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Rod Lyall 07/07/2023

We’re in for a tense and potentially exciting weekend of cricket as the Topklasse T20 Cup reaches the end of the round robin phase, with seven of the ten clubs battling either for a spot on the finals day or to avoid relegation.

The battle begins on Friday evening, when HBS Craeyenhout will be at home to Sparta 1888 in the first of three games which will decide who will be playing their T20 cricket in the Hoofdklasse next season.

Sparta are safe, but with two games to play HBS will want to get clear of the relegation zone as quickly as possible, and they will achieve that if they win this one on their own astroturf.

Nic Adendorff has emerged as a key allrounder in the Crows’ line-up, and with him and Reece Mason in the top order they have some insurance against the rare occurrence of Tayo Walbrugh going cheaply.

Their main problems, however, have been in the bowling, which looks a lot more solid when Ferdi and/or Stephan Vink and/or Navjit Singh are in the side to bolster the youthful talents of Elmar Boendermaker and Yoran Visée.

With only pride to play for Sparta will be something of an unknown quantity in this game, but their hard-fought victory over VRA last Saturday, built on a fine spell from Mudassar Bukhari, suggests that they may want to end on a high, and that can only be good for the competition.

The relegation issue, however, will mostly be dependent on the match between Excelsior ‘20 and ACC at Thurlede on Saturday, where defeat for ACC would definitively seal their fate and ensure a reprieve for Salland, whose victory over the Amsterdammers last Sunday has given them a crucial edge.

Excelsior are still in with an outside chance of making the semi-finals provided they win both their remaining matches, so Roel Verhagen’s men have every incentive to make sure of the points against ACC, and then against HBS when they take them on in the second leg of a double-header.

Fielding a somewhat scratch side on Sunday, ACC were never really in the contest, and they will need to call on all their resources if they are to have a realistic chance in this do-or-go-down battle.

Should Excelsior win they will move ahead of Voorburg on net run rate, and having completed their programme Voorburg will only be able to watch anxiously as events unfold at Thurlede and elsewhere.

Even victories over both ACC and HBS, however, would not guarantee Excelsior a place in the top four, since they have VOC Rotterdam breathing down their necks, also with two games to play.

But whereas Excelsior face two of the lower-placed teams, VOC have to take on Punjab Rotterdam and <b<VRA Amsterdam, both of whom are currently above them on the table and need at least one more win to make sure of a finals day spot.

Punjab have been one of the most consistent sides in this competition, and they might already have been secure in the top four had their match against Sparta last Saturday not been rained off.

Shoaib Minhas has been a tower of strength at the top of the batting order, and with a trio of Zulfiqars in the middle order and the guile of Mohammad Shafiq with the ball, they have fully deserved their place near the top of the table.

Cup holders VOC, on the other hand, have blown hot and cold, although their campaign has not been helped by the loss of two matches to the weather.

Lane Berry remains key with the bat, but he has not been able to reproduce in the T20 format his form in the 50-over game, and they will need significant contributions from him – and from the rest of the top order – if they are to pull off the two wins they need to give themselves any chance of reaching the finals day.

For VRA, who need to bounce back quickly from that defeat at Sparta last week, the VOC encounter is the first leg of a Hazelaarweg double-header, the second a nominally home game against leaders HCC.

With a very favourable net run rate, a win against either VOC or HCC should be enough to see VRA into the semi-finals, but the leading sides are also jostling for a favourable draw on the finals day; not only does the team at the top of the table meet the fourth-placed side – not, perhaps, a huge advantage given the vagaries of T20 cricket – but playing in the first semi-final gives the winners more recovery time before the final.

There will be every incentive, then, for both sides to gain a crucial advantage over their rivals, and the same will apply to the weekend’s final match, between HCC and Punjab at De Diepput on Sunday.

These two sides have thoroughly deserved their places at the top of the table, and in Daniel Doram, whose economy rate in this competition is a remarkable 3.78 an over, they have a potential match-winner who will test the hitting power of Punjab’s batters.

A brace of wins for either HCC or Punjab would guarantee them the top spot going into the finals day, so this match will have something of the final avant la lettre about it.

It’s hard to imagine a better climax to what has been a fascinating new competition set-up.

My picks for the weekend: HBS; Punjab, Excelsior, VOC, HBS, HCC; Punjab.

