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Rotterdam see off Kampong; Rushmere does it again

Rod Lyall 14/06/26

Not, perhaps, since the heyday of the legendary Nolan Clarke has the Dutch competition seen a player with the determination to post really big scores and both the skill and temperament to do so on a fairly regular basis, as Hermes’ David Rushmere is proving himself to be.

Having announced his arrival with 169 on the season’s opening day, Rushmere had a run of low scores before rediscovering his form with 118 (out of a total of 188) against Rotterdam last week.

And on Saturday he was at it again, producing a 124-ball 167 as Hermes chased VRA’s imposing 313 for eight and getting his side to within 38 runs of their opponents’ total.

The VRA innings was built on a third-wicket stand of 192 between Sam Cassidy and skipper Teja Nidamanuru, which enabled them to recover from a perilous 14 for two; Cassidy eventually fell for 103, but Nidamanuru continued to his own hundred – remarkably, his first in the Topklasse – before being dismissed for 104 as the Amsterdammers pushed on towards 300.

He eventually became one of four victims for Ralph Elenbaas, at a cost of 71 runs, but quick-fire cameos from Jack Cassidy and Udit Nashier took them past that milestone.

Opening in place of the absent Daniel Doyle-Calle, Rushmere saw his side slump to 43 for three, all three wickets grabbed by Sharad Hake, before he found a partner in stand-in skipper Nick Statham, who contributed 51 as the pair put on 117 for the fourth wicket, bringing Hermes back into the game.

Once Statham had departed Rushmere again watched as wickets fell steadily at the other end, but he continued the pursuit almost single-handed, going past his 150 and hitting a succession of boundaries before he was the last to fall, caught off Nidamanuru as he attempted another six to go with the 17 fours and six sixes he had already struck.

The defeat left Hermes still at the foot of the table, but they could derive some consolation from the fact that their rivals in the relegation battle, VOC and HBS, both also lost.

VOC’s 13-run defeat by Voorburg was the outcome of a seesawing battle at Westvliet, where the home side recovered from 52 for four to post 238 for seven, thanks mainly to Michael Rippon’s 69 and Don Glover’s 71, and the fifth-wicket partnership of 133 they shared.

Tom de Leede chipped in with an unbeaten 39, ensuring that VOC would need their highest total of the season to take the points.

Tim de Kok made 44 and Jason van der Meulen 38 when they replied, but at 145 for six they were again in trouble, and only a stand of 51 between Ahsan Malik (29) and Asief Hoseinbaks (27) took them to within striking distance of their target.

Then Jaynul Islam removed both in the same over, and Waseem Mohsen ended the innings, finishing with four for 41 as VOC were all out for 225.

At De Diepput, outside title contenders HCC were too strong for HBS, dismissing them for 178 and chasing down their target for the loss of just two wickets.

Kent Goedeke (41) and Lucas del Bianco (60 not out) were the mainstay of the HBS innings, while Josh Brown and Justin Trijzelaar were again the most effective of the Lions’ attack, taking three for 37 and three for 43 respectively.

Tonny Staal and Shirsak Banerjee gave HCC a bright start, and once they had gone Zac Worden and Boris Gorlee finished the job with an unbroken stand of 103, Worden ending on 46 not out and Gorlee hitting a 50-ball, unbeaten 70, which included seven fours and four sixes, taking their side home with more than 15 overs to spare.

The top-of-the-table clash between Kampong and Rotterdam was reduced to 38 overs a side after overnight rain, Sikander Zulfiqar’s side reinforcing their position as leaders with an emphatic 49-run victory.

They, too, started badly, Shirsak Kumar and Lachlan Bangs reducing them to 21 for three, but they were rescued, first by Shoaib Minhas and Abdul Rehman Niazi (37), and then by Minhas and Saqib Zulfiqar.

Minhas eventually fell for 61, but Saqib stayed to the end, making an unbeaten, 34-ball 50 as Rotterdam reached 197 for eight.

This always looked likely to be too much for Kampong, and although Bangs made 59 before he was run out, the defending champions were all out for 148.

Voorburg’s narrow win keeps them within a point of Rotterdam, although with a greatly inferior net run rate, with HCC and Kampong a further two points behind.

In the lower half of the table, VRA have somewhat eased their concerns about relegation, although only three points separate VRA in fifth spot from Hermes at the bottom, with HBS and VOC also in the danger area, and four rounds remaining.

