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Rod Lyall 31/08/20

Overnight rain had left conditions ranging from dampish to inundated, and the result was that two Topklasse matches were abandoned without a ball being bowled, one of them meaning that for Excelsior ’20 the season ended as it had begun, in inactivity.

But the weather also played its part in one of the season’s surprises, HCC surrendering their unbeaten record at the hands of VOC Rotterdam in a game in which the table-toppers found that Messrs Duckworth, Lewis and Stern had loaded the dice irretrievably against them.

Much of the credit for VOC’s victory, however, went to Tim de Kok and Jelte Schoonheim, whose unbroken fifth-wicket partnership saw their side recover from an unpromising position to one in which, when the innings was terminated prematurely by another shower, the DLS calculation worked in their favour.

A late start meant that the match had been reduced to 27 overs before it began, but only 21 overs were possible before the rain intervened, and by this time VOC had reached 141 for four, De Kok on 83 not out and Schoonheim on 39.

The DLS calculation then set HCC a target of 167, a smidgeon below eight and over, and when Tonny Staal and Damian Crowley fell in the first two overs of their reply the task became close to insuperable.

As long as Musa Ahmad was there HCC still had some hope, but eventually the side were dismissed for 141, slipping to a 26-run defeat.

In the Amsterdamse Bos, meanwhile, Punjab Rotterdam made light work of beating VRA Amsterdam by six wickets, despite an opening stand of 178 between Eric Szwarczynski and Ben Cooper.

Cooper was finally adjudged leg-before on 99, made from 100 deliveries with nine fours, and although Szwarczynski remained there until the end, completing his tenth top-flight century and finishing on 120 not out, the Punjab bowlers did well enough to restrict the home side to 261 for seven, no-one else except Mitch Lees reaching double figures.

Suleiman Tariq harried the middle order, and his three for 38 left him as the season’s leading wicket-taker with 19 at 19.26 apiece.

A knee injury to the most prolific batter of the year, Stef Myburgh, might have handicapped Punjab’s reply, but Asad Zulfiqar stepped into the breach, and his opening partnership of 75 with elder brother Rehmat, who contributed 31, set the tone for the innings.

Rehmat was succeeded by Teja Nidamanuru, whose 45 came from 50 deliveries and included three sixes, and then by Saqib Zulfiqar, and by the time Asad was dismissed for 85 only 62 were needed with plenty of overs left.

Saqib and Sikander Zulfiqar added another 54, and Saqib continued in company with Kashif Khan to the end, making 47 not out and taking his side to victory with 14 deliveries to spare.

Sparta 1888 took full advantage of the opportunity to leapfrog VRA and move into fourth place by beating winless Dosti-United Amsterdam at the Bermweg, but the game was a good deal more hard-fought than it seemed likely to be when Dosti had been reduced to 14 for five and then to 50 for seven.

A patient, unbeaten 71 from Naqasiva Perumal, who marshalled the lower order so successfully that the last three wickets more than trebled the total, Asief Hoseinbaks contributing 37 as Dosti battled their way to 175 all out.

Joost Martijn Snoep, who finished with three for 21 and Max Hoornweg grabbed the first five wickets, and then Lenert van Wyk claimed three for 43 as he worked his way through the middle and lower order.

Van Wyk’s 40-ball 45 got Sparta off to a brisk start, and when Ali Raza made an uncharacteristically steady 52 the Capelle side seemed to be cruising to a comfortable victory.

But Vinoo Tewarie hit back with three for 8 in three overs of leg spin which included the dismissal of Raza, sixth out with 16 still required, and suddenly the game had tightened appreciably.

Waheed Masood, who had earlier removed both openers, returned to dismiss Max Hoornweg and, with the scores level, Sawan Sardha, but it all came too late and Sparta squeezed home by two wickets, though with a massive 15.4 overs to spare.

Punjab Rotterdam vs HCC at Zomercomplex 23/08/20

scorecard | as it happened

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.

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.

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.