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Bertus de Jong 16/04/2024

Just three years on from winning the title, this season’s VRA Amsterdam side are all but unrecognisable. Of the side that lifted the T20 Cup at the end of the summer of 2020, fewer than half are still on VRA’s books, and of those most are unlikely to feature much for the first XI this year.

Netherlands all-rounder Teja Nidamanuru, who takes on the captaincy full-time this season, recognises the challenge of reshaping a side still emerging from the long shadow cast by his predecessor Peter Borren. “For us this season it’s about firmly establishing and our identity and way of playing” he tells TKcricket. Nidamanuru isn’t quite starting with a clean slate, there’s a few survivors from the previous era, not least sometime captain and Netherlands bat Vikram Singh, his opening partner Shirase Rasool, and left arm seamer Ashir Abid, but the trio will be in the minority as the Amsterdam club rings the changes.

A host of new arrivals will replace or displace some familiar faces at the Bos, with Aryan Dutt departing for Hermes, Mitch Lees and Quirijn Gunning retired to Bloemendaal, while club stalwart Leon Turmaine leads a substantial contingent down to strengthen the seconds; Jack Balbirnie, Luke Scully, Debrup Dasgupta and Udit Nashier amongst those slated to spend much of their season turning out for the twos.

In their place come Dutch international spinners Clayton Floyd and Shariz Ahmad, transfering from HCC and VCC respectively, while overseas bat Johan Smal returns alongside new three new in signings Sint Maarten-born keeper-bat Demari Prince, seam all-rounder Elijah Eales and left-arm quick Ben Fletcher. Prince will take over the gloves from Lees and Scully, while Fletcher (also a Dutch passport-holder) will likely open the bowling alongside Abid. Meanwhile Eales, a right-arm seam all-rounder (and son of former Australia rugby captain John Eales) has already demonstrated an ability to hit a very long ball in pre-season.

Despite the strength of the squad on paper, Nidamanuru is not looking at silverware as the first yardstick of success, “we’re of course going to look to put ourselves in a position to play for championships, but the priority is not to put a team together for one season. A lot of these guys are Dutch passport-holders and will be looking to push on to higher honours, so while there’s been a lot of changes we’re hoping to keep this team together for a long time.”

Young prospects: Though the influx of talent will likely keep many of VRA’s youth players out of the side at least as long as they’re at full strength, there’s no shortage of youngsters waiting in the wings. “In the starting squad, Shirase Rasool is one to watch out for this season” says Nidamanuru, “the guys coming up – Ibaad (Zaidi), I like what I’m seeing – he’s got a lot of time when he bats. I don’t understand how he hasn’t played age group. He’ll play for sure if we lose a few players to World Cup duty. Adam Constant will likely be batting three for the seconds, he averaged around forty last year, he’s one that could definitely step up too.”

T20 Record: 2023 GS (5th) | ’22 QF | ’21 QF | ’20 TKC | ’19 QF | ’18 QF | ’17 QF | ’16 QF | ’15 RU | ’14 SF

Despite their recent success in the longer format, VCC have rarely been more than also-rans (if that) in the T20 competition. The Topklasse 50-over champions have moreover seen something of an exodus over the winter, and despite boasting an admirable depth and youth production line, the Voorburg club does look to be heading into something of a transitional season for 2024.

They will do so under new leadership, with keeper-bat Noah Croes taking over the captaincy from SA Engelbrecht. While the pair’s fellow Netherlands international Logan van Beek remains on the roster, it’s not clear how much the all-rounder will play this summer. Similarly legspinner Flip Boissevain’s availability is likely to be limited as he pursues as career in New Zealand, and Karl Niuewoudt has hung up his boots too.

Brothers Musa and Shariz Ahmad have also departed, the former for Punjab and the latter for VRA, opening further gaps both at the top of the order and in the spin section. Former HBS overseas Gavin Kaplan arrives to fill the former, while long-serving legspin understudy Floris de Lange will be shouldering more responsinbility with the ball, as may former Dutch youth all-rounder Nehaan Gigani.