Preview Round 10

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall

Distractions abound this weekend as we push further toward the business end of the Topklasse season; the Netherlands women’s team are set to return to the global stage for the first time since before the ICC ran women’s world cups, the men’s team are in Canada for their ongoing CWC League 2 engagement, and we’re told there’s even some soccer happening. That’s all none of our business here at TK of course, except insofar as the men’s team being forced to endure King City for another week continues to unevenly affect availability for our four fixtures on Saturday.

BdJ: Arguably the most significant result arguably attributable in part to the national team’s absence was VOC’s upset win over an understrength Kampong last weekend, and the defending champions will again be without their skipper and two senior bats when they take on frontrunners Rotterdam at Maarschalkerweerd on Saturday looking to reclaim the lead. Without Roy, Edwards and O’Dowd the hosts will start as underdogs against a Rotterdam side that boast four bats averaging well north of 40. Of available Kampong bats, only Pierre Jacod is averaging over 30 this season, and the off-spinning all-rounder will likely have a key role to play with the ball too if the defending champions are to stage an upset.

RL: Rotterdam don’t need any assistance from the national selectors to take the field brimming with confidence against any team in the competition, and although they have suffered the odd aberration, their batting line-up is one of the most powerful ever assembled in the Dutch top flight. But the bowling, while it attracts less attention, is also formidable, especially in the spin department. Apart from a bag of six against Hermes early on, Carl Mumba has perhaps been a less incisive spearhead than Rotterdam may have hoped, but Ahmed Shafiq, Saqib Zulfiqar, Shoaib Minhas, Musa Ahmad and Muhammad Gondal more than make up for that. For Kampong, Saurabh Zalpuri filled in admirably for the absent Alex Roy, The return of Lorenzo Ingram, too, could not have come at a better time for the defending champions, and although his contribution against VOC was limited, the mere presence of his vast experience is a considerable asset in a team deprived of its other senior players.

BdJ: VOC themselves will travel to Westvliet looking to strike again while the iron is hot, taking on a weakened Voorburg. The return of Gavin Kaplan has gone some way to mitigate the loss of four top order bats to Oranje, but it took a maiden century from Ryan Klein at five to get VCC to a respectable score against HBS last week before the rain put a stop to proceedings. Meanwhile VOC’s attack was bolstered by Vivian Kingma who took three wickets on debut for his new club last week, and may well be fired up on return to Westvliet. Paired with Roman Harhangi VOC could bring an incisive new ball attack to bear on Voorburg’s threadbare top order, and might just sense an opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone.

RL: Voorburg will probably feel that they stood up pretty well to the loss of most of their top order against HBS, and perhaps a little frustrated that the adverse weather meant they had to be content with a point. A six-ball duck for Michael Rippon didn’t help their cause, and they will be hoping that he is able to make a more substantial contribution against VOC. Their attack, of course, is relatively intact, and while Mees van Vliet’s lack of form is a worry, they have sufficient resources to trouble a VOC line-up which added another to its list of disappointing performances against Kampong. The Bloodhounds’ bowling unit, on the other hand, was able to take advantage of their opponents’ slightly desperate and ultimately misplaced attempt to beat the rain, although it’s unlikely that Voorburg will display the same profligate tendencies. With the international experience of Kingma as well as Ahsan Malik, however, VOC won’t make life easy for the home side’s second string line-up, even with Kaplan added to the ranks.

BdJ: Meanwhile in the mid-table, HCC welcome HBS Craeyenhout to De Diepput. The Crows will be aiming to consolidate their place in the middle of the pack, while the hosts will be looking to catch up to the top three. They suffered a setback dropping points to VRA at the Bos last week, failing to fully recover from a top order collapse in the absence of skipper Boris Gorlee. With Hidde Overdijk sidelined, the Lions don’t have quite the same lower-order resilience that they once enjoyed, though their bowling reserves have covered for his absence admirably, young Justin Trijzelaar impressing when called upon to step up. HBS meanwhile will have to contend with the absence of seam spearhead Kyle Klein as well as, perhaps more worryingly, skipper Tayo Walbrugh’s alarming dip in form. They owe their current position of relative safety in large part to the batting form of all-rounder Botha and Del Bianco, coupled with new overseas Kent Goedeke finding his feet in the Topklasse, but will need more from their senior bats if they’re to avoid sinking back down toward the danger zone.

