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Rod Lyall 26/06/2023

VRA Amsterdam, HCC and Punjab Rotterdam all moved a step closer to the T20 Cup finals day on Saturday, but the biggest beneficiaries of the day were Excelsior ’20 Schiedam, who kept their hopes alive with fighting victories over VOC Rotterdam and Sparta 1888.

Both wins came in similar fashion, Excelsior performing their old 50-over trick of defending relatively modest totals with parsimonious bowling and committed fielding.

They owed their defeat of VOC very largely to the brothers Etman, Tim making an unbeaten 46 and sharing a valuable fifth-wicket stand of 59 with pace-bowling allrounder Niels, who then proceeded to take three for 14 in four overs as Excelsior defended their total of 133 for five.

VOC skipper Tim de Kok battled hard with a 25-ball 34 before he was run out by Tom Heggelman, but the lower order were unable to fashion the 40 that were still needed from the last five overs after his departure, and Excelsior hung on to win by 11 runs.

The second match at Thurlede was even closer, the home side managing to recover from 16 for three to reach 125 for six thanks to Lorenzo Ingram’s 60 not out from 56 deliveries, and even an even 50 from Will Clark, made from 38 deliveries, wasn’t enough to see Sparta home.

21 were still required from just nine deliveries when he was caught off the bowling of Jens Blankestijn, and that proved too big an ask, Sparta finishing six runs short of their target.

With their last two matches at home to ACC and HBS on 8 July and rivals VOC having to play leaders VRA and Punjab on the same day, Excelsior now have a very good chance of squeezing through to the semi-finals.

VRA retained their position at the top of the table on net run rate with a seven-wicket victory over ACC at Het Loopveld, Tyler van Luin’s three for 10 in four overs having been instrumental in slowing down the home side’s progress every time they seemed likely to gain serious momentum.

Opener Chris Knoll made 32 and Thomas Hobson 37 before Van Luin removed both of them, and he then took three catches as ACC subsided from 107 for two to 137 for eight.

The Australian then got VRA’s reply off to a great start with a 25-ball 38 before being run out, and it was left to Johan Smal and Jack Balbirnie to knock off the remaining runs as the leaders got home with three and a half overs to spare.

Earlier, ACC had battled their way to 103 for nine against HCC, Shreyas Potdar top-scoring with 28, but that was not enough to trouble their opponents greatly; their reply did, however, extend into the 19th over before they completed a five-wicket win.

Tonny Staal’s 44 was the foundation of the victory, but Hobson, Knoll and Devanshu Arya in particular bowled tightly, and HCC needed a steady 28 from Damian Crowley to steer them home.

The other leading side, Punjab, had a mixed day, losing their first match of the triple-header at Het Zomercomplex to Voorburg, but their subsequent win against Salland was enough to keep them level with their main rivals.

Voorburg’s win came from a superb 100 not out from captain Musa Ahmad, made from 63 deliveries and including seven fours and five sixes; he received support from Laurens Boissevain, who made a rapid 25, but otherwise it was essentially a lone effort which enabled his side to chase down Punjab’s 164 for eight and win by three wickets.

Shoaib Minhas had again given Punjab a great start with a 29-ball 44, and although Mees van Vliet pegged them back with three for 38, Rehmat Zulfiqar’s unbeaten 45 ensured that they were able to set a reasonably demanding target.

Musa, however, was not to be denied, despite a Mohammad Shafiq hat-trick to reduce his side to 122 for seven, and his innings was sufficient to inflict a first defeat of the competition upon the hosts.

Punjab bounced back later in the day, beating a battling Salland by five wickets with just three balls to spare.

The Overijssel side had seemed set for a big score when Venkat Ganesan (40) and Finn Raxworthy (41) had taken them to 130 for three, but then Sulaiman Tariq, Minhas and Mohammad Shafiq combined to claim the last seven wickets for 13 runs as Salland suffered another of their implosions.

Tariq took three for 24 and Minhas and Shafiq picked up two wickets apiece, and an innings which had promised better ended on 143.

Another rapid 40 from Minhas led off Punjab’s reply, but it was a 61-run stand for the fifth wicket between Asad Zulfiqar (37 not out) and his elder brother Rehmat (34) which took the home side to the brink of victory,

Victor Lubbers did his best to haul his team back into it with two wickets, but his intervention came too late, and Punjab made sure of the points.

In between, Salland had given themselves some hope of avoiding relegation with a six-wicket win against Voorburg, whom they dimissed for just 119.

Fraser Bartholomew, Gul Ahmad Nasir, Elam Bharathi and Victor Lubbers each claimed two wickets, Nasir grabbing the vital scalp of Musa Ahmad for 11, and Voorburg’s decline from 90 for three to 119 all out was almost as dramatic as Salland’s in the following game.

Piyaranga Ottachchige’s 38 and Raxworthy’s 37 were the key to Salland’s successful run chase, but it was left to Sajjad Naqash and Bartholomew to complete the win with almost four overs to spare.

With an inferior run rate Salland will need to win at least one of their last two matches to have any chance of staying up, but HBS, who did not play this weekend, have two games in hand, while Sparta are one point above their rivals and have three still to play.

Rod Lyall 23/06/2023

With four or five round robin matches to play in this season’s Topklasse T20 Cup, the contest to reach the semi-finals day is beginning to take shape in earnest.

VRA, Punjab, HCC and VOC have gained the inside running, and for those below them in the table the challenge will be to put together a sufficiently consistent winning streak to ease past one or more them.

Excelsior ‘20, for example, will have a chance to gain ground on VOC when they welcome them to Thurlede on Saturday, and to reinforce their challenge when they take on Sparta 1888 later in the day.