VCC retain the services of in-form opening bat Michael Levitt as well as seam pair Vivian Kingma and Ryan Klein, though the latter’s fitness is a worry ahead of the season and all three are in contention for national call-ups at the back end of the competition. Rangy right-armer Mees van Vliet may well feature more prominently for the first team to cover, and indeed there’s more than a few young players who will likely get the chance to cement a a spot in the senior side this season.

“We’re quietly confident,” Croes says, “we’ve still got the core and a really good squad, with the experience of some of our Dutch guys over the last months out in South African and Nepal we’ve got a lot of good players in form, and Ryan Klein back from injury is a big bonus. It’s a good mix of younsters and senior guys, we’ll be in amongst iot for sure and hopefully holding some more silverware at the end of the T20 season.”

Young prospects: As a reliable supplier of talent to both the Netherlands age-group and senior teams, VCC are almost spoilt for choice in terms of young talent to fill the gaps that have opened in the senior side. Of the de Leede clan, Tom and perhaps Stijn look set to make the step up to the senior side, while Alejo Nota is also pushing for a spot.

Opening bat Cedric de Lange has already appeared for the firsts on more than a few occasions, and joining him back at Voorburg this season will be his Dutch under 19s team-mate Michael Molenaar, returning to the old country from South Africa, who Croes also tips to impress. “For us a a club it’s great to see the youngrsters coming up through the ranks; Molenaar, de Leede, de Lange, Nota are all really exctiting prospects for us as a club and I think you’ll be seeing those names over the course of the season, which is really exciting for Dutch cricket.”

T20 Record: 2023 GS (6th) | ’22 QF | ’21 GS | ’20 SF | ’19 QF | ’18 ⅛F | ’17 GS | ’16 N/A | ’15 GS | ’14 GS

Rod Lyall 17/11/23

The Topklasse will be the poorer for the loss of national team captain Scott Edwards and opener Max O’Dowd following the announcement from Hoofdklasse club Kampong Utrecht that the pair, along with Spanish national coach Corey Rutgers will be leaving VOC Rotterdam and playing at Maarschalkerweerd.

Edwards made 509 runs for the Bloodhounds last season at an average of 50.90, while O’Dowd contributed 482 at 43.82, 186 of them in one brutal early-season innings against ACC.

In all, O’Dowd has made 3455 runs in 90 matches for VOC at an average of 45.46, including seven centuries, and Edwards 2671 at 46.86 in 76 games, with three hundreds.

They will leave a significant gap in the Rotterdammers’ top order, which it will not be easy to fill; even with them in the side the batting has tended to show signs of brittleness under pressure, and the side finished sixth in last season’s championship play-off.

For Kampong, on the other hand, the arrival of the two international stars will seriously strengthen their challenge for promotion to the Topklasse in 2025.

They were widely seen as somewhat unfortunate to be relegated from the twelve-team Topklasse in 2022, and they finished a creditable fourth in the Hoofklasse last season.

Edwards and O’Dowd will join national A-squad players Alex Roy and Pierre Jacod and under-18 seamer Gert Swanepoel at Maarschalkerweerd, and while they will miss parts of what promises to be another busy season because of their national team commitments, they are likely to cause plenty of headaches for opposing attacks in the matches they do play.

In statements on the Kampong website all three players stress the family-friendly atmosphere, the facilities and the ambitions of the Utrecht club, which (like VOC) boasts a turf square and hosts matches of the national men’s and women’s teams.

Rod Lyall 01/09/23

If the semi-final between Hermes-DVS and Quick Haag fortnight ago is any guide, then the Hoofdklasse grand final at Sportpark Harga on Saturday, which will determine which of the two sides returns to the Topklasse next season, should be a cracker.

Then it took a Nick Statham boundary off the final ball of the match to decide the outcome, Hermes winning by one wicket, and across the two formats the teams have been evenly matched all season, Hermes having won three of their five head-to-head meetings and Quick two.

Hermes have already secured a place in next year’s Topklasse T20 Cup, having beaten their rivals fairly comfortably in the final, and will be out to make it a double on Saturday.