RL: With Voorburg and Kampong operating with one hand tied behind their backs, HCC really needed to capitalise if they are to launch a serious challenge for the title, and it was therefore a real blow that they were unable to beat VRA on Sunday. It’s not just a question of lower-order resilience, although that is important: twenties and thirties aren’t really enough from the top six, and although Tonny Staal features among the top ten batters in the competition, the Lions haven’t been able to build big partnerships and put opposing attacks under pressure. The Crows have been rather more successful with the bat, but the bowlers have conceded an average in excess of 250 in innings which have gone the full distance – home matches at runs-rich Craeyenhout admittedly pushing that figure up – and without Klein as spearhead and Botha not having bowled since 2 May, they have struggled to bowl their oppponents out. Benno Boddendijk has been consistently taking wickets and the development of Joris van Oosterom has been a bonus, but there have been occasions when the attack has seemed a bit threadbare.

BdJ: Finally VRA will be heading down to Schiedam to take on relegation spot incumbents Hermes DVS, well aware that defeat could see them slip into that undesirable position themselves. With word that stand-out seam all-rounder Vikram Singh has suffered a significant shoulder injury during preparations in Canada that will likely rule him out for a number of weeks, the Amsterdammers could find themselves staring down the barrel if they can’t get clear of the tail end of the table this week. For Hermes this four-pointer comes at an inconvenient time too however, with skipper Sebastiaan Braat still stuck at King City along with Oli Elenbaas and Aryan Dutt. That said, Ralph Elenbaas has now eclipsed his brother in the wicket-tallies this season, and spinners Kothari and Jabarkhail look a decent enough combo against VRA’s largely right-handed line-up. Newcomer David Rushmere also looks to have recaptured some of his early form, even if the opening pair continues to struggle. The absence of Braat leaves a tough hole to fill for the hosts though; the Sky Blues haven’t won without him since returning to the top flight. VRA meanwhile found a way to bank points last week even without Singh, and they’ll have to keep finding ways if they’re to pull clear of an ugly relegation fight.

RL: A classic four-pointer this, with both sides much closer to relegation than might have been expected at the start of the season and time beginning to run out. David Rushmere’s solo effort last week was a classic of a different kind, but it also pointed up how fragile the Hermes batting can be, especially without Elenbaas, Dutt and Braat contributing from the middle order. VRA’s bowling, it’s true, isn’t as testing as Rotterdam’s, but it has a similar spin component, and the Sky Blues will be hoping that Ash Ostling and Daniel Doyle-Calle will be able to give them a rather more solid start against their visitors’ seamers. Ibaad Zaidi’s mature knock in partnership with Shariz Ahmad made all the difference against HCC last Sunday, buoying up a VRA middle order which has also shown signs of vulnerability at key moments, but the Amsterdammers will need to do some serious rejigging at the top of the batting if, as feared, Vikram Singh’s injury turns out to be as significant as it appears.

BdJ’s picks: Rotterdam, VOC, HCC, Hermes

RL’s picks: Rotterdam, Voorburg, HCC, VRA.

Rushmere century in vain as Rotterdam go top

Rod Lyall 08/06/26

HCC missed an opportunity to move into second place on the Topklasse table on Sunday, when they lost to VRA by five wickets in a hard-fought, at times attritional battle in the Amsterdamse Bos.

Put in to bat in overcast conditions which clearly favoured the bowlers, HCC began confidently enough, but then Sharad Hake and Johan Smal grabbed three wickets in nine deliveries to break open the middle order, and when stand-in captain Teun Kloppenburg fell four overs later, the Lions found themselves on 52 for four.

The lower order was partially successful in digging them out of trouble, keeper Yash Patel top-scoring with 35 as Teja Nidamanuru turned to his four-man spin attack of Sharif Ahmad, himself, Darsh Abhinay and Udit Nashier, and a series of twenties managed to get the total up to 204.

Josh Brown removed both openers when VRA replied, but a 60-run third-wicket stand between Smal (29) and Nidamanuru (36) put the hosts back on track.

Then Justin Trijzelaar took a hand, dismissing both and adding the scalp of Jack Cassidy, and at 83 for five VRA appeared to be heading for defeat.

That brought Ibaad Zaidi in to join Shariz, and they slowly built up what eventually became the match-winning partnership, Shariz making 45 not out and Zaidi posting his second Topklasse half-century, going on to a career-best, unbeaten 70.

The pair’s cautious and extremely effective approach was highlighted by the fact that they only hit three boundaries between them in their stand of 125, before Zaidi finished it with a six with 20 deliveries remaining.