VOC go into their Thurlede encounter three points ahead of their hosts, partly by virtue of their rained-off game against Sparta, and Excelsior will need to make sure of the points to give themselves a realistic chance of finishing ahead of them in the final table.

You could say that Voorburg lost their match in the Amsterdamse Bos last week rather than Excelsior winning it, but there were some positives, notably Michael Hart’s half-century and the bowling of Roel Verhagen, who claimed seven wickets for 33 runs across the day’s two games.

For VOC, a highlight of last week’s victory in Deventer was the part played by debutant Peter Recordon, and it would not surprise if he were to become a regular member of the Rotterdammers’ at times rather wobbly batting line-up.

Sparta, Excelsior’s second opponents, remain somewhat enigmatic, personnel issues no doubt contributing to their relative lack of success so far after having performed well in the longer format, but they will be hoping that their own win at Salland will set them up for a much-improved latter half of this competition.

Voorburg, seeking to recover from a deeply disappointing tri-series in the Amsterdamse Bos last week, will face another difficult assignment when they travel to the Zomercomplex to take on high-riding Punjab, although they may feel more confident when they play Salland in their second game.

Without not only their internationals but also such stalwarts of the 50-over side as Sybrand Engelbrecht and Karl Nieurwoudt, Voorburg’s youthful batting line-up twice failed to post triple figures last Saturday, and in their current constellation far too much devolves upon Musa Ahmad both with the bat and the ball.

Punjab appear, of all the sides in the competition, to have a combination ideally suited to the T20 format, and two wins this week would virtually guarantee them a place in the semi-finals.

For Salland, on the other hand, the challenge is to get themselves off the bottom of the table and away from the threat of relegation, but although Venkat Ganesan and Talha Ahmed were in good form with the bat last week there was otherwise little sign of an upward turn in their fortunes.

Among the pursuers ACC have the most daunting task of the weekend, taking on leaders VRA Amsterdam and third-placed HCC, admittedly both at Het Loopveld.

They put up a spirited fight against Punjab last week, but it will be a source of concern that their bowlers have twice conceded 200 in successive games, and both VRA and HCC have the batting power to take full advantage of any weaknesses in opposing bowling.

Thomas Hobson and Anis Raza continue to perform consistently with the bat, Raza also doing well with the ball, but the rest of the side seems unable to give them the support they need in either department, and they will need to do so if they are to come away from Saturday with points from either game.

Even without Singh, Dutt and Nidamanuru VRA have emerged as genuine title contenders, although their top-of-the-table position on NRR owes a good deal to their comprehensive thumping of Salland a couple of weeks ago.

But their attack, the seam of Ashir Abid, Aaditt Jain and Eduard Visser balanced by the spin of Udit Nashier and Leon Turmaine, is well suited to the format, and with Johan Small in good form with the bat they have a very good chance of at least reaching the semi-finals.

The same applies to HCC, the top-order collapse against HBS last Saturday notwithstanding: Ratha Alphonse has proved a model of consistency, and although Jonathan Vandiar has yet to cut loose at his most expansive, he remains a looming threat.

Hidde Overdijk, too, is a key figure with both bat and ball, and Daniel Doram’s control with the ball causes plenty of problems for opposing batters.

Form would suggest that both VRA and HCC will keep up the pressure on Punjab, but T20 being what it is, it would be rash to rule out a surprise.

My picks: Punjab, HCC; VOC; Voorburg; VRA; Excelsior; Punjab.

Rod Lyall 18/06/2023

Two victories in their home triple-header in the Amsterdamse Bos on Saturday took VRA Amsterdam to the top of the T20 Cup table, their superior net run rate enabling them to leapfrog unbeaten Punjab Rotterdam and previous leaders HCC, who suffered their first defeat at the hands of HBS.

The journey to the Bos proved deeply disappointing for Voorburg, whose batters were twice unable to reach three figures and who lost both to VRA and to Excelsior ’20 Schiedam.

On a pitch which caused batters problems all day, VRA could thank skipper Johan Smal’s 40 for the fact that they were able to reach 113 for five, Jack Balbirnie and Mitch Lees chipping in with 20 not out and 23 not out in the closing overs, after Sajjad Kamal had put the hosts on the back foot with his three for 13.

But that proved to be plenty as Voorburg, after reaching 43 for one, fell apart under the pressure from VRA’s spinners, Udit Nashier taking three for 19 and Leon Turmaine two for 28 as they collapsed to 94 all out.

Once the openers Nehaan Gigani and Musa Ahmad had gone, only Laurens Boissevain showed any sign of being able to cope with the conditions, top-scoring with 23.

It was a similar story when Voorburg took on Excelsior, Gigani, Musa and Boissevain again being the only three to reach double figures as their side battled its way to 97 for nine; all but one of the wickets fell to Excelsior’s spinners, Roel Verhagen – never previously suspected of having off-spinning tendencies – leading the way with three for 25.

Whatever terrors the pitch may have held for Voorburg’s batters did not apply to their opponents, Michael Hart making a 45-ball 52 and Lorenzo Ingram remaining not out on 31 as Excelsior completed an eight-wicket victory with five and a half overs to spare.

The highest total of the series was then posted by VRA in the final game, Luke Scully (60) and Tyler van Luin (22) putting on 95 for the first wicket before both were removed by Umar Baker.

VRA were unable to take full advantage of this outstanding start, however, Verhagen claiming four for 8 in three overs, and it took cameos from Lees and Turmaine to get them up to 149 for eight.

Verhagen then contributed with the bat as well, making 38 before becoming the first of five wickets for Balbirnie, who in a remarkable spell conceded only 14 runs as he reduced Excelsior from 69 for one to 90 for six.