Leading the charge will be two of their three overseas players: 19-year-old South African Ashley Ostling, the side’s leading run-scorer with 567 at an average of 43.62, and Spanish international Daniel Doyle Calle; New Zealander Will Hamilton is injured and will take no part.

But Quick’s attack will still need to contain Ostling and Doyle effectively if they are to have a realistic chance of taking the title and earning promotion.

Quick, though, have two outstanding overseas players of their own, not least Otago’s left-handed opener Cameron Jackson, whose 164-ball 223 last week snuffed out Kampong Utrecht’s hopes of making it to the grand final.

Jackson leads the Hoofdklasse batting aggregates with 890 runs at 68.46, closely followed by team-mate Beckham Wheeler Greenall with 768 at 69.82.

If the Hermes trio are crucial to their side’s chances, Jackson and Wheeler Greenall are scarcely less so for Quick, and early wickets will be vital in both innings.

One somewhat disturbing feature of the match is how little Dutch-produced young talent will be on display: of Hermes’ likely squad six were in the club’s side in or before their most recent appearance in the Topklasse in 2017, while in Quick’s case eight had played before their relegation in 2019.

The Father of the Hermes team is 48-year-old Statham, who made his top-flight debut in 1989 and who has notched up 11,175 runs in his 482 matches, while his opposite number at Quick is fellow former international Henk Mol, two years younger, with 7352 runs and 413 wickets in 365 games.

Mol is still taking wickets, his tally of 20 this season just one behind that of Quick’s leading wicket-taker Jeroen Brand, but the top wicket-taker in the competition is Hermes’ Sahil Kothari with 29.

With Dutch A-team captain Sebastiaan Braat – who also skippers the side – and brothers Olivier and Ralph Elenbaas in the attack, backed up by Roy Numair and Davey Verweij, Hermes probably have the more incisive bowling unit.

As against that, alongside Jackson and Wheeler Greenall Quick’s batting line-up includes skipper Daan Vierling, Lesley Stokkers, Bobby van Gigch, allrounder Brand and perhaps Henk Mol’s brother Geert Maarten, totalling close to a thousand top-flight matches between them, so there will be no lack of experience on either side.

Having taken the Hoofdklasse title last year, when there was no promotion to the Topklasse, Hermes have a point to prove, while Quick’s demolition of Kampong last week indicates that the Schiedammers are unlikely to have things all their own way.

Rod Lyall 27/08/23

Those who came to Westvliet on Saturday anticipating a close finish or a repeat of last year’s upset HCC victory went away disappointed, but there was no doubt about the home club’s elation as Voorburg simply steamrollered their way to their first championship win in twenty-one years, and the second in their history.

There was, though, no shortage of skill on display, not least from the ground staff, who after heavy rain in the early morning worked like Trojans to get the ground ready for an 11 o’clock start.

There were, it is true, a few moments in the opening overs when the defending champions could have thought that Voorburg skipper’s Sybrand Engelbrecht’s decision to bat first might misfire.

Hidde Overdijk bowled Nehaan Gigani in the third over, his 200th Topklasse wicket, and with the pitch showing early signs of vertical inconsistency as well as lateral movement, Michael Levitt and Musa Ahmad were beaten several times, Levitt at one point, immediately after unleashing a back-foot cover drive off Overdijk which probably remained the shot of the day, hazardously edging the bowler between keeper and first slip.

But the batters gradually took control, their partnership steadily mounting, and it would be the 38th over before HCC succeeded in breaking through again, by which time Levitt and Musa had put on 183 and the former had reached his fourth century of the season.

It was Musa who was the first to go, cutting at Patient Charumbira and well caught by Clayton Floyd at point, who knocked the ball upwards and took it at the second attempt; Musa had made 78 from 106 deliveries and hit six fours and a six.

The six had come off Daniel Doram, a potential match-winner for HCC, and that blow and the four which followed next ball had forced skipper Boris Gorlee to pull the tall left-arm spinner out of the attack.

He returned as soon as Musa had gone, however, and with the first ball of the next over bowled Levitt for a 119-ball 102, which had included twelve fours and a six.