The scheduling of this match for Sunday meant that, although the start was delayed by 45 minutes because of a wet outfield, the teams were able to avoid the disruptions which the weather created the previous day.

At the Zomercomplex, Rotterdam withstood a remarkable solo batting performance by Hermes-DVS’s David Rushmere and a long rain delay before they could start their abbreviated reply, their five-wicket victory taking them back to the top of the table.

Coming in at 2 for one, Rushmere made 118 out of a Hermes total of 188 before he was last man out in the 39th over.

He received very little support from the rest of the batting, only Daniel Doyle-Calle, Zaffar Chaudhary and Ralph Elenbaas reaching double figures, most of the damage being done by Rotterdam spinners Ahmad Shafiq and Saqib Zulfiqar with three wickets apiece and Shoaib Minhas with two.

After a long wait the players were finally able to return to the field, with Rotterdam set a DLS target of 165 in 36 overs.

They did it in just over 27, mainly due to Muhammad Gondal’s 63-ball 70 and an unbeaten 34 from Saqib, and results elsewhere saw Hermes return to the foot of the table.

The most remarkable of those results was at the Hazelaarweg, where a depleted Kampong dismissed VOC for 141, but were then themselves dismissed for just 132, losing by nine runs

With rain clouds threatening to bring the match to a premature end and at least 20 overs needing to be bowled to achieve a valid result, Kampong’s batters were caught between two stools, trying to knock off the runs as quickly as possible, but losing too many wickets in the process.

Two brief interruptions heightened their anxiety, but in the end VOC’s bowlers were able to have the last word, despite Damien van den Berg’s 40-ball 47 at the start of the innings.

Kampong were, of course, withut key batters Max O’Dowd and Scott Edwards, but even so they will have been deeply disappointed that they were unable to capitalise on the efforts of their bowlers, Pierre Jacod claiming three for 26 and Lorenzo Ingram and Saurabh Zalpuri picking up two apiece as VOC slumped from 61 for one to 141 all out.

The national selectors had caused even greater problems for Voorburg as they took on HBS at Craeyenhout, but 59 from Gavin Kaplan, recalled to the colours for this eventuality, and a maiden Topklasse century of 100 not out by stand-in captain Ryan Klein, enabled them to reach 266 for seven in 50 overs.

The latter stages of the innings were not without controversy, as the umpires kept the players on the field during several showers and then, after an interruption and an early lunch, bringing them back to complete the innings.

A further long delay followed, before HBS were able to start their chase with the target 161 from 20 overs.

Only one over could be bowled, however, before the umpires ruled that after so much rain conditions were unsafe for play to continue and the match was abandoned, each side taking a point.

Preview Round 9

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong | 02-06-2026

And so we’ve reached that point in the season where the depth of several squads is to be tested in earnest, since for the next two rounds the members of the men’s national team will be otherwise engaged in King City, Canada. Voorburg, Kampong and Hermes-DVS are the clubs most severely affected, while HBS and VRA suffer to a lesser extent. HCC, Rotterdam and VOC get off scot-free, none of their players having made the selection. Apart from the implications for the competition, there is something to celebrate heartily in the fact that the three new call-ups, Cedric de Lange, Olivier Elenbaas and Alex Roy, are all Dutch-produced – hearty congratulations to all three from Tkcricket!

RL: The national selectors have deprived Voorburg of four of their top five batters for their visit to Craeyenhout on Saturday to face HBS, while the home side will be without new-ball bowler Kyle Klein and (on paper at least, since he’s only played one game so far), Roelof van der Merwe. It’s probably not entirely coincidental, therefore, that Voorburg have fielded 19 different players in eight games so far, although it may be a 20th, Nirav Kulkarni, who needs to step up from the Seconds, where he has been the club’s leading run-scorer, to reinforce the top order. With three wins to date, the Crows have moved clear of an immediate relegation threat, and there can be no doubt that they have the bowling strength to trouble a second-string Voorburg batting line-up. Their own batting has been a bit more hit-and-miss, but in Tayo Walbrough, Lehan Botha, Kent Goedeke and Lucas Del Bianco they have the potential to trouble a Voorburg attack whose form has been distinctly variable. Goedeke, though, has settled in well, and is their leading wicket-taker with 15 at 24.27; Botha, on the other hand, has been relatively quite with only four wickets in eight outings, three of them in one match against Kampong in the season’s opening round.

