of overs in hand, and Sparta’s final pair gradually picked off the runs, doing so so effectively that the winning runs came with 17 deliveries remaining. Boissevain finished with six for 34.

Earlier, Voorburg opener Righardt Pieterse had posted a maiden Topklasse half-century, facing 104 deliveries and sharing useful partnerships with Bas de Leede and Aryan Dutt.

Pieterse eventually became one of four victims for Manminder Singh (at a cost of 53 runs), who worked his way through the middle order, while Max Hoornweg collected three for 32.

The individual batting performance of the day again came from Punjab’s international opening batsman Stef Myburgh, who struck a 95-ball, unbeaten 127 as his side made short work of pursuing ACC’s 209 at the Zomercomplex. Myburgh hit 15 fours and eight sixes.

That ACC managed to reach 209 was due in large part to Aryan Kumar, playing for the first time this season, who came to the wicket at 123 for six and proceeded to make a brisk 51.

Sikander Zulfiqar took three for 49, and there was a brace of wickets apiece for his brother Saqib, Mubashar Hussain and Teja Nidamanuru.

Then Myburgh and Rehmat Zulfiqar got Punjab off to a lightning start, smacking 76 off the first ten overs and pushing their opening stand to 89 before Rehmat was bowled by Devanshu Arya for a 36-ball 41.

But Myburgh was unstoppable, adding 50 of a second-wicket stand of 62 with Asad Zulfiqar and a further 36 in a more equal partnership of 61 with Saqib Zulfiqar, who finished on 21.

The task for HCC’s batsmen at De Diepput was a good deal easier: HBS Craeyenhout never recovered from the early dismissal of the talismanic Tobias Visée, and were dismissed for 127, Ferdi Vink’s fighting 43 and his eighth-wicket stand of 52 with young Martijn Scholte the only bright spots in an otherwise disappointing effort.

All HCC’s bowlers had a piece of the action, with Clayton Floyd, Reinier Bijloos, Jan-Wieger Overdijk and Damian Crowley each picking up a couple of wickets and Olivier Klaus one.

In the absence of Boris Gorlee and Hidde Overdijk HCC might have experienced a mild flutter at 63 for three in reply, but Yash Patel and Felix Vecchi rose to the occasion, more than doubling the score in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand and making 34 and 32 respectively, seeing their side to a seven-wicket victory with almost half the overs remaining.

It is increasingly looking as if meeting between Punjab and HCC on 23 August will have the character of a non-title decider.

Another of Sunday’s absentees was VRA Amsterdam skipper Peter Borren, who split the webbing of his left hand during Friday evening’s T20 Cup match, and this led to Vikram Singh, at 17 years and 206 days, perhaps becoming the top division’s youngest-ever captain in the match against VOC Rotterdam in Amstelveen.

Singh led from the front after winning the toss, carrying his bat and making 72 not out as VRA were dismissed for 186, young spinner Luke Hartsink unable to bat because he, too, is carrying a hand injury.

The skipper was well supported by Mitch Lees, who made 42 in sixth-wicket stand of 71, while for VOC there were three wickets apiece for returning former international Ahsan Malik and for Ramdas Upadhyaya, at a cost of 23 and 35 respectively.

The Rotterdammers made a creditable fight of their response, with both Tim de Kok (38) and Corey Rutgers (44 not out) giving them some prospect of achieving their first win of the season, but the spin of Hartsink (two for 29) and veteran Adeel Raja (four for 34) proved too effective, and in the end Rutgers was left stranded with the total on 160.

On Saturday Excelsior ’20 Schiedam had secured their first points of the season with a thumping 180-run victory over Dosti-United Amsterdam at Thurlede.

The Schiedammers dominated from the outset, Luuk Kroesen and Roel Verhagen putting on 143 for the first wicket before the former was run out for 48, just short of a maiden Topklasse fifty and Verhagen then went on to a personal best of 85.

Then Kroesen’s eldest brother Joost contributed an unbeaten 60, he and Lorenzo Ingram (43 not out) pushing Excelsior’s total up to an imposing 296 for four.
Dosti never seemed likely to put up a serious challenge, and although Waheed Masood made a defiant 50-ball 56 before becoming one of four victims for keeper Verhagen, falling to the leg spin of Joost Kroesen.

The wickets were shared as Dosti’s innings closed on 116, Umar Baker and the third Kroesen, Gijs, picking up two each, and Luuk taking two for none in four deliveries to finish off what was little short of a Kroesen family triumph.

Punjab and HCC go top

Rod Lyall 28/07/20

What could have been one of the most attractive fixtures of this shortened season turned out to be a rout, in part because of an accident of the calendar.

The last weekend of July is traditionally cricket-free in the Netherlands, but this year, after a cricket-free May and June, the KNCB was forced to use 26 July as part of its revised competitions schedules.