There was no way back from their for the Schiedammers, and they were eventually dismissed for just 116.

At Het Schootsveld, meanwhile, Salland’s miserable run continued, as they lost first to Sparta 1888 by six wickets and then, even more heavily, to VOC Rotterdam by nine wickets.

Their day began promisingly enough, with Talha Ahmed Khan and Venkat Ganesan, the latter back from German duties, putting on 45 for the first wicket, and then Ganesan and Finn Raxworthy took them to 82 for two.

Once Ganesan had gone for 40, however, Raxworthy soon following for 30, the innings fell apart, the last seven wickets falling for just 19 runs; Joost Kroesen collected three for 17 and Faisal Bashir and Prithvi Balwantsingh picked up two apiece as Salland were all out for 118.

The home side’s bowlers fought hard all the way when Sparta replied, but Sam Ferguson’s 51 was the mainstay of the innings, and when he was finally dismissed by Victor Lubbers, only eight were needed for victory, Khalid Ahmadi hitting the winning six with an over to spare.

Ganesan again top-scored when Salland faced VOC, making a 32-ball 42, and although the middle and lower order again struggled, the total of 143 for nine was a little more challenging than they had achieved against Sparta.

Salland’s hopes were briefly raised when Francois Fourie departed early, but VOC had introduced a secret weapon in the form of Peter Recordon, a Delft University lecturer who has plenty of club cricket experience in England, and he never looked in any trouble and he and Lane Berry proceeded to knock off the runs in double-quick time.

Recordon finished with an unbeaten 64 from 47 balls, with ten fours and a six, while Berry’s 63 not out came from 42 balls with eight fours and two sixes.

With not only Sparta but also HBS Craeyenhout posting their first wins, Salland now face an uphill battle to avoid relegation, at least in this format.

The HBS win, all the more notable because it inflicted a first defeat on HCC, began sensationally, as Nic Adendorff and Julian de Mey reduced their opponents to 2 for three in the space of 14 deliveries.

Only Ratha Alphonse, and for a time Jonathan Vandiar, were able to resist a rampant HBS attack, much more experienced and incisive than that they have fielded in recent games, and it was only Alphonse’s unbeaten 55 which enabled his side to reach 121 for seven.

Hidde Overdijk hit back with the wickets of the dangerous Reece Mason and Tobias Visée, and when Tayo Walbrugh, perhaps a little unfortunately, was trapped leg-before by Daniel Doram, it seemed as if HCC might be in with a chance.

But Tim Drummond steadied the ship with 37, and with Navjit Singh and Adendorff in the middle order HBS secured the five-wicket win with almost three overs remaining.

Earlier, Punjab Rotterdam had extended their unbeaten run to four matches, holding on to withstand a spirited challenge from ACC, whom they had set to make 223 to win.

Punjab’s powerful top six had run up 222 for four, Shoaib Minhas leading the way with 42 before three Zulfiqars took over; Asad made an unbeaten, 41-ball 72, while Sikander contributed 41 and Rehmat 32 not out.

Having seen how close HBS had come against them last week, ACC began their chase in top gear, Rahil Ahmed, Shreyas Potdar, Thomas Hobson and Anis Raza all making valuable contributions, but Sulaiman Tariq hit back with three for 43, and although Mahesh Hans made a gallant, 19-ball 42, the innings ended on 207 for seven, 18 runs short of their target.

Rod Lyall 15/06/2023

Compression seems to be the name of the game these days, and incredibly, just a fortnight after they started, most clubs will pass the halfway point this weekend in their gallop towards the finals day of the restyled T20 Cup.

It will be VRA Amsterdam’s turn to play host to a triple-header, taking on Voorburg in the early game at the Bos, and then meeting Excelsior ‘20 in the day’s final game, with their two opponents playing one another as the meat in the sandwich.

As two of the four teams currently on four points, VRA and Voorburg will know that every win is vital if they are to be in the mix for the finals day on 15 July, while Excelsior, one victory behind them, need to make up ground on either or both if they are to have any chance of recovering what has been a pretty disappointing season for the Schiedam club.

VRA and Voorburg are, of course, among the sides that are suffering most from the absence of the national squad; numerically, the Amsterdammers’ losses are only half those of their guests, but Voorburg demonstrated last week that they have enviable strength in depth, with youngsters like Nirav Kulkarni, Tom de Leede and Floris and Cedric de Lange able to step into the breach left by the club’s six internationals.

VRA were scarcely tested by Salland last Saturday, but they too are not without young talent, Aaditt Jain, Udit Nashier, Zamaan Khan and Adam Constant slotting into the side and keen to make the most of the opportunity.

Excelsior, on the other hand, while untroubled by such considerations, are still struggling to find the most effective combination, and their morale will not have been helped by their defeat by Punjab on Saturday after they had reached an extremely promising 160 for two.

These look like three pretty even contests, but the momentum is with Voorburg, and it would be surprising if they didn’t leave the Bos with at least one win to show for their day’s efforts, and quite possibly two.

Their mid-table rivals both face challenging away matches of rather different kinds: ACC will go to Het Zomercomplex to take on unbeaten Punjab Rotterdam, while VOC Rotterdam will head east to Deventer on Saturday to play Salland.

Punjab are already looking like very likely semi-finalists despite the loss of Saqib Zulfiqar: his brother Sikander is a proven matchwinner with both bat and ball, and Shoaib Minhas is a reliable runmaker at the top of the order.

ACC rely heavily on Thomas Hobson, especially in the absence of Heino Kuhn, but Anis Raza has hit a rich vein of form with the bat, and the attack, if not particularly incisive, has plenty of variation.