Rod Lyall 03/07/2023

The relegation battle in the T20 Cup heated up considerably in Deventer on Sunday, when Salland gave themselves a real chance of staying up by beating ACC by 60 runs and changing places with them at the foot of the table.

ACC will now need to beat Excelsior ’20 in next weekend’s final round in order to avoid relegation, and with the Schiedammers fighting for a place on the finals day that will be no straightforward task.

The day had begun less promisingly for Salland, who lost a low-scoring game against HBS Craeyenhout by 13 runs after restricting their opponents to 109 for seven.

Reinder Lubbers struck an early blow for the home side by getting danger man Tayo Walbrugh caught at slip off the fourth ball of the match, and went on to complete an outstanding spell with figures of 4 – 2 – 7 – 3.

Manjinder Singh hit a lusty 10-ball 25 before becoming the second of his victims, but it was Nic Adendorff’s steady 47 which gave HBS a total they had some prospect of defending in the bowler-friendly conditions.

Julian de Mey maintained great pressure on Salland’s batters with a spell which gave him figures as remarkable as Lubbers’s, 4 – 1 – 5 – 2; and at 43 for five the home side were in serious jeopardy.

They were rescued by a stand of 50 between skipper Victor Lubbers and his elder brother Reinder, but once that had been broken by an outstanding piece of fielding by De Mey to run out Victor as they attempted a third run, the ask became too great for the remaining batters, and the innings closed on 96 for nine.

It soon appeared that the ground staff might have dropped in an entirely different pitch during the break as Salland, after winning the toss, ran up their highest total of the competition, their 174 for five built on a second-wicket stand of 100 between Talha Ahmed Khan (37) and Ganesan (62).

Sahir Naqash then contributed a 21-ball 43, inclduing four fours and two sixes, to ensure that ACC faced a very significant target.

They began briskly enough, reaching 76 for one in the ninth over, but once Akhil Gopinath had removed Shreyas Potdar, stumped by Rahil Ahmed, and Elam Bharathi had bowled Thomas Hobson for a fine 27-ball 46, the innings started to sag.

Gopinath claimed three more wickets to finish with four for 29, and there were two apiece for Reinder Lubbers and Bharathi as ACC were dismissed for a disappointing 114.

It was the Amsterdammers’ second defeat of the weekend, as they had also lost by 26 runs to Voorburg at Westvliet on Saturday.

There they were chasing a much more modest target, Voorburg having reached 125 for eight, Nehaan Gigani having top-scored with 32, but three wickets for Floris de Lange (at a cost of 20 runs) and a hat-trick by Mees van Vliet, who finished with four for 24, restricted them to just 99 all out.

Rain played havoc with Saturday morning’s programme, with the matches between HCC and VOC Rotterdam and Sparta 1888 and Punjab Rotterdam abandoned without a ball being bowled, and only eight overs per side being possible at Westvliet, where Voorburg beat HBS by 13 runs.

Voorburg’s 95 for four was dominated by Musa Ahmad’s 27-ball 64, which brought his tally for the tournament to 348, and although Walbrugh made 39 from 22 deliveries before he was caught behind off Van Vliet and Tim Drummond contributed an unbeaten 29, the Crows were unable to score at the nine and a half an over they needed.

Improving conditions in the afternoon meant that Sparta were able to take on VRA Amsterdam, who missed an opportunity to go clear at the top of the table when they lost a see-sawing encounter by two wickets off the final ball of the match.

The leaders had been put on the back foot early by a vintage spell from Mudassar Bukhari, who displayed all his guile in an opening spell of three for 21, and they were only able to recover from 53 for six to 122 all out thanks to valuable contributions from Udit Nashier (29) and Aaditt Jain (17); Prithvi Balwantsingh kept up the pressure for Sparta with three for 29.

Bukhari, Sam Ferguson, Garnett Tarr and Will Clark all got a start at the top of Sparta’s order and Khalid Ahmadi made 18 from just eight deliveries, but VRA kept taking wickets, and Eduard Visser’s final over began with 11 still needed and seven wickets down.

Balwantsingh fell to the first ball, but Tom Hoornweg struck the second to the boundary, and a string of singles left four required off the last and skipper Joost-Martijn Snoep on strike.

His lofted drive to long off eluded the fielder, and Sparta had secured the two points they needed to put an end to any fears that they might become entangled in the relegation tussle.

