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Rod Lyall 09/06/19

With two matches falling victim to weather which the Dutch Meteorological Institute assures us is normal for this time of year, there was still plenty of interest in Saturday’s Topklasse matches.

Heavy overnight rain and a storm-borne succession of showers left De Diepput unplayable for normal cricket (which didn’t stop the Saturday-afternoon recreational players moving onto it as soon as the match between HCC and ACC was abandoned), while gale-force winds treated the Westvliet sightscreens as their plaything and caused the match between Voorburg and Dosti United to be called off as well.

The shortest of the three games which did get played, a 30-over affair between HBS and Excelsior ‘20 at Craeyenhout, was one of the most significant matches of the round, and turned out to be a last-over thriller.

After Tobias Visée won the toss and elected to bat, the Excelsior bowlers showed greater discipline in the gale-force winds than they had in balmier conditions earlier in the season, but the HBS top order seemed relatively untroubled in reaching 195 for four.

The highlight was a third-wicket stand of 77 between opener Zac Elkin and Sharn Gomes, the latter making an enterprising 34-ball 43 while Elkin batted throughout the innings for his unbeaten 77. There were smaller contributions, all at better than a run a ball, from Visée himself, Wesley Barresi and Zak Gibson.

Sohail Bhatti was the most economical member of the Excelsior attack, conceding just 22 runs in his five overs and claiming Barresi’s wicket.

The Schiedammers began cautiously on what was a fairly demanding chase, and even after both openers had gone the Caribbean partnership of Lorenzo Ingram and Branton Parchment took some time to gain momentum, leaving one wondering whether the task might not be beyond them.

Past the 15-over mark, however, the boundaries started to flow, and by the time Parchment was caught behind off Barresi for a 31-ball 37, the pair had added 82 runs in fourteen overs.

Ingram went on to make 79 from just 58 deliveries, batting with ever-greater confidence and hitting ten fours and a six, and when he holed out to Berend Westdijk at long on trying to hit Gibson into the Bosjes van Pex, only 19 were needed from 16 deliveries with four wickets in hand.

HBS fought to the last, but Sanjit Shankar and Umar Baker were equal to the task, Baker finishing it with a straight six off the penultimate ball.

One curious feature of the Excelsior innings was replicated, almost at the same moment, in the match between VRA Amsterdam and Quick Haag in the Amsterdam Bos: in both games the force of the wind caused the removal of the bails, and just at the same time that Tim Etman was surviving a claim that a Wessel Coster had nicked the stumps on its way through, Quick’s Bobby van Gigch had the better of a similar appeal by Vikram Singh.

Neither batsman survived much longer, but in the match in Amstelveen the crucial dismissal was that of Quick opener Jay Bista, who made 75 before being caught by Leon Turmaine off the bowling of Ben Cooper.

At that point, Quick had been 102 for one chasing VRA’s total of 185 in 40 overs, a score which they had reached thanks to a splendid 80 from former international Eric Szwarczynski, who shared a fourth-wicket stand of 73 with Peter Borren (35).

Of the remining VRA batsmen only Mitch Lees (24) reached double figures, while for Quick the new-ball pairing of Prathamesh Dake and Jay Bista claimed two wickets apiece.

Once Bista had been dismissed, with 84 still needed off 18 overs, the VRA attack fought back, restricting the scoring and forcing the batsmen into rash strokes.

Turmaine, Ben Cooper and Borren each took two wickets, and the asking rate gradually rose beyond achievable levels, with 34 required off the last three overs.

Quick could only manage 23, and VRA completed their first win of the season, with a margin of 10 runs.

At Hazelaarweg VOC Rotterdam, after a disappointing start to the season, had a comfortable 126-run win over Sparta 1888 in a match reduced to 36 overs.

But their top order once again failed to fire, and it took a sixth-wicket stand of 93 between Scott Edwards (41) and Jelte Schoonheim to enable them to recover from 54 for five and finish with 204.

Schoonheim played his first significant innings of the season, his 66 coming from 56 deliveries, with eight fours and two sixes.

The initial damage for Sparta had been largely caused by seamer Dost Muhammad, playing his first match of the year, who took four for 21 in just four overs.

204 turned out to be more than enough, as the Capelle side collapsed to 78 all out in less than 19 overs. Pierce Fletcher (three for 20) and Ashiqullah Said (three for 22) reduced them to 45 for five, and then Ramdas Upadhyaya ran through the middle and lower order for figures of four for 27, his best return in the Topklasse.

Rod Lyall 02/06/19

Voorburg gained their first victory since the season’s opening round on Saturday and did so in style, bringing to an end the winning run of leaders HBS Craeyenhout. That gave an opening to ACC, who returned to the top of the table by virtue of their defeat of VOC Rotterdam.