In the absence of three of their four German internationals Salland are increasingly seeming to be headed for relegation, possibly in both formats, and it will take a greatly-improved team effort if they are to have any serious chance of upsetting either Sparta or VOC.

That said, Sparta themselves are missing spearhead Ahsan Malik from their attack, and although Mudassar Bukhari bowled testingly against Voorburg last week Malik and Khalid Ahmadi’s wicket-taking skills make a big difference to their efforts.

With their three overseas players, though, they are a better side than their none-from-three record suggests, and they will start as favourites to break their duck in Deventer on Saturday.

Having twice beaten VOC in 50-over matches since their arrival in the top flight, Salland will be especially keen to extend that run when they meet them in the shorter format, and the Rotterdammers, after a thumping defeat by Voorburg, have not looked wholly convincing in their two wins since.

But with Lane Berry, Tim de Kok and Arnav Jain in their batting line-up, Asief Hoseinbaks in wicket-taking form, Jelte Schoonheim a never-to-be-discounted force with both bat and ball, and Mussayab Jamil slotting usefully in, VOC remain strong, and their T20 record is second to none.

Winless like Sparta and Salland, HBS Craeyenhout will be at home to unbeaten leaders HCC in Saturday’s remaining match.

The Lions are certainly riding high and will start as favourites to maintain their winning streak, but HBS have been more than a little unfortunate in their four defeats so far.

Their problem, obviously, is keeping their opponents below 200, something they have failed to do in all three matches, but the return of Ferdi Vink and Navjit Singh to their ranks, though it did not ultimately change the outcome against VOC, could if it continues bring a measure of solidity to a young and worryingly fragile attack.

With 773 runs and four centuries across the two formats Tayo Walbrugh is the leading runscorer in the country, but he’s not enough on his own to beat HCC, and even sterling support from Azzam Khan could not see the side home against a workmanlike ACC bowling unit.

Against that, HCC have Alphonse, Staal, Gorlee, Vandiar and Hidde Overdijk capable of making quick runs, and an attack which even without Clayton Floyd looks sharp.

This week’s predictions: Voorburg, Sparta; Voorburg, Punjab; VOC; HCC; VRA.

This article was amended on 17 June to reflect the fact that Sparta and VOC will play each other not on Sunday, 18 June, but on Thursday, 22 June.

Rod Lyall 12/06/2023

HCC and Punjab retained their unbeaten records on the second weekend of this year’s T20 Cup, but much of the excitement of Saturday’s seven matches was concentrated at Het Loopveld, where ACC lost by nine runs to VOC Rotterdam but then held off a determined challenge by HBS Craeyenhout, winning a high-scoring match by just two runs.

The Leonidas-like heroes of the HBS defeat were Tayo Walbrugh and Azzam Khan, who came together with their side on 33 for two and added 174 in 17 overs before falling just short, Walbrugh finishing with an unbeaten 108 from 70 deliveries and Khan with 50 not out.

But ACC had set a fiercely demanding target of 210, thanks to Chris Knoll’s 48, Thomas Hobson’s 71 and Anis Raza’s 54 not out, and even the onslaught from Walbrugh and Khan could not quite bridge the gap.

Earlier, ACC had also found VOC’s 162 for six beyond them: everyone in the Rotterdammers’ top and middle order had chipped in, Mussayab Jamil top-scoring with 35 not out, and although Fergus Wegener made a 33-ball 45 before he was run out and Hobson contributed 38, VOC held on for the win, Ramdas Upadhyaya conceding only 21 from his four overs and Jamil 25.

In the triple-header at Westvliet, HCC first saw off the hosts, Voorburg, by 22 runs and then posted a three-wicket victory over Sparta 1888 to take their record to four wins out of four.

32 from Ratha Alphonse, an unbeaten 50 from Boris Gorlee and 33 not out from Hidde Overdijk enabled HCC to reach 153 for three against Voorburg, and despite a fluent 64 not out from skipper Musa Ahmad the home side could not come closer than 131 for four.

Daniel Doram again proved the value of accurate spin bowling, taking one for 17 from his four overs, while Overdijk claimed two for 27.

It was Patient Charumbira who excelled with the ball when HCC took on Sparta, taking three for 32 as the Capelle side made 156 for four, with Garnett Tarr making 46 and Will Clark a 36-ball 62.

Jonathan Vandiar contributed 48 when HCC replied, but Joost Kroesen removed both him and Charumbira, and it took a determined 42 not out from 29 deliveries from Hidde Overdijk to get his side over the line with three balls to spare.

Musa Ahmad took his tally for the day to 116 without being dismissed in the final game at Westvliet, steering his side to an eight-wicket victory over Sparta.

Although Mudassar Bukhari made a subdued 37 the Sparta innings never really caught fire, and with Philippe Boissevain taking three for 23 and Musa himself three for 17, they were restricted to a modest 127 for eight.

Nirav Kulkarni (42) then assisted his captain in a second wicket stand of 80, and Voorburg cruised to a comfortable win.

Punjab Rotterdam had some anxious moments as they chased Excelsior ‘20’s 187 for seven, to which Michael Hart had contributed a 26-ball 50, Lorenzo Ingram 42 from 25 and Roel Verhagen 34 from 20.

Sikander Zulfiqar had made sure that the damage wasn’t worse by taking four for 22, and it was his unbeaten 71 from 45 deliveries which eventually settled the issue in Punjab’s favour; he and his elder brother Rehmat came together with their side on 78 for four, and proceeded to add 90 for the fifth wicket.

Tom Heggelman returned to remove Rehmat for 55 and finish with three for 35, but Sikander made sure of the points, again with just three balls remaining.

In the Amsterdamse Bos VRA made short work of Salland, bowling them out for 82 and then taking just 7.4 overs to complete a ten-wicket victory.