The result was a number of significant absences of players who had long ago taken advantage of the break in the programme to book holidays, and no side was more adversely affected by this than VRA Amsterdam, who were forced to field six under-18 players for their top-of-the-table clash with HCC at De Diepput.

But that cannot by itself account for VRA’s dramatic collapse to 39 all out, the team’s third-lowest total in half a century, nor does it detract from HCC’s overall superiority, and especially the performance of seamers Hidde Overdijk and Reinier Bijloos, who bowled unchanged through the 15.5 overs of the VRA innings and finished with five for 27 and three for 11 respectively.

In the circumstances the Amsterdammers needed both Ben Cooper and Peter Borren to rise to the occasion, but they were only able to contribute 8 runs between them, and with Shirase Rasool, the only man to reach double figures, run out for 12, HCC faced little real resistance.

Earlier, Damian Crowley had been the sheet-anchor of the home side’s 206 for seven with a solid 62, receiving good support from Overdijk (30) in a fourth-wicket stand of 53, while Clayton Floyd and Yash Patel did well in the closing stages to get their side past the 200 mark in a match reduced to 45 overs a side after heavy overnight rain.

Teenager Ashir Abid gave VRA a good start with two early wickets, and later returned to remove Overdijk and to finish with three for 17.

None of the other four matches suffered an overs reduction, although Punjab Rotterdam’s encounter with Dosti Amsterdam was completed in short order, taking fewer than 51 overs in total.

Having struggled with the bat in their first three games, Dosti began surprisingly well, reaching 84 for one thanks to 45 from skipper Vinoo Tewarie and 28 from keeper Satish Ravichandran, who put on 68 for the second wicket.

Tewarie’s dismissal, however, triggered another collapse, and the Amsterdammers could add only 33 runs for their remaining eight wickets, with Sikander Zulfiqar the main agent of their destruction, taking five for 36.

Suleiman Tariq came back to clean up the tail and finish with four for 30, and Punjab needed just 25 overs to complete another comfortable victory and move to the top of the table, with Saqib Zulfiqar and Teja Nidamanuru steering their side home with an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 61.

The highest total and best individual knock of the day came at Craeyenhout, where Sparta 1888 celebrated the switching of their match against HBS to their opponents’ home ground by posting 306 for six, thanks to an unbeaten, 126-ball 120 from skipper Mudassar Bukhari.

Bukhari shared a third-wicket stand of 52 with Lenert van Wyk (47), who was making his first Topklasse appearance for the Capelle club, and one of 101 for the sixth wicket with Manminder Singh (48).

The Sparta captain then struck twice early in the HBS reply, and although his opposite number Tobias Visée responded with a typically-defiant 19-ball 51, once he was stumped by Ali Raza off Faisal Iqbal’s bowling any chance of Sparta’s total coming under serious threat was effectively gone.

Ferdi Vink and Julien de Mey put up some degree of resistance, but both fell to Singh, who finished with four for 18 as HBS were dismissed for 116.

The tensest battle was in a low-scoring battle at Het Loopveld, where VOC Rotterdam almost succeeded in defending their total of 139, only to see ACC pull off a two-wicket victory with three deliveries to spare.

Arnav Jain’s 42 was the highlight of the VOC innings, with smaller contributions from Tim de Kok and stand-in captain Corey Rutgers, Pieter Seelaar being absent through injury.

Ammar Zaidi was the most successful of ACC’s bowlers with four for 29, while there were two wickets apiece for Antony Alangara Napoleon and Devanshu Arya.

ACC, too, lost wickets at regular intervals, and at 68 for six seemed to be heading for defeat. But their innings was rescued by an aggressive 40 from Sahil Kothari, well supported by a painstaking knock from Mees van Vliet.

Still, 22 were still needed when Kothari was bowled by Bobby Hanif, and VOC were still in with a shout when Van Vliet was run out with nine required and 13 deliveries remaining.

Ram Ramesh Babu and Alangara Napoleon were equal to the challenge, however, and were able to secure the points for their side.

Voorburg were able to thank a 133-run partnership for the second wicket between Bas de Leede (68) and Aryan Dutt (64) for their comfortable victory over a young Excelsior ‘20 side at Westvliet.

That stand, coming after Lorenzo Ingram had removed both openers with just 13 on the board, created the platform for a total of 221 for eight, which always seemed likely to be too much for the Schiedammers.

Excelsior began their reply cautiously, but then spinner Dutt started to work his way through their line-up, finishing with four for 38 including the priceless wicket of Ingram, and although Rens van Troost, who had earlier taken three for 37, made a solid 42 the game flowed steadily in Voorburg’s favour.

De Leede came back to finish things off, taking three for 21, and Excelsior were all out for 179 in the 48^th over.