After winning the toss and electing to bat at Westvliet, HBS Craeyenhout’s powerful batting line-up soon came under pressure from a disciplined Voorburg attack, and were dismissed for a modest 147.

Most of the top order got a start but then succumbed when they tried to force the pace, and it was Julian de Mey, batting at seven and coming in at 91 for five, who top-scored with an unbeaten 25 and managed to give the total even a hint of respectability.

The wickets were shared among the Voorburg bowlers, with Viv Kingma – who removed the threatening Tobias Visée –, Stef Mulder, Clayton Floyd and Philippe Boissevain claiming two apiece.

The visitors had suffered a setback before the start when allrounder Ferdi Vink injured an ankle and had to go to hospital for an x-ray; it could not be blamed for the HBS performance, but it will have had a disruptive effect on the side, and it meant that the attack was one bowler short.

Wesley Barresi and Zak Gibson removed the Voorburg openers, but a fourth-wicket stand of 63 between Nic Smit and Floyd took the game away from HBS, and although Floyd departed for 32 with 16 still needed, Smit saw his side to a five-wicket victory and ended on an unbeaten 56.

ACC took full advantage of the HBS defeat with a 4-wicket victory over VOC Rotterdam at Het Loopveld which returned them to the top of the table on net run rate, but they did so with just three deliveries to spare and survived some tricky moments along the way.

They began well enough, with Brady Barends ripping through the Rotterdammers’ top order in the first ten overs, but they were held up by a fourth-wicket stand of 85 between Max O’Dowd and Pieter Seelaar which put the visitors on course for a challenging total.

Skipper Saqib Zulfiqar eventually removed Seelaar for 32, and when O’Dowd went soon afterwards, having made a 129-ball 95 which included nine fours and three sixes, the VOC tail provided little resistance and the side were all out for 183.

Barends finished with four for 32, and Aryan Kumar took three for 38.

ACC’s openers Saqib and Rehmat Zulfiqar both went for golden ducks, and when Shirase Rasool went for five the home side were struggling at 18 for three.

But Sikander Zulfiqar, assisted first by Jean Marais and then by Anis Raza, turned the innings around, and after Raza’s departure, having shared in an 80-run partnership for the fifth wicket, Jamieson Mulready supported Zulfiqar to within eight runs of the target with two overs left.

Pacing the denouement with great calm, Zulfiqar hit the winning boundary off the third ball of the final over and finished on 99 not out, made from 125 deliveries with nine fours, just missing out on what would have been a thoroughly deserved century.

HCC missed an opportunity to keep pace with the leaders when they went down to a 72-run defeat by Excelsior ‘20 at Thurlede, which leaves both sides now one game behind ACC and HBS.

Lorenzo Ingram was again the mainstay of the Excelsior batting, making 62 in a total of 218 for nine, with Branton Parchment contributing 26 and Joost Kroesen 32.

But with HCC’s South African debutant Raafieq Isaacs taking four for 43 the Schiedammers collapsed from 181 for three to 202 for eight in the space of four overs, giving HCC a less imposing target than might at one point have been feared.

Bharat Itagi and Adam Wiffen gave them a good start with an opening stand of 59, but the Excelsior combination of Sohail Bhatti and Ingram struck back, and they too suffered a rapid collapse, slumping in eight overs from 84 for one to 103 for six.

Hidde Overdijk did his best to manage the tail but when he was last out the total was still only 146, Bhatti finishing with four for 27 and Ingram three for 32.

Quick Haag demonstrated that with the addition of Jay Bista and Prathamesh Dake they would be a force to be reckoned with in the latter part of the season by beating Dosti United by 30 runs at Nieuw Hanenburg.

It was New Zealander Rupert Young, though, who top-scored in their total of 177 with a solid 50, sharing a 62-run partnership for the second wicket with Geert Maarten Mol (31).

Anees Davids and Taruwar Kohli  were the most successful of Dosti’s bowlers with three for 23 and three for 29 respectively.

Dosti’s reply hinged almost entirely on Kohli, who only received really significant support from Kuldeep Diwan (26).

Diwan’s dismissal by Dake to make it 138 for six left a huge burden on Kohli’s shoulders, and although he made a patient, responsible 57 the wickets kept falling at the other end, and when he was last out the total was still only 147.

Dake’s three for 26 laid the foundation for Quick’s win, but the finishing blows fell to Mol, who took the last three wickets and finished with three for 29, despite having bowled no fewer than 13 wides.

The most exciting finish of the day came at Sportpark Bermweg, where Sparta 1888 held on despite a heroic fightback by VRA’s Peter Borren to win by just four runs with eight balls remaining.