Aaaditt Jain and Leon Turmaine picked up two wickets apiece as the Salland batting disintegrated, and Tyler van Luin (55 not out from 26) and Luke Scully (27 not out from 20) knocked off the runs in double-quick time.

At the Hazelaarweg on Sunday VOC bowled HBS out for 114, reducing them to 56 for six before Benno Boddendijk (23) and Martijn Scholte (24) effected a partial recovery; Asief Hoseinbaks, however, removed them both to finish with figures of four for 22.

VOC, though, soon had problems of their own, Ferdi Vink returning to the side for the first time this season and claiming two quick wickets, one of them them the dangerous Lane Berry, and at 42 for five the home side found themselves flirting with defeat.

Arnav Jain and Jelte Schoonheim turned things round with a half-century stand for the sixth wicket, and after Schoonheim had gone for 26 Jain saw his side home, ending on 28 not out as VOC won by three wickets with four balls remaining.

Rod Lyall 07/06/2023

With the national squad now ensconced in southern Africa, prospects for the T20 Cup will become clearer this weekend, with a further eight matches scheduled.

The effect of the efflux will be most apparent at Westvliet on Saturday, where Voorburg will be without at least six first-choice players when they take on first HCC, who won both their matches last week, and then Sparta 1888 in the day’s one triple-header.

The damage is spread pretty evenly across the batting and bowling, although Voorburg are fortunate in having a decent crop of reserves to step up in this situation: Mees van Vliet will presumably assume a greater role in the pace attack, but he could be supported by the experience of Stef Mulder and Ali Ahmad Qasim, as well as by Floris de Lange and Bas de Leede’s younger brother Tom, all of whom have been taking wickets in the Hoofdklasse for the club’s second team.

It may be harder to replace Michael Levitt and Noah Croes, both of whom have been called up for the national side, but Laurens Boissevain did not look out of place last week, and he may be joined in the middle order by Nirav Kulkarni.

Then again, neither Sybrand Engelbrecht nor Karl Nieuwoudt played in the defeat of VOC last week, and they would make a huge difference to the balance of the side were they to return.

HCC, by comparison, will be missing only Clayton Floyd, and while his wicket-taking capacity will be absent, Daniel Doram will still be there, and Jan-Wieger Overdijk slotted in effectively in last week’s games.

Even without Jonathan Vandiar HCC displayed plenty of hitting power, Ratha Alphonse proving much more uninhibited in the shorter format, and with Tonny Staal coming back into form and young Teun Kloppenburg finding his feet at this level, the Lions will give the reconstructed Voorburg a severe test.

The same probably applies to Sparta, who will be especially keen to expunge any memories of their 50-over nightmare at Westvliet a couple of weeks ago.

Their match against ACC last Saturday could have gone either way, and with their three overseas players, Ferguson, Tarr and Clark at the top of the order and the explosive Ali Raza to follow, they remain a force to be reckoned with.

Mudassar Bukhari may be out of the attack at the moment, but they still have Ahsan Malik and Khalid Ahmadi, and they are perfectly capable of upsetting either their hosts or HCC, whom they will take on the middle game of the three.

Having squeezed home against Sparta, ACC will host a double-header at Het Loopveld on Saturday, their opponents first VOC Rotterdam and then HBS Craeyenhout.

The Amsterdammers may not have anyone in the Dutch side, but they will be without captain-coach Heino Kuhn, who has been responsible for much of the side’s improvement this season and who will be in Zimbabwe as part of the coaching staff.

He leaves a sizeable gap, but it’s perhaps not as great as that left by Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd, who have contributed such a large share of the Rotterdammers’ runs in recent seasons.

VOC are fortunate to have the experienced Corey Rutgers waiting in the wings to join the prolific Lane Berry, Tim de Kok and the rest in the first team, but quite apart from the loss of two dominant figures from the batting line-up, the bowling remains a matter of some concern.

That is even more true of HBS, who fielded a remarkably young attack against VRA and Punjab last week; on the whole, Elmar Boendermaker, Azzam Khan and Joris van Oosterom stood up pretty well to the pounding they took, and they can only have learned from the experience.

The Crows will be without skipper Wesley Barresi for the rest of their campaign, but with Tayo Walbrugh back to his best form and allrounder Nic Adendorff assuming a steadily-increasing role with both bat and ball, they will be keen to bounce back quickly against ACC, and then against VOC, whom they will meet at the Hazelaarweg on Sunday.

With two wins under their belts, Punjab Rotterdam will welcome Excelsior ‘20 back to Het Zomercomplex on Saturday, albeit without Saqib Zulfiqar.

That still leaves them plenty of firepower with both bat and ball, and although they were too strong for Salland last week, this Excelsior side looks to be less well adapted to the T20 format than to the 50-over game, where their season so far has already been disappointing enough.

That said, it would be dangerous to write off any team with Lorenzo Ingram in it, and Punjab will need to get him early.

Punjab, of course, have match-winners of their own, with Shoaib Minhas and Mohsin Riaz both capable of piling on quick runs, not to mention the all-round capabilities of Sikander Zulfiqar.

Roel Verhagen, though, has been in good form with the bat since his return from injury, and with Stan van Troost now well established behind the stumps, Verhagen chose last Saturday to reveal previously-unsuspected talents with the ball.

The other one-off game on Saturday sees VRA Amsterdam take on Salland in the Amsterdamse Bos, but they will do so without Vikram Singh, whose unbeaten 161 was an outstanding feature of the opening day, Teja Nidamanuru and Aryan Dutt.

