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Rod Lyall 10/07/2023

Double victories for Excelsior ‘20 and VOC Rotterdam on Saturday ensured that both sides reached the finals day of the T20 Cup on 15 July, although they had to wait until Sunday, and the match between HCC and Punjab, to learn exactly where on the table they would finish.

VOC began their weekend at the Hazelaarweg with a 26-run victory over Punjab, who were dismissed for 119 as they chased a total of 145 for nine, Asief Hoseinbaks taking three for 24 and Jelte Schoonheim three for 18.

Schoonheim’s 19-ball 26 had earlier been a significant contribution to his side’s score, along with top-scorer Burhan Niaz’s 36, while Sikander Zulfiqar’s 38-ball 50 received insufficient support from the rest of the side.

Schoonheim claimed two more wickets when VOC took on VRA Amsterdam in their second game, crucially breaking a third-wicket partnership of 113 between Tyler van Luin and Johan Smal, the latter caught by Tim de Kok for 48.

Van Luin stayed to the end, making an undefeated 80 in VRA’s total of 161 for five.

Francois Fourie and Peter Recordon gave VOC’s reply a great start with an opening stand of 83, and after they had both been dismissed and Lane Berry had joined them in the dug-out, Niaz and Arnav Jain knocked off the remaining runs to give VOC the win with five deliveries to spare.

Whether these two victories would be sufficient to propel the Cup holders into the semi-finals still hinged on the outcome VRA’s match against HCC, since a win for the Amsterdammers would bring them level with VOC and with a superior net run rate.

But after restricting HCC to 145 for seven, Teun Kloppenburg top-scoring with 40, VRA suffered an early collapse, Shirase Rasool, Luke Scully and Van Luin all falling by the time seven runs were on the board, and although Smal again battled hard with a 30-ball 51, at 81 for six it looked as if VRA’s challenge was over.

Mitch Lees fought a rearguard action with a defiant 38, supported by Leon Turmaine, but 16 were needed from Daniel Crowley’s final over, and with both Lees and Turmaine run out only one run was added to the score, and HCC won by 14 runs.

At Thurlede, meanwhile, Excelsior’s matches would not only determine whether they would take part in the finals day, but also who would be relegated to next year’s Hoofdklasse T20 Cup.

On Friday evening HBS Craeyenhout had lost by 42 runs to Sparta 1888, which meant that they could still be overtaken by ACC, Excelsior’s first opponents, and also that they could drop below both Salland and ACC if they suffered too heavy a defeat at the hands of Excelsior in the second match at Thurlede.

Sparta’s total of 203 for five was built of the contributions of their three overseas players, Garnett Tarr making 49, Sam Ferguson 47 and Will Clark 55, and although Tayo Walbrugh made a gallant 86 for HBS it could get them no closer than 161 for seven in reply.

So everything depended on ACC and HBS’s results against Excelsior, and ACC’s hopes were raised by a disciplined performance in the field, which restricted the Schiedammers to 107 for nine; Devanshu Arya’s four overs conceded only 14 runs, and Mahesh Hans claimed two for 4 in two overs, including the wicket of top-scorer Stan van Troost (21).

But two wickets for Jens Blankestijn and a run-out soon reduced ACC to 7 for three, and although Thomas Hobson (23) and Anis Raza (32) battled hard, Arya and Ammar Zaidi were left needing 16 from Niels Etman’s final over.

Ten came from the first four deliveries, including a six by Zaidi, but then he was run out off the fifth, and Excelsior squeezed home by 4 runs.

ACC’s survival now depended upon HBS’s effort against Excelsior, and when the home side posted a substantial 155 for two, Roel Verhagen making an unbeaten 69, and HBS slipped to 14 for three inside four overs, there seemed a possibility that they would fail to reach the 66 they needed to stay ahead of the Amsterdammers on NRR.

At this point Walbrugh and Nic Adendorff appeared to abandon the chase, contenting themselves with reaching that intermediate target, and they needed only another 13 when Adendorff was run out attempting an unnecessary second run.

Ferdi Vink, however, helped Walbrugh achieve safety for his side, and the innings closed on 79 for five, enough to keep HBS up and send ACC down.

Net run rate was also significant when HCC played host to Punjab on Sunday in the final round robin match: having contained the Lions to 120 for nine, Punjab needed to reach their target in 16 overs to better their hosts’ NRR and move into top slot.

They began promisingly, Shoaib Minhas making a 29-ball 41 not out despite the loss of two early wickets, but rain intervened after 8.2 overs with Punjab on 54 for two.

They were ahead by 8 runs on DLS and therefore took the points, but the difference was insufficient to take them ahead of their rivals on NRR.

Next Saturday’s first semi-final will therefore pit HCC against fourth-placed VOC, while Punjab will take on Excelsior in the second.

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.