BdJ: It is indeed rather uneven swathe cut by the selectors’ scythe, and once again it’s the tall poppies at VCC that suffer. While the second-team stalwarts that have occasionally turned out in the Topklasse this season have generally done themselves credit, though more often with ball than bat, and Voorburg replace the whole top four. Tom de Leede’s been going well as a pure bat for the twos, Waseem Mohsen’s made runs at the top for the seconds too, and the overlooked Michael Rippon could be perhaps be pushed up the order. It will be a makeshift top order though, and the crucial question will be whether the Crows have the bowling to take advantage.

RL: The schedule could scarcely have been kinder to VOC Rotterdam, who face Kampong Utrecht this week and Voorburg next, while they are without their internationals. The absence of Scott Edwards, Max O’Dowd and skipper Alex Roy will make a big dent in the eleven of the defending champions and current leaders, but they gave a hint of their thinking by including Ajinkya More in last week’s side, and with Vikram Chaturvedi also making runs and taking wickets in the Seconds they should still be able to put out a competitive team. (It would also be an ideal moment for Lorenzo Ingram to return from injury.) Whether that will be enough to overcome VOC at the Hazelaarweg remains to be seen: it’s telling that the Bloodhounds have conceded 300-plus three times this season and only passed 200 three times themselves, and even without their stars Kampong are likely to prove a handful for a Rotterdam side in which Jason van der Meulen has too often received too little support. Roman Harhangi and Asief Hoseinbaks are their most consistent performers with the ball, but an unsettled top order simply hasn’t been producing enough runs, and if Shashank Kumar can get amongst them they may find things little easier on Saturday.

BdJ: Kampong have happily muddled through without Edwards and O’Dowd in the past, though the absence of Lane Berry coupled with Ingram’s sidelining already means the blow will fall a little heavier, and the loss of skipper Alex Roy to Oranje is an entirely new obstacle. The bowling stocks are less of a concern though, especially as Pierre Jacod didn’t make the cut for the Dutch side yet. There will be pressure on the Bloodhounds too, knowing they have a rare chance to knock over the table-toppers while they’re below strength. VOC’s bats have managed only six half-centuries between them so far this season, and one suspects they’ll need to better that average if they’re to take points off the title-holders.

RL: Untroubled by the call of the national selectors, Rotterdam will be at home to a Hermes-DVS side minus skipper Sebastiaan Braat, recalled to the orange colours, as well as fellow-allrounders Aryan Dutt and Olivier Elenbaas. What would already have been a big ask has therefore become considerably tougher, with the best part of thirty overs eviscerated from the Sky Blues’ attack. Playing in the Tweede Klasse, which is where the Hermes Seconds currently reside, can scarcely be viewed as adequate preparation for a call-up to the Topklasse (I simply do not understand the clubs’ resistance to a return of the Reserve Topklasse), and it may be that the Schiedammers will need to make a further call on their Belgian contingent. Rotterdam, on the other hand, have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to make even full-strength attacks suffer, and they were further strengthened last week by the appearance of left-hander Abdul Rehman Niazi, a youngster with inter-provincial experience at youth level in Pakistan. Barring a quite remarkable turnaround, this looks like one of the easier results to pick this week.

BdJ: The question of whether playing for Karachi Zone II under-19s constitutes “provincial level” (or indeed “representative under 19s”) is perhaps best left to the philosophers – or whoever has the unenviable task of filling out the player points sheet – but with Carl Mumba and the surprisingly-not-in-Canada Saqib Zulfiqar expected to return next week, Rotterdam will have the luxury of a full roster to choose from. Conversely, for Hermes the loss of Braat and Elenbaas will be at least as much a problem on the batting side of things. The pair are currently leading the batting averages for the Sky Blues, with the Hermes top three thus far failing to live up to past performance or early promise. It will likely take at least one (ideally all three) of Ostling, Doyle-Calle or Rushmere to have an old-fashioned day out for Hermes to keep pace with a Rotterdam batting card that has (bar the very occasional misfire) been firing on more than enough cylinders this season.