It remains to be seen whether VRA have the resources in reserve to cover these losses, as well as that of the injured Shirase Rasool, but they could scarcely have chosen a better way to find out than against a Salland side which looked thoroughly unconvincing in both their games at De Diepput last Saturday.

Aaditt Jain and Zamaan Khan both slotted into the side encouragingly at Craeyenhout, but the top of the batting may prove to be somewhat threadbare in the absence of the three internationals and Rasool, even if Johan Smal returns to a place in the top three.

For Salland, it’s always a question of how many of their German contingent are available, and although Talha Ahmed Khan performed solidly against Excelsior and HCC, there can be no doubt that they look a much weaker outfit without Venkat Ganesan and Sahir Naqash.

My (still very tentative) picks: HCC, Punjab; HCC, VRA, ACC; Voorburg, ACC; HBS.

Rod Lyall 04/06/2023

The undoubted highlight of an absorbing day’s cricket as the Topklasse T20 Cup got under way on Saturday was an astonishing innings from VRA’s Vikram Singh, whose unbeaten 64-ball 161 enabled his side to chase down an imposing HBS total of 223 for four.

Singh brought up his century from just 37 deliveries, almost certainly the fastest in the 17-year history of the Dutch T20 competition, and his complete innings was without question the highest individual score, eclipsing Tobias Visée’s 139 not out for HBS against HCC in 2020.

He struck 19 fours and eleven sixes, completely dominating the innings from the start, hitting six fours off Kyle Klein’s first over.

His partners were essentially spectators from 20 metres away, although he received valuable support from Teja Nidamanuru (24) in a third-wicket stand of 85.

The HBS innings had been more of a team effort, openers Reece Mason (52) and Tim Drummond (72) getting their side off to a good start, and Wesley Barresi (53 not out) and Nic Adendorff (32 not out) adding 72 in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership.

The extraordinary uncertainties of cricket were then illustrated when VRA took on Punjab in the second game of the Craeyenhout triple-header, when Singh, whose three wickets for 26 had helped his side dismiss their opponents for 154, fell to Mohammad Shafiq off the second ball of the VRA reply.

Zamaan Khan made 49 as the Amsterdammers pursued what in the context seemed a fairly modest target, but Punjab’s bowlers maintained the pressure, Shafiq finishing with three for 31, and VRA went into the final over still needing seven for victory.

Sikander Zulfiqar was able to restrict the scoring to four singles, and with Leon Turmaine run out trying to get Johan Smal back on strike, Punjab held on to win by two runs, Smal finishing unbeaten on 37.

Punjab then made it two out of two with a 12-run victory over HBS, a result which was made to seem closer than it really was by a spirited attack in the closing overs from Kyle Klein and Julian de Mey, who added 51 from the last three.

53 from Shoaib Minhas, backed up by 44 from Mohsin Riaz and 41 not out from Sikander Zulfiqar, had enabled Punjab to reach 207 for six against the young HBS attack, and although Mason again gave his side a good start with 42 and Tayo Walbrugh chipped in with a 30-ball 45, at 143 for six HBS had seemed to be heading for a thumping defeat before Klein and De Mey came together to narrow the margin.

If the batters were generally in the ascendant at Craeyenhout, the balance between bat and ball was more even in the other triple header, at De Diepput, and conditions may actually have favoured the bowlers.

The HCC attack certainly found that to be the case after Boris Gorlee had put Excelsior ‘20 in in the opening game, with the spinners Daniel Doram and Clayton Floyd conceding only 16 and 17 respectively in their four-over spells.

Roel Verhagen’s 23-ball 37 was the best effort in Excelsior’s innings, Stan van Troost contributing 31, but HCC’s chief destroyer was Hidde Overdijk, who picked up three wickets in the final over to finish with five for 25 as Excelsior ended on 155 for eight.

The Schiedammers’ bowlers were unable to create the same problems, Ratha Alphonse and Tonny Staal putting on 133 for the first wicket before Staal fell to Umar Baker for 51, and Alphonse went on to make an unbeaten, 56-ball 82 as HCC won by nine wickets with eight deliveries to spare.

Excelsior’s attack was much more effective against Salland, with Baker claiming four for 15 and fellow-spinners Lorenzo Ingram and Verhagen taking the remaining three as, with two run-outs, Salland were bowled out for 136.

Talha Khan’s 58 was the only substantial performance in the Salland innings, Victor Lubbers the next best with 22.

Again, the chase proved much easier, Verhagen (62 from 45 deliveries) and Tim Etman (50 not out from 43) adding 109 for the second wicket, and Excelsior won by eight wickets.

It was HCC’s turn to struggle with the bat when they faced Salland in the third game, and it took Hidde Overdijk’s 31-ball 47 to get them to 145 before they were all out, Ruan du Plessis taking three for 21 for the visitors.

But that turned out to be enough, Talha Khan’s 20 again Salland’s top score as they were bowled out for just 111; after Doram had taken two for 9 in three overs and Jan-Wieger Overdijk two for 20 in four, Patient Charumbira and Daniel Crowley cleaned up the middle and lower order, taking three for 15 and three for 8 respectively.

Leaders in the 50-over Topklasse, Voorburg made the most of the presence of five of their soon-to-be-Zimbabwe-bound internationals, and skittled VOC Rotterdam for 93 at the Hazelaarweg.

Ryan Klein led the way with three for 13, including both openers, and then wrist and paceman -spinners Philippe Boissevain and Shariz Ahmad and paceman Mees van Vliet picked up two apiece, Pieter Seelaar top-scoring for VOC with 18.

VOC’s bowlers struck back as Voorburg hastened towards their target, claiming five wickets, but Noah Croes stood firm with 33 not out, and Voorburg gained a potentially significant net run rate advantage by winning in just 12.4 overs.