Sparta had seemed to have the game in the bag when, chasing their total of 197 for eight, VRA were 136 for eight.

But Tom Long supported the former national skipper in a ninth-wicket stand of 48, and even after he was bowled by Andrew Fletcher Borren continued to pick off the runs.

Just six were needed off the last two overs, but then Sparta captain Joost Martijn Snoep had Borren caught by Usman Saleem for 51 and the innings finished on 193. Snoep had match-winning figures of five for 27.

Earlier, Garnett Tarr and Mudassar Bukhari had laid the foundation of Sparta’s total with a third-wicket stand of 73; Tarr was dismissed for 41, while Bukhari made a 121-ball 67, while there were two wickets apiece for Brandon Graber, Ben Cooper and Leon Turmaine.

Rod Lyall 27/08/18

It was the time of year on Sunday when new names appear in Topklasse scorecards and established names appear in new roles as with all the major issues settled clubs give younger players a chance to demonstrate what they can do.

As luck would have it, every match pitted teams against their nearest rivals, and the result was a couple of adjustments in the final ordering of the table.

VRA Amsterdam’s victory over champions VOC Rotterdam in the Amsterdamse Bos may not have produced any change in the rankings, but it did confirm that with a little more consistency the home side could have run the Rotterdammers closer than in fact they managed.

Batting first, VRA took full advantage of the absence of Fred Klaassen and the decision of Pieter Seelaar not to take the ball himself or to give it to Max O’Dowd, and ran up a resounding 273 for five. Vikram Singh (74) and Dan ter Braak gave them an excellent start with a stand of 97, and after Singh departed having made his highest Topklasse score Ben Cooper contributed 75 and Eric Szwarczynski an unbeaten 49.

There were two wickets apiece for Umar Baker and, remarkably, international wicketkeeper Scott Edwards, who completed a useful 10-over spell.

Quirijn Gunning removed Max O’Dowd in his first over and Sebastiaan van Lent in his second, but then Dirk van Baren (41) and Edwards (78) contributed a third-wicket stand of 107. Both fell to Adeel Raja, however, and thereafter the innings fell away quickly as with two batsmen absent through injury VOC were dismissed for 151, Raja finishing with three for 29.

At Craeyenhout, HBS claimed third place with a comprehensive 175-run win over Excelsior ‘20, who ended their season with another dramatic collapse.

Chasing an HBS total of 244 in which Tobias Visée contributed a characteristic 31-ball 69 and Wesley Barresi, again batting at eight, a 46-ball 65, Excelsior were routed by seamer Navjit Singh, who took six for 17 in just 28 deliveries as the Schiedammers were dismissed for 60.

Earlier, Tom Heggelman had a season’s-best return of four for 37 and Lorenzo Ingram claimed three for 56, but the batsmen had no answer to Singh, who ensured that his side jumped ahead of the former champions.

HCC,, too, leaped over of their nearest rivals, Dosti United Amsterdam with a 142-run victory at De Diepput, and moved into fifth place.

Their total of 272 for six, built on a 129-run second-wicket stand between Ryan Ninan (73) and Tonny Staal (68) and extended by 45 from Bryce Street and 32 not out from Hidde Overdijk, always seemed likely to be beyond the reach of Dosti, for whom Mohammad Hafeez took four for 41 and thus confirmed his position as the season’s leading wicket-taker.

Rahil Ahmed led the chase with an aggressive 48, but once he and Hafeez (32) had gone the innings folded fairly quickly, and Dosti were all out for 130. Reinier Bijloos was another who achieved his best figures of the season with five for 35.

The pattern of chasing sides falling short was repeated in both the remaining matches, with ACC beating Sparta 1888 at Sportpark Bermweg and Quick Haag inflicting a final defeat on already-relegated Punjab Rotterdam at Het Zomercomplex.

Opener Rehmat Zulfiqar capped a fine season with 77 and Sikander Zulfiqar and Shirase Rasool chipped in with 35 and 30 respectively as ACC posted 211 for eight, Faisal Iqbal the best of the Sparta bowlers – who were missing both Mudassar Bukhari and Warren Bell – with four for 50.

Only Atse Buurman batted with any conviction for Sparta, and despite his 71-ball 74 the home side were all out for 120, with Chris Knoll taking four for 23 for ACC.

Punjab did rather better against Quick Haag, but their total of 175 was still 58 runs short of Quick’s 233 all out.

Sean Davey top-scored for Quick, and he and Geert Maarten Mol (41) put on 120 for the third wicket, while Punjab skipper Suleiman Tariq took three for 41.