RL: Cricket, they say, is a team game played by individuals, and in that respect there is a stark contrast between VRA Amsterdam and their opponents in the Bos on Saturday, HCC. The Lions may not currently have any internationals in their ranks, but they have cohered admirably as a team, with the reconstructed four-man seam attack of Josh Brown, Daniel Crowley, Justin Trijzelaar and Thijs Vrolijk, backed up by the spin of Clayton Floyd and Teun Kloppenburg, arguably the most effective bowling unit in the competition. Their hosts, by contrast, will be missing their newly-emerged pace spearhead, Vikramjit Singh, who in addition to his 23 wickets at 12.48 has also moved into third place in the batting aggregates with 368 runs at 46.00. They will sorely miss his all-round input, although their spin department of Teja Nidamanuru, Darsh Abhinay, Udit Nashier and Shariz Ahmad – and as of last Saturday, Sam Cassidy – is a distinct asset, especially given the relatively generous dimensions of VRA’s home ground. The batting has been reinforced with the return of Johan Smal, but Singh’s spot at the top of the order is tough to fill. As against that, the introduction of Lovepreet Padda has added solidity to the top order, but he and the rest of the VRA top six will face a stern test against Brown & Co.

BdJ: VRA may only be providing one player to the Dutch national team this time round, but they’re effectively losing two in Singh, who is both their lead scorer and the league’s lead wicket-taker this season. The runs may be replaceable, Shereyas Potdar has made a case in the twos for the opening slot in Singh’s absence, Jack Cassidy has filled that role in the past, and the existing top order is solid enough on paper. But a ready replacement as seam spearhead is less apparent. Sharad Hake has been more steady than incisive with the new ball, while Ashir Abid has likewise looked a bit off the boil in the seconds – at least when not bowling at Hercules. Singh’s fiver-fer and fifty when the two sides last met pretty much delivered VRA the win single-handed, and it will take a substantial turnaround in form for the Amsterdammers to take the points on Saturday without him.

RL’s picks: HBS, Kampong, Rotterdam, HCC
BdJ’s picks: Voorburg, Kampong, Rotterdam, HCC

Kampong back on top as Voorburg stumble at De Diepput

Rod Lyall 31/05/26

The revolving door at the top of the Topklasse table gave another turn on Saturday, as defeat for Voorburg at De Diepput and a comfortable victory for Kampong over HBS at Maarschalkerweerd enabled the defending champions to regain their one-point lead.

Kampong’s seven-wicket win did not come without a moment of doubt, as after dismissing HBS for 177, Kyle Klein reduced them to 19 for two, with Damien van den Berg and Scott Edwards back in the pavilion.

And when Julien de Mey had Max O’Dowd caught for 16 with the total on 60, the Crows might have been forgiven for thinking that they were back in the game.

That was their last success, however, as first cautiously and then with increasing momentum, Pierre Jacod and Lachlan Bangs added 120 in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand which steered Alex Roy’s side to victory with nearly twenty overs to spare.

Bangs was distinctly the more aggressive, his Topklasse-career-best 86 coming from 60 deliveries with six fours and five sixes, while Jacod ended on a more sedate, but no less crucial 52.

It was a fine all-round performance by Bangs, who had earlier claimed four for 28 in his ten overs, including the vital wicket of Lehan Botha for 27.

Kent Goedeke top-scored for HBS with 37, while Klein chipped in with a useful 33 which ended only when he was run out trying to retain the strike with nine wickets down.

Having dismissed Rotterdam for 120 last Monday, HCC’s bowlers were again in charge against the enigmatic Voorburg at De Diepput, and it was again Josh Brown who was the main wicket-taker, completing his second successive five-wicket haul as Voorburg collapsed to 134 all out as they chased their hosts’ 251 for nine.

Tonny Staal (54) and Shirsak Banerjee (37) gave the Lions a great start with an opening stand of 94, and then Boris Gorlee (38) and Brown (27) were the main contributors as Cedric de Lange celebrated his selection for the Dutch squad for Canada with a career-best five for 38 and Additt Jain cleaned up the tail with three for 61.

But Voorburg were soon in trouble when they replied, Brown removing De Lange and Don Glover in quick succession and then adding the scalp of Michael Levitt, while Daniel Crowley had Noah Croes caught behind.

At 43 for four Voorburg were on the ropes, and Bas de Leede and Ryan Klein doubled the total, once Justin Trijzelaar had removed Klein, Clayton Floyd picked up three for 17 and Brown returned to dismiss Michael Rippon and Jaynul Islam with successive deliveries to finish with five for 44 and complete HCC’s 117-run victory.

The win consolidated the Lions’ position in the top four, but they still trail Kampong, Voorburg and Rotterdam who stayed in second position by virtue of a six-wicket win over VRA in the Amsterdamse Bos.