It was much closer at the Bermweg, where ACC pipped Sparta 1888 at the post with only one delivery to spare.

Sparta’s 165 for six was built on Garnet Tarr’s 53 and a typically adventurous 28-ball 47 from Ali Raza, but Heino Kuhn, also about to take the plane to Zimbabwe as part of the coaching staff, batted throughout the ACC reply for 73 not out, sharing a 123-run partnership with Thomas Hobson (69 from 40 balls) to set up the win.

Rod Lyall 01/06/2023

The KNCB’s innovative schedule for its new-look T20 competition gets under way on Saturday with two triple-headers, at De Diepput and Craeyenhout, and a couple of one-off matches into the bargain.

With the squad taking part in the World Cup Qualifier due to depart next week, this Saturday’s games will be the only opportunity for clubs to include their national team players before the finals day on 15 July.

The subsequent absence of those players will obviously make a big difference to some clubs, with Voorburg losing five regular players (plus Logan van Beek, who made his first appearances of the season last weekend), VRA Amsterdam three, and VOC Rotterdam the crucial contribution of Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd.

Part of the restructuring of the KNCB’s competitions is that there will be separate promotion and relegation pathways for the 50-over and T20 leagues, which could mean that next season’s schedules will already be beginning to differ.

There is already some evidence that strength in one format does not guarantee equal strength in the other: the dominant sides in T20 over the past five years have been VOC, cup-winners three times in their last four attempts, and HBS, champions in 2018 and three times runners-up since 2017.

All of which means that the table at the end of the T20 round robin, with the top four teams going direct into the finals day, could look rather different from the current 50-over standings.

Turning to the immediate future, HCC will entertain Salland in the early game at De Diepput on Saturday, before the Overijssel side meet Excelsior ‘20 in their second match; the series will then be completed with the encounter between the hosts and the Schiedammers.

Semi-finalists in 2021, Salland’s prospects will depend a good deal on the commitments of their four German internationals, currently busy with preparations for the European T20 qualifier in late July, and their recent 50-over form does little to suggest that they will pose a significant threat to an HCC side which has been on an upward trajectory following a poor start to the season.

They will miss Clayton Floyd for most of the T20 programme, but Tonny Staal and Jonathan Vandiar are ideally suited to the shorter format, and the Lions have a well-balanced attack even without Floyd’s incisive left-armers.

For Excelsior it has been a disappointing season so far, but they are unaffected by national team call-ups and with Lorenzo Ingram in excellent form with both bat and ball they will be hoping to do much better in this competition.

The guests of HBS at Craeyenhout will be VRA Amsterdam, three times winners of the old-style T20 Cup in 2010-12, and Punjab Rotterdam.

Encouragement for the Crows will have come from the return, at least on a part-time basis, of Tobias Visée, a player for whom the T20 format might have been designed, and the outstanding form of Tayo Walbrugh; they will miss Wesley Barresi after this weekend, but most of the questions about this season’s side relate to its attack, Kyle Klein excepted, which lacks much of the punch of last year’s.

VRA have been highly inconsistent in the longer format so far, culminating in their missing-out on a place in the top six, and their problems will not be eased by the absence after this weekend of Vikram Singh, Aryan Dutt and Teja Nidamanuru.

All the more reason, then, for them to focus on picking up points while they can at Craeyenhout, and apart from the three internationals, seamers Ashir Abid and Eduard Visser have been picking up plenty of wickets, while Shirase Rasool (now, however, injured and likely to be out for some weeks) and Johan Smal have been in good form with the bat.

Three times cup winners with ACC between 2015 and 2017, the brothers Zulfiqar now form a vital partnership in the Punjab set-up, and if leg-spinning allrounder Saqib will be absent for most of the campaign, Sikander and Asad, along with elder brother Rehmat, will still be there to combine with overseas Mohsin Riaz and Shoaib Minhas to push for the club’s first-ever T20 title.

Both tri-series offer some pretty spicy encounters, but the two stand-alone fixtures are perhaps even more enticing.

While Excelsior and Salland do battle at De Diepput and Punjab take on VRA at Craeyenhout, Sparta 1888 will be at home to ACC at Sportpark Bermweg.

Both these sides have been, if not quite a revelation, certainly among the more successful Topklasse teams this season.

Despite a drubbing by Voorburg a fortnight ago Sparta finished Phase 1 of the 50-over competition in second place, and they have a side which looks equally well-suited to the shorter format: Ali Raza’s explosive batting at the top of the order, balanced by the more controlled skills of Sam Ferguson, Garnett Tarr and Will Clark, along with the new-ball effectiveness of Ahsan Malik, makes them strong contenders to reach the finals day for the first time.

Fitness worries around Mudassar Bukhari, another potential match-winner, will be a source of concern, but all in all, free of international call-ups, Sparta will start as one of the more fancied teams.

ACC may lack that explosive power, but after a dreadful start to the season Heino Kuhn is in the process of moulding an effective unit, and this competition will give them an opportunity to grow further. It is unfortunate for ACC that Kuhn will also miss most of the competition, since he will part of the coaching team with the Dutch in Zimbabwe.

Most tantalising of all, perhaps, is the clash between defending T20 champions VOC Rotterdam and runaway 50-over leaders Voorburg, whose game at Hazelaarweg will begin at 16:00.

If all the internationals are involved this will be an intriguing rematch of last Saturday’s 50-over encounter, with O’Dowd, Lane Berry and Edwards on VOC’s side and Michael Levitt, Noah Croes, Ryan Klein, Shariz Ahmad, Viv Kingma and Van Beek on the other.

There may, of course, be precautions demanded by the national coaching staff regarding the faster bowlers, but even so this promises to be an absorbing contest, although it may not tell us very much about the two clubs’ prospects in the rest of the competition.