Two wickets in seven balls must have given the Lions some hope, but it was quickly snuffed out by Engelbrecht, who contributed a 10-ball cameo of 20 before he was trapped in front by Doram, and by Noah Croes, whose 36 ensured that the total kept motoring towards 300.

Although he was eventually caught by Charumbira off Overdijk, 50 runs came from the last five overs, Ryan Klein adding 24 of them before skying a return catch to Overdijk, and the innings closed on a very imposing 295 for seven.

Overdijk’s three wickets had come at a cost of 78, while Doram picked up two for 49, Henrico Venter was the most economical of the HCC attack, his eight wicketless overs costing just 30 runs.

It was a demanding chase against a Voorburg bowling unit which included four internationals, and Viv Kingma and Karl Nieuwoudt gave little away in their opening exchanges with Jonathan Vandiar and Tonny Staal.

The decisive moment came when Vandiar, who had just creamed Kingma for four through extra cover in his first real sign of aggression, clipped the next delivery hard to short midwicket, where Engelbrecht took a superb low catch.

Staal and Ratha Alphonse added 34 before Klein bowled Alphonse, and in his next over the paceman removed the other main threat, Staal pulling him down the throat of Musa on the midwicket boundary and departing for 36.

That pretty much pricked HCC’s balloon, and when Shariz Ahmad came into the attack and almost immediately bowled Teun Kloppenburg, Voorburg were well on their way to a comprehensive victory.

Gorlee, assisted by Clayton Floyd, continued to resist, but with boundary opportunities few and far between the asking rate began its inexorable rise, and soon HCC were needing in excess of eight an over to have any chance of turning the game around.

Eventually Kingma returned to bowl Floyd, but it was left to Klein, bowling full, fast and straight, to finish things off, dismissing Gorlee and Charumbira with successive deliveries and then, after a brief flourish by Overdijk which ended when he was well stumped by Croes off Shariz, repeated the trick by bowling first Crowley and then Venter, to end the innings on 155.

Klein finished with a career-best six for 15, while Shariz’s two for 24 brought his tally for the season to a remarkable 47 wickets at an even more remarkable average of 10.66.

As if this were not enough, Voorburg’s women’s team, after being bowled out for 87, dismissed Quick Haag for 75, Dutch international Eva Lynch taking five for 9, making Voorburg the first club since Kampong Utrecht in 1992 to win both the men’s and women’s titles in the same year.

Rod Lyall 25/08/23

Back at the start of the season, much of the talk was about the formidable squad which Voorburg had assembled, and with just one defeat in 14 50-over matches last year’s beaten grand finalists have fully lived up to that billing.

For defending champions HCC, however, 2023 seemed likely to be a season of rebuilding, with half of their side from last year unavailable, and it is remarkable that after a shaky start to their campaign they have again reached the grand final, peaking at just the right time and giving themselves a real chance of winning the title from fourth position on the table.

The Lions have momentum on their side, but any grand final comes down to how the two sides perform on the day; how, then, do the squads stack up against one another?

The Voorburg pace attack against the HCC top order

With current internationals Viv Kingma and Ryan Klein, backed up by the up-and-coming Mees van Vliet and the steady medium pace of Karl Nieuwoudt – who often shares the new ball with Kingma – Voorburg have plenty of quicker options, none of the four having gone for more than five an over across the whole campaign.

Kingma may only have nine wickets so far, but he has the best strike rate of anyone in the side, and he has a proven ability to dismiss good batters inside the initial powerplay.

For HCC, the arrival of Ratha Alphonse has been a real bonus, his 386 runs at 32.17 having compensated to a considerable degree for the fact that Tonny Staal has had a relatively quiet season by his standards, averaging just 15.94.

In Alphonse’s absence in the play-off phase, however, the Lions have experimented with Jonathan Vandiar as an opening partner for Staal, Alphonse slotting in at three, and it will be interesting to see who opens on Saturday.

Vandiar’s innings against Punjab in the qualifying final was a model of restraint, but there is an argument that he is at his most effective at four or five, when his attacking instincts can be given full reign.