Davey’s dismissal of Stef Myburgh off the first ball of the Punjab reply was a huge blow, and although Ali Raza made 35 and Momeen Latif 31, the Rotterdammers never seemed likely to mount a successful chase.

Veteran returnee Edgar Schiferli claimed three for 22, taking his tally of wickets in the top flight to 469 and proving that he is still a force to be reckoned with.

Rod Lyall 20/08/18

VOC Rotterdam underlined their position as newly-crowned Topklasse champions with an emphatic win over bottom-placed Punjab Rotterdam at Hazelaarweg on Sunday, and in doing so ensured that their opponents would, partly in the light of results elsewhere, be relegated to the Hoofdklasse next season.

The champions gave a demonstration of their batting strength by compiling an imposing 283 for five, with Dirk van Baren making 47, Max O’Dowd contributing 33, and then skipper Pieter Seelaar (62) and keeper Scott Edwards (72 not out) sharing a fifth-wicket stand of 102.

Stef Myburgh and Ali Raza once again got Punjab off to a flying start when they replied, but once Raza had gone Myburgh found it difficult to maintain the momentum, and he eventually fell to O’Dowd for 59.

O’Dowd then ran through the Punjab lower and middle order to finish with figures of six for 42, and with Jelte Schoonheim taking three for 33 the wooden-spooners were dismissed for 175, giving VOC victory by 108 runs.

At Craeyenhout, meanwhile, Quick Haag were putting themselves out of danger with an 18-run win against neighbours HBS, although they had some nervous moments along the way.

Their innings was something of a stop-start affair, but Sean Davey saw them through to a decent total of 243, making 79 himself and sharing in a 73-run stand for the fourth wicket with Lesley Stokkers (39) after Jay Bista had contributed 37 at the top of the order.

The wickets were shared among the HBS bowlers, with Wessel Coster, Farshad Khan, Ferdi Vink and Julian de Mey picking up a brace apiece.

After the early dismissal of the openers HBS were given a solid base by Adil Ahmed (43) and Navjit Singh, who put on 80 for the third wicket, setting the stage for a typically whirlwind knock from Tobias Visée, whose 69 came from just 29 deliveries and included seven fours and five sixes.

The Craeyenhout side seemed to be cruising, but Visée’s dismissal, the first of three victims for former international seamer Edgar Schiferli, returning to Quick’s first team after a three-year absence, was the cue for a dramatic collapse in which seven wickets fell for 24 runs.

Singh went for 79, bowled by Davey, and Wesley Barresi, batting at eight, ran out of partners as his side was dismissed for 225. Schiferli finished with three for 45.

The other possible candidates for relegation, ACC lost to HCC at Het Loopveld West, but were relieved of any remaining peril by Punjab’s defeat.

In a match reduced to 48 overs after overnight rain had left the pitch damp and slippery at first, ACC were unable to take advantage of skipper Saqib Zulfiqar’s decision to bat first, and were dismissed for a disappointing 121.

Opener Rehmat Zulfiqar batted almost throughout for his 38, while veteran Ahmed Zulfiqar added a run-a-ball 27 before he was run out.

Ryan Ninan took three for 27 for HCC, and also took three catches, one of them off his own bowling.

Sikander Zulfiqar removed both openers when HCC replied, but Tonny Staal and Bryce Street set about righting the ship, and after Staal had been run out Street and Boris Gorlee saw their side home to a seven-wicket victory, Street finishing on 59 not out and Gorlee on 30.

Excelsior ’20 Schiedam reinforced their claim to a top-four place by overwhelming Sparta 1888 at Thurlede, thanks in large measure to an unbeaten 142 from Tim Etman, who batted throughout the innings as the home side ran up 250 for six.

Remarkably, Excelsior then bowled Sparta out for 41, exactly the same total they had themselves been dismissed for in the corresponding fixture in Capelle a/d IJssel in June.

Only Atse Buurman, with 27, reached double figures in the Sparta innings, which included six ducks. Gijs Kroesen claimed two early wickets, but the main destroyers were James Hilditch and Lorenzo Ingram, with four for 15 and four for 9 respectively.

Like the match at Het Loopveld, Dosti United’s game against VRA Amsterdam was also rain-affected, and reduced in this case to 45 overs.

Batting first, Dosti made 202 for seven, Mohammad Hafeez making 60 before hitting a return catch to Peter Borren, who claimed three for 24 and brought his tally of wickets in the competition to exactly 300.

Hafeez was supported by Kuldeep Diwan (32), who has against joined Dosti as an end-of-season replacement for Taruwar Kohli.

Ben Cooper then steered VRA to a five-wicket victory with an unbeaten 84, he and Mitch Lees adding 66 in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand.