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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.

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.

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.

Rod Lyall 20/07/20

There are three unbeaten sides – VRA, Punjab and HCC — after Sunday’s third round of matches in this season’s competition-that-isn’t, while in a table still notable for its symmetry there are also three teams still in search of a win.

In the only game of the day which matched up two previously-unbeaten sides HCC were clear-winners of a hard-fought battle with Voorburg at Westvliet.

The contest turned on a 123-run partnership for HCC’s sixth wicket between Boris Gorlee and Hidde Overdijk, which took them in the space of 26 overs from a fairly perilous 74 for four to a much healthier 197 for five with five overs remaining for a final flourish.

Overdijk was the enterprising of the pair, his 61 coming from 75 deliveries, while Gorlee continued into the final over of the innings before falling to opposing skipper Bas de Leede for a solid 121-ball 81.

There were two wickets apiece for Viv Kingma, Ali Ahmed Qasim and De Leede as HCC sloed on 235 for seven.

Righardt Pieterse and Tom de Grooth began encouragingly for Voorburg, the total reaching 43 before Overdijk secured the breakthrough, and then De Leede and Floris de Lange made a bid to match Gorlee and Overdijk’s contribution by putting on 64 for the fourth wicket.

Then, however, with the total on the dreaded 111, the first of four wickets for Musa Ahmad saw the Voorburg captain depart for 38, followed by three more in the space of six deliveries without addition to the score.

Ahmad himself claimed three in five balls, and with Clayton Floyd removing De Lange for 30 the game w effectively over.

Alyan Razzaqi and Kingma showed a little defiance, but the innings closed on 148, Ahmad finishing with four for 26.

At the Hazelaarweg Punjab’s Stef Myburgh posted the first century of the competition, his 105 not out more than matching Pieter Seelaar’s unbeaten 93 for VOC and guiding his side to a six-wicket victory.

Seelaar’s determined effort stiffened the Bloodhounds’ resolve after Suleiman Tariq had grabbed three early wickets to threaten another VOC collapse, and a half-century stand with Arnav Jain (21) and then one of 97 with Corey Rutgers (43) enabled them to reach 197 for six.

Much as that was an improved effort by VOC it seemed unlikely to trouble Punjab’s powerful batting line-up, and Myburgh got them off to a flying start by plundering two fours and a six off Jain’s opening over.

He received valuable support from brothers Rehmat, Asad and Saqib Zulfiqar and from Yasir Usman, but it was Myburgh who dominated the innings against a fairly pedestrian VOC attack further hindered by the absence of Seelaar, and Punjab cruised to victory with almost twelve overs to spare.

The defeat of last year’s champions, Excelsior ’20 Schiedam, by VRA Amsterdam at Thurlede was, if anything, even more convincing.

Put in to bat by Excelsior captain-for-the-day Joost Kroesen, VRA made 244 before they were dismissed in the last of their overs, the engine-room of the returning Eric Szwarczynski, Ben Cooper and Peter Borren, with a total of 630 top-flight games between them, exacting a heavy toll upon Excelsior’s young and experienced attack.

Szwarczynski showed that he is still one of the finest batsmen in the competition with a composed 61 in his first knock of the season, while Cooper contributed 49 and Borren 50, while it was Sohail Bhatti, also playing for the first time this year, who was the most successful of the Excelsior bowlers with three for 45.

The Schiedammers were on the back foot from the moment Borren and keeper Szwarczynski combined to remove young Luuk Kroesen with the first ball of their reply, and while Roel Verhagen and Joost Kroesen added 49 for the second wicket, each making 24, their departures signalled a disappointing effort by the depleted champions.

Quirijn Gunning struck the decisive blow, removing danger-man Lorenzo Ingram, and he then worked his way through the middle and lower order, taking four for 31 and probably deserving more.

Borren and Adeel Raja each collected a brace, and Excelsior were ultimately dismissed for 95 in just 28.1 overs, giving VRA a 149-run victory and taking them to the top of the table on net run rate.

The quickest result of the day came at Craeyenhout, where home side HBS made short work of their game against trouble-plagued Dosti United.

Mahesh Hans, another stand-in skipper in the absence of Vinoo Tewarie, elected to bat first, but his side were soon on the way to another disappointing total.

Their 84 was something of an improvement on their previous efforts, but they had little chance of holding an HBS side in which, as it turned out, Tobias Visée was in his most rampant mood.

It was Wessel Coster who was the main destroyer of the Dosti innings, taking five for 26, while Benno Boddendijk played his part by taking three catches to claim the first three wickets by the time the total reached 20; only Touseef Ahmed showed any real resistance, making 23.

Then Visée took over, his 67 coming from just 24 deliveries and including six fours and five sixes, two of them so massive that the balls were irretrievable.

He perished just before the end, caught behind off Ahmed, but Coster and Reece Mason completed the nine-wicket victory in just 9.1 overs.

ACC’s defeat of Sparta 1888 at Het Loopveld began in dramatic fashion, 16-year-old seamer Mees van Vliet bowling Sawan Sardha and Faisal Iqbal with the first two deliveries of the match.

He went on to claim two more wickets and finish with four for 39, and with Charles McInerney taking four for 26 and Antony Alangara Napoleon two for 6 Sparta could only manage 101; opener Prithviraj Balwantsingh top-scored with 29.

Iqbal struck back when ACC replied, removing McInerney with the third ball he faced, but 35 from Clayton Burnett and smaller contributions from Jamieson Mulready and Anis Raza were enough to give the home side a comfortable five-wicket win.

Max Hoornweg put them under as much pressure as he could with the scalps of all three of the principal scorers, but in the end the Sparta total was too small to be defended, and ACC won with more than 20 overs to spare.