The top five is completed by captain Boris Gorlee and by sixteen-year-old Teun Kloppenburg, the latter having strung together three consecutive half-centuries in his first Topklasse season; if Vandiar does drop down the order, he and Kloppenburg have the potential to capitalise on any platform that Alphonse, Staal and Gorlee have been able to build.

The HCC pace attack against the Voorburg top order

Hidde Overdijk and Daniel Crowley have been in awesome form in their most recent games, reducing Sparta to 25 for four in the initial powerplay and putting Punjab under sustained pressure in the qualifier, and Overdijk’s 29 wickets at 20.07 puts him in equal third place among the leading wicket-takers.

There are, perhaps, more questions about the change bowling, with Henrico Venter and Patient Charumbira among the more expensive of the regular seam bowlers, although both have also been able to pick up valuable wickets; they have, though, been deployed later in the innings than Klein and Van Vliet have for Voorburg.

With a top five who all average 30 (or in Musa Ahmad’s case, just a tad short of it), Voorburg have a formidable line-up, but on closer inspection those stats are a little less encouraging: having made 456 runs at 57 in the first phase, Michael Levitt has added only 97 at 16.17 since the competition resumed and Noah Croes, too, has been less dominant in the back end.

Against that, Musa has made more runs in six innings since the break than he did in nine before it, and the transformation in skipper Sybrand Engelbrecht’s form has been even more dramatic: only Tayo Walbrugh made more runs in July and August than Engelbrecht’s 333.

All in all, then, the ability of Overdijk and Crowley to make early inroads into that imposing Voorburg top order may be one of the factors on which this year’s title depends.

Voorburg’s spinners against the HCC middle order

The most interesting battles of the day, however, may come when Engelbrecht and Gorlee turn to their slower bowlers.

With 45 wickets so far, Shariz Ahmad just needs what would be his fifth five-for of the season to become the first player since Chris Pringle in 1996 to take fifty wickets in a season, and it would come as little surprise if he did it; few batters have been able to get on top of him all year.

While his fellow wrist-spinner Philippe Boissevain has had a more modest return with 17 wickets at 21.59, he makes an outstanding foil for the young googly bowler, and they can be expected to cause plenty of problems in the middle overs.

Who’s at the crease when they come on will depend, of course, on how successful Voorburg’s quicker bowlers have been, and there could be a fascinating contest between their wiles and the aggression of Vandiar and Kloppenburg.

Beyond that, the HCC middle order of Clayton Floyd, Overdijk and Charumbira will need all their wits about them if they are to make a significant contribution to their side’s total.

HCC’s spinners against the Voorburg middle order

As against Voorburg’s wrist spinners, the Lions have two left-arm finger spinners, of whom late signing Daniel Doram has been distinctly the more effective with 27 wickets at 15.04 apiece.

His figures in the last two games of 10 – 6 – 4 – 1 and 9.2 – 2 – 14 – 4 were truly remarkable, and if he can manage something of the same order on Saturday it could be a game-changer.

Floyd has had a less successful campaign, but like Boissevain he provides outstanding support for Doram when the two are bowling in tandem, and his reliability means that Gorlee can use seamers Venter and Charumbira more sparingly.

Their battle with the Voorburg middle order, again, will be a key feature of the game, and of the later batters only Shariz, with 261 runs, has a comparable record to that of Floyd, Overdijk and Charumbira, although it must be said that the dominance of the top five has given them relatively few opportunities.

It’s all shaping up for a memorable contest, one that is, as election-night commentators say, too close to call. All this, and a chance to see the World Cup trophy as well!

Rod Lyall 21/08/23

Defending champions HCC eased their way into next Saturday’s Topklasse grand final on Sunday with a 104-run victory over Punjab Rotterdam at Het Zomercomplex, setting up a repeat of last year’s final encounter with ‘minor premiers’ Voorburg.

If their start, having put in by Sulaiman Tariq, was not entirely convincing, Tonny Staal, Ratha Alphonse and Boris Gorlee all back in the dug-out by the time 69 runs were on the board, the Lions were well served by Jonathan Vandiar, who responded to his opening role with an uncharacteristically restrained 65.