Rod Lyall 29/06/2023

Just fourteen matches remain to be played now in the round robin phase of this year’s T20 Cup, with half of them taking place this weekend. Perhaps the only thing we know for certain is that the outcomes at top and (possibly) bottom won’t be finally resolved this week, but by Sunday evening at least the remaining issues will have been clarified.

The most significant match of the weekend is probably VOC Rotterdam’s’s clash with HCC at De Diepput on Saturday: currently just outside the semi-final places but with a game in hand over rivals Excelsior ‘20 (who don’t have a game this weekend), Cup-holders VOC really need to take the points here to give themselves a crucial advantage going into the final weekend.

An HCC win, on the other hand, would virtually guarantee HCC a slot on the finals day, with at least a four-point margin over those battling for the fourth semi-final place.

Personnel changes have made little difference to the Lions’ performances so far, and even the absence of Hidde Overdijk did not prevent their victory over ACC last week, while VOC dropped vital points when they ended up short in their run chase against Excelsior.

That said, even without Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd the Bloodhounds have plenty of batting, and this game could be an absorbing encounter; it may be that it will be HCC’s attack which is the decisive factor, with Daniel Doram a key factor.

Missing half their first-choice side, Voorburg have had a pretty tough time over the past couple of weeks, although they did pull off a notable surprise by ending Punjab’s unbeaten run last Saturday before losing to Salland.

Saturday sees them taking on HBS Craeyenhout and ACC in a Westvliet double-header which completes their round-robin programme, and two wins would consolidate their mid-table position without, however, giving them a real possibility of reaching the finals day.

Musa Ahmad has virtually carried the side with his bat and to some degree with the ball, and his century against Punjab was a remarkable single-handed effort.

HBS shocked HCC in their last outing, but they, too, are very dependent on one individual in Tayo Walbrugh; man-for-man, though, they have more experience than their hosts, especially if, after their week off, they are again able to call on the likes of Ferdi and/or Stephan Vink, Tobias Visée and Navjit Singh,

With relegation still a possibility after Salland’s win against Voorburg, they have every incentive to put out a strengthened side against a Voorburg outfit which does look pretty vulnerable.

ACC’s position is a little healthier, but if they do not secure at least one more win in their last three games and other results go against them, even they could slip into the relegation zone.

They looked more solid last week with Chris Knoll in the side to support Thomas Hobson, but their bowling remains a source of concern and although Anis Raza has been giving sterling service with both bat and ball they will need early wickets against Voorburg if they are to have a decent chance of taking the points back north.

Of the clubs in the lower reaches of the table Sparta 1888 have the toughest day on Saturday, as they face first Punjab and then VRA at the Bermweg.

Although they have the cushion of the point they gained from their rained-off match against VOC, the unpredictable nature of T20 cricket means that they too will need to pick up at least one win from their last three games before they can breathe a little more easily, and given the strength of both Punjab and VRA it’s looking as if it may come down to their final match-up with HBS on 9 July.

Even the batting power of Ferguson, Tarr and Clark has not been enough to earn the Spartans more than a single victory so far, and with the Zulfiqars, Shoaib Minhas and Mohammad Shafiq among their first opponents and Johan Smal leading a talented VRA outfit, they will have to be at their very best if they are to cause an upset here.

For Punjab and VRA, of course, as for HCC, a victory on Saturday would make them virtually certain of a spot on the finals day, and that should be incentive enough.

Influential as some of these games may be in deciding who plays in next season’s Hoofdklasse T20 Cup, the real relegation battles will take place on Sunday, when HBS and ACC will travel to Deventer to take on Salland.

This is the last-chance saloon for Victor Lubbers’s side, whose programme will be completed by this double-header: two defeats would leave them irredeemably at the foot of the table, while even one win, especially against HBS, would keep a tiny window of hope open for them.

Should they win both the pressure on their rivals would then be enormous, even more so if they had lost to Voorburg on Saturday.

Those stakes should ensure that Salland put out a three-line whip for their German contingent, but even the efforts of Venkat Ganesan and Talha Ahmed Khan, backed up by the ‘official’ overseas players Finn Raxworthy and Fraser Bartholomew, have mostly been insufficient to earn them the points, and they will need to fire on all cylinders if they are to pull off a Great Escape on Sunday.

My picks: HCC; HBS, Voorburg; Punjab, VRA; HBS, ACC.

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.