My (very tentative!) picks: HCC, HBS; Punjab, Excelsior, Sparta; Voorburg; HCC, Punjab.

Rod Lyall 30/05/2023

In the end it was comfortable enough: thanks to skipper Heino Kuhn’s unbeaten, 114-ball 120, ACC made sure of their seven-wicket victory over Excelsior ‘20 at Thurlede, and with it their place in the championship pool when the 50-over competition resumes in July.

Almost equally important, defeats elsewhere for VOC, HCC and Punjab brought the Amsterdammers onto level terms with their three rivals, giving them a greatly-improved chance of reaching the top four and a place in the play-offs.

Kuhn had made two centuries during his three seasons at ACC a decade ago, since when he has played four Tests for South Africa and taken his first-class run tally past 11,000, but no innings for his Dutch club had been as important as this one, as he came to the crease with his side on 44 for two in pursuit of Excelsior’s 252 for seven.

He was in command from the outset, sharing a third-wicket stand of 138 with Aryan Kumar, promoted to open in the absence of Shreyas Potdar, whose patient 47 also contributed substantially to ACC’s successful chase, and then allowing Thomas Hobson, with 43 not out from 28 deliveries, to go on the rampage and finish the job.

As they had against Punjab on Saturday, Excelsior’s bowlers fought all the way, Michael Hart and Tom Heggelman doing everything they could to contain the batters, but on an excellent pitch they did not have the penetration to cause ACC any serious problems.

The home side’s had already demonstrated how good a wicket it was, despite a fine opening spell from Waqas Ahmad, who in his first Topklasse match for ACC grabbed two quick wickets and then returned to remove Roel Verhagen, who had made 79 in a third-wicket stand of 152 with Lorenzo Ingram.

Ingram went on to post his second century of the season and the 11th of his Topklasse career, his 114 not out taking Excelsior to 250 and setting ACC their relatively imposing target.

It was, however, for the most part a day of big totals and successful run chases, all five games being won by the side batting second.

It was another South African-born captain who was instrumental in leaders Voorburg’s victory over VOC Rotterdam at Westvliet: coming in at a perilous 135 for five with his side chasing 267 to win, Sybrand Engelbrecht combined with Musa Ahmad (44) and Ryan Klein (34 not out) to see them home with four wickets in hand and eleven balls to spare, ending on 61 not out.

Michael Levitt had earlier contributed 46 and Noah Croes 39, but with VOC spinners Arnav Jain and Asief Hoseinbaks picking up three for 48 and three for 51 respectively it took a concentrated effort from the middle order to secure yet another victory for Voorburg.

Klein had also played a major part in his side’s dismissal of VOC for 266, taking five wickets for the second time in three days, this time at a cost of 31 runs, while Shariz Ahmad’s three for 55 brought his season’s tally to 27.

Scott Edwards again top-scored for VOC with 76 and Lane Berry made 52, but a feature of the game was the contribution of Edwards’ predecessor as national captain, Pieter Seelaar, who not only made a 34-ball 38 in the closing stages of his side’s innings, but bowled a full stint of ten overs, conceding just 28 runs.

ACC’s victory at Thurlede made it irrelevant in the end, but VRA Amsterdam finished Phase 1 on a high by beating HCC by three wickets in a tense finish at De Diepput.

Boris Gorlee confirmed his return to form with 61 after HCC had been put in to bat, Ratha Alphonse making a solid 42, and with useful contributions from Jonathan Vandiar (32), Teun Kloppenburg (33) and Hidde Overdijk (27), the home side reached 269 before they were all out; Eduard Visser was again the main wicket-taker with three for 85.

Shirase Rasool and Vikram Singh (35) gave VRA a good start with an opening stand of 92, Rasool going on to make 94 before he fell to Daniel Doram, and Teja Nidamanuru made 51, but then three wickets fell for just 28 runs, and it was left to Visser and keeper Sachin Peiris to steer their side home with just two balls to spare.

The highlights of the match between HBS and Punjab Rotterdam at Craeyenhout were centuries by Mohsin Riaz and Wesley Barresi, the latter the decisive factor which took HBS to a seven-wicket win and earned them two points which could be invaluable in the relegation battle to come.

Riaz’s 104, his second hundred in successive innings, was the basis of Punjab’s 232 for nine, Muhammad Shafiq chipping in with an unbeaten 44 towards the end, but with Tobias Visée providing a characteristic 16-ball 38 at the top of the HBS reply and Tayo Walbrugh (59) sharing a 116-run stand with Barresi for the third wicket, the Crows cruised to their win with more than ten overs to spare, significantly improving their net run rate in the process.

It seemed for a time as if Barresi might just miss out on the 13th century of his career, but he reached the milestone in style, twice hoisting young Aaliyan Mahmood for six over square leg to go from 90 to 102 and take his side past their target.

The exception to the runfest elsewhere was at Het Schootsveld, where a seriously depleted Salland fielded four debutants and were bowled out for 180 by Sparta 1888.

Fraser Bartholomew (50) and Piyaranga Ottachchige (74) put on 112 for the second wicket, but then Khalid Ahmadi ripped through the rest of the batting, only Hashim Khan reaching double figures; Ahmadi’s six for 37 was his best-ever return, and took his season’s tally to 21.

Bartholomew and Victor Lubbers grabbed an early wicket apiece when Sparta replied, but then Garnett Tarr again proved his value to the Capelle side with 103 from exactly 100 deliveries, putting on 103 for the third wicket with Will Clark, and Sparta completed a six-wicket victory which took them back into second spot on the table, four points behind Voorburg but two points ahead of the following pack.