Vandiar did hit three sixes and four fours in his 102-ball innings, but he combined these moments of aggression when opportunity offered with periods of long watchfulness, and it was his knock which paved the way for HCC’s eventual total of 244.

Teun Kloppenburg chipped in with a breezy 30-ball 36 which included four sixes, and then Hidde Overdijk (34) and Patient Charumbira (31) combined to ensure that their side gave Punjab, who had collapsed against Voorburg on Saturday, a significant total to chase.

Spinners Muhammad Shafiq and Saqib Zulfiqar had done the early damage for Punjab, but it was Sohail Bhatti, although he was rather expensive, who was the most successful of the home side’s bowlers with four for 64, including the vital wicket of Vandiar.

The Rotterdammers had brought in Steph Myburgh to play his first game of the season, compensating for the loss of Shoaib Minhas, and he showed glimpses of his old touch as the chase began.

Overdijk and Daniel Crowley, however, bowled with greater effect than Punjab’s pace attack had been able to manage, and Henrico Venter claimed the wicket of Saqib Zulfiqar just when it seemed that the innings might gain some momentum.

Thereafter it was the left-arm spinners, Clayton Floyd and Daniel Doram, who called the tune: Sikander Zulfiqar laboured for a solid 42, but he received little support, and with Doram taking four for 14 in another outstanding spell and Crowley returning to finish with four for 40 Punjab were all out for a disappointing 140.

VRA Amsterdam and Excelsior ’20 Schiedam completed their campaigns with home victories over HBS Craeyenhout and relegated Salland, but with all the issues in the lower part of the table already settled these games had an end-of-term feel about them.

Interest in the Amsterdamse Bos centred on whether Tayo Walbrugh, who has enjoyed another outstanding season, could get the 20 he needed to achieve 1000 runs in the 50-over competition, but he fell just short, making 8 before he was caught off the bowling of Udit Nashier.

Skipper Wesley Barresi’s 62 was the highlight of an HBS total of 169, Tyler van Luin the most successful of the VRA bowlers with three for 20, and then Van Luin and Shirase Rasool knocked off the runs in double-quick time, VRA winning by ten wickets with half their overs to spare.

Rasool ended on 81 not out and Van Luin on 82, and VRA had gone undefeated through their six-match programme in the Relegation pool.

Excelsior were given a great start by Luuk Kroesen (56) and Michael Hart (48), who put on their side’s best opening stand of the season with 107, and then former captain and Dutch international Tom Heggelman, playing his last game for the side, held the middle order together with 46 as they reached 253 for seven.

Salland put up a strong fight in response, Fraser Bartholomew making 44 in his unaccustomed opening role and Sahir Naqash contributing a run-a-ball 55, but there were four golden ducks in the innings, and although Gijs van der Molen made 28 and Victor Lubbers, batting at nine, made an undefeated 23, their efforts were not enough, and the side were all out for 205, 48 runs short.

Rod Lyall 20/08/23

If anyone had expected that the finals of this year’s Topklasse would produce tense matches filled with exciting performances they would have been disappointed by Saturday’s programme, which produced few fireworks and more than a few damp squibs.

Without leading professionals Shoaib Minhas, Mohsin Riaz and Garnett Tarr, Punjab Rotterdam and Sparta 1888 proved poor opponents for championship favourites Voorburg and title-holders HCC respectively, although Sparta did fight their way back from a seemingly impossible position and battled hard against heavy odds before losing a low-scoring match by four wickets.

Punjab’s best moments were in the opening hour at Westvliet when, after Sybrand Engelbrecht had won the toss and elected to bat, Muhammad Shafiq grabbed the wickets of Nehaan Gigani, Michael Levitt and Noah Croes to reduced Voorburg to 46 for three.

But then Musa Ahmad and Engelbrecht himself took charge, putting together a fourth-wicket stand of 201 which batted Punjab out of the game.

Both made centuries: Musa’s 102 came from 134 deliveries and included eight fours, while Engelbrecht needed only 109 balls for his 115, hitting 13 fours and a six.

Mubashar Hussain claimed the wickets of internationals Shariz Ahmad and Ryan Klein, but still Voorburg were able to reach an imposing 303 for seven, and when Karl Nieuwoudt, Viv Kingma and Klein combined to leave Punjab on 35 for three, there was no-one to turn the innings around in the way Musa and Engelbrecht had for Voorburg.

Saqib and Sikander Zulfiqar put up some resistance, but once they had gone the innings continued to decline, Mees van Vliet running through the middle order as he claimed three for 14 and Shariz finishing things off, bringing his season’s tally to 45 wickets with two for 4.

With skipper Sulaiman Tariq unable to bat, Punjab were all out for 89, and they have just 18 hours to gear themselves up for a last-ditch attempt to reach next Saturday’s grand final when they play HCC on Sunday.

The defending champions demonstrated that they would not surrender their title easily with a commanding performance by the bowlers at Sportpark Bermweg, where Sparta found themselves on 13 for four after six and a half overs, Daniel Crowley taking three for 12 in a devastating six-over opening spell.

He was backed up by spinners Clayton Floyd and Daniel Doram, the latter bowling two exemplary spells to finish with the remarkable figures of 10 – 6 – 4 – 1.

Sparta were 32 for six at one stage, but skipper Joost Martijn Snoep led a partial recovery, facing 105 deliveries in making 16, while Faizan Bashir (24), Prithvi Balwantsingh (10) and Sawan Sardha (21) managing to get the total up to 114.

Hidde Overdijk contributed a hostile ten-over spell, but the bulk of the wickets went to Floyd (three for 39) and to Crowley, who returned to finish off the innings and ended with four for 16.

Snoep then removed Jonathan Vandiar before he had scored, but Tonny Staal (33) and Ratha Alphonse (31) put on 61 for the second wicket, and although Sardha struck twice to dismiss Boris Gorlee and Teun Kloppenburg, first Floyd and then Patient Charumbira were able to steer their side home with almost twenty overs to spare.

Any remaining doubts about who would be relegated from the 50-over Topklasse were finally resolved at Het Schootsveld, where Salland’s 108-run defeat by HBS Craeyenhout.

A second-wicket stand of 139 between Kyle Klein (77) and Tayo Walbrugh (84) gave HBS a solid base, and although Akhil Gopinath struck back to remove both of them and finish with four for 41, the Crows were still able to reach 217 for six.

Walbrugh’s knock, the ninth time he had gone past fifty in the 50-over competition this season, took his aggregate to 990, and he will need just 10 runs in his side’s final match against VRA on Sunday to become the first player since Vandiar in 2017 to make 1000 runs in a Topklasse season.

Salland needed not only to win to keep their faint hopes of survival alive, but to do so quickly enough to eat away at their substantial net run rate deficit to rivals Excelsior, and Venkat Ganesan and Sahir Naqash set about the chase with some initial success.

Both were removed, however, by Nic Adendorff, and that was effectively the end of Salland’s hopes.

Elam Bharathi and Gopinath put up some resistance towards the end, but by then any realistic chance of victory had disappeared, and with an injured Finn Raxworthy unable to bat the innings closed on 109.

While Salland were slipping to defeat and relegation in Deventer Excelsior ‘20 were on the wrong end of a lack-lustre affair in the Amsterdamse Bos, where they battled their way to 169 for nine against VRA.

Michael Hart and Stan van Troost contributed 28 and 35 respectively, but it was former skipper Tom Heggelman, playing what is reportedly his penultimate game for the side, whose 56 negotiated them to at least a half-defendable total.

Leon Turmain took three for 28 for the home side, and Aryan Dutt two for 17.

Excelsior have in the past made something of a specialty of defending low totals, and with Jens Blankestijn confirming his promise with three for 23 they whittled away at VRA’s powerful but inconsistent batting line-up.

Johan Smal, however, held things together with 50 and Udit Nashier made 26, and in the end it was Turmaine and Eduard Visser who guided the Amsterdammers to a three-wicket victory with almost ten overs to spare.

Rod Lyall 13/08/23

The battle for semi-final places extended into Sunday’s final round of matches in the Championship pool, but even victory over HCC was insufficient to carry ACC into the final four as the defending champions had the advantage of the single point they had gained from their tie with Sparta 1888 back in July.

The other side to miss out was VOC, who lost to Rotterdam rivals Punjab by seven wickets at the Hazelaarweg.

After winning the toss VOC were stunned by the loss to two wickets within the first four balls of the match, Muhammad Shafiq removing both Francois Fourie and Lane Berry without scoring, but a third-wicket stand of 135 between Max O’Dowd (79) and Scott Edwards (65) put their side back on top for a time.

Once Sulaiman Tariq had dismissed them both, however, the innings subsided, and with Sikander Zulfiqar claiming three for 29 the last six wickets fell for the addition of just 10 runs as the side was all out for 175.

Punjab were in trouble in their turn, Asief Hoseinbaks reducing them to 48 for three and taking three for 29 in an unbroken ten-over spell, but that brought Saqib and Sikander Zulfiqar together, and they saw their side home with a stand of 129 to complete a seven-wicket victory with 70 balls to spare.

The win, together with results elsewhere, carried Punjab back into second spot and earned them a double chance of reaching the grand final – they will now play leaders Voorburg at Westvliet in the first semi-final.

HCC missed their chance to go second when they lost to ACC by 75 runs at Het Loopveld.

The basis of ACC’s total of 247 for seven, their second-highest of the season, was a fourth-wicket partnership of 141 between Thomas Hobson and Heino Kuhn, which rescued them from a perilous 48 for three.

Hobson was eventually dismissed for 79, but Kuhn remained unbeaten on 104, managing the tail and ensuring that momentum was maintained in the closing overs despite two run-outs.

HCC got off to a solid start when they replied, Tonny Staal making 57 before he was caught by Hobson off his own bowling, but with Mahesh Hans cutting through the top and middle order to claim three for 31 and two more run-outs, their challenge faltered, and they were all out for 172.

At Westvliet leaders Voorburg flirted with defeat by Sparta 1888, but were seen home by a dogged ninth-wicket stand of 42 between Philippe Boissevain and Mess van Vliet after Joost Martijn Snoep and Joost Kroesen appeared to have put the Spartans into a winning position.

They were defending a relatively modest 162, which was dominated by Garnett Tarr’s 93; he received too little support, however, and with Shariz Ahmad taking five for 32, his fourth five-wicket haul of the campaign, and bringing his season’s tally to 43 at an average of 11, Voorburg should have had a relatively easy chase.

But Snoep struck three times to reduce them to 47 for three, and when brothers Musa and Shariz Ahmad appeared to swung the game their side’s way Kroesen chimed in, removing first Musa for 53 and then Shariz for 42.

At 121 for eight Sparta were now on top, but Boissevain and Van Vliet, with plenty of overs in hand, were content to pick off the runs in ones and twos, their partnership not including a single boundary but moving swiftly enough to reach their target with seven and a half overs to spare.

Snoep finished with three for 38 and Kroesen with the day’s most popular figures, three for 29.

Despite this defeat Sparta stayed ahead of HCC on NRR, and will therefore enjoy home advantage in next Saturday’s second semi-final.

In the Relegation pool, HBS removed any lingering fears of the drop into the Hoofdklasse with a 140-run victory over Excelsior ‘20, who could still – at least in theory – be overtaken by bottom side Salland.

HBS set the highest total of the day, 270 for eight, thanks to another century by Tayo Walbrugh, his fifth of the season.

He shared in useful partnerships with Wesley Barresi (33) and then with Kyle Klein, and after he fell to Roel Verhagen for 104 Klein took over the baton, making an unbeaten 70 as the Crows piled on the runs.

Excelsior were soon in trouble, and although Stan van Troost made 36 and his brother Rens 31, they never looked likely to mount a serious challenge, Nic Adendorff claiming five for 51, including the vital wicket of Lorenzo Ingram, and they were eventually dismissed for 140.

The Schiedammers will now need to win one of their two remaining games next weekend, away to VRA on Saturday and at home to Salland on Sunday, or at the very least they will have to ensure that they do not lose heavily enough to eat away their very considerable net run rate advantage over their rivals.