VRA’s total of 234 for nine was built around opener Vikram Singh’s 91, but apart from Johan Smal with 39 he received too little support from the rest of the batting, and it did not help the home side’s cause that both Smal and Singh were run out.

Six of the Rotterdam bowlers took a single wicket apiece, a combined effort which was able to prevent VRA from setting a really substantial target.

Musa Ahmad and Shoaib Minhas gave their side a valuable start with an opening stand of 90 when Rotterdam replied, and after Minhas had departed for 34, victim of another run-out, and was soon followed by Muhammad Gondal, Musa and Mohsin Riaz added 72 for the third wicket.

Shariz Ahmad struck back, removing first Riaz for 48 and then his elder brother Musa for 80, but debutant Abdul Rehman Niazi and Sikander Zulfiqar knocked off the 43 runs still needed to make sure of victory with seven overs remaining.

Hermes-DVS made short work of VOC Rotterdam at the Loopuyt Oval, bowling them out for 105 and needing only 20.5 overs to make sure of a five-wicket win.

Ralph Elenbaas was the architect of the victory, taking four for 33, with Hikmatullah Jabarkhail claiming three for 2 in nine deliveries to clean up the tail; skipper Jason van der Meulen again top-scored for VOC with 31.

Hermes stuttered slightly in reply, with Roman Harhangi picking off the openers with 32 on the board, and Asief Hoseinbaks then taking three quick wickets to leave the Sky Blues on 75 for five.

Mussayab Jamil and Aryan Dutt, however, then steadied the ship, making sure that Hermes reached their target without further loss.

Preview Round 8

Bertus de Jong &Rod Lyall | 28-05-2026
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May it may still be (though one wouldn’t have guessed it given the sweltering temperatures) but the front-loading of the fifty over competition this season means we’re somehow already at the mid-point of the 2026 Topklasse, and fair to say the competition, too, is heating up. Four rounds in a fortnight has seen early frontrunners RCC stumble and sometime stragglers surge up the table, with both title and relegation races wide open at the half-way stage.

BdJ: After a slow start to the season Voorburg currently have their noses in front, but will face a stern test when they take on HCC at De Diepput. With seven points from their last four matches VCC look the form team in the competition at the minute, with league lead-scorer Cedric de Lange and skipper Noah Croes reliably churning out runs, and the totemic Bas de Leede also in good nick with the bat. Voorburg were pushed hard in most of those games however, and the bowling side of things still looks unsettled. Michael Rippon’s comparatively quiet season so far remains something of a concern, and the new frontrunners still don’t look clear on their best attack. Their opponents meanwhile will be coming off the back of a confidence-boosting win at the Zomercomplex, well in touch with the top of the table. That’s thanks in no small part to the understated return to form of Tonny Staal at the top of the order, reliably chipping in 30s and 40s despite the lack of a settled opening partner. Teun Kloppenburg’s promotion to the role last week was a success in that regard, and on that may be worth persisting with. Their middle order wobble against Rotterdam still betrays a certain vulnerability, and all told an HCC win on Saturday would still be an upset, but perhaps not a shock.

RL: Extraordinarily, Voorburg have fielded twenty players in seven matches, and this might suggesr some uncertainty about the best combination. The core is stable enough, although Mees van Vliet’s nightmare against Kampong (especially in combination with the absence of Jaynul Islam) will be a cause of concern, And with the departure of the national team for Canada looming, Voorburg will suffer a good deal more than most: much of that core will be unavailable for a couple of vital rounds. All the more important, then, that they make sure of the points against HCC, who are clearly emerging as challengers to the top three. The Lions, on the other hand, will be extremely keen to further close the gap on the leaders, and even without the injured Hidde Overdijk and the ill Teun Leijer they have assembled an impressive attack, into which Justin Trijzelaar and Thijs Vrolijk have slotted well. They are certainly capable of unsettling Voorburg’s top order, and they will need to do so if HCC are to take the points.

BdJ: Defending champions Kampong will be poised to take advantage should VCC slip up, but their own fixture against HBS Craeyenhout at Maarschalkerweerd hardly looks the foregone conclusion one might have imagined at the start of the season. While Kampong have stayed within shouting distance of the top spot thanks in large part to a steady bowling unit and the form of Pierre Jacod and Dutch skipper Scott Edwards, they don’t look quite the force they were last season. Meanwhile the Crows have won three from three in their last four games (eliding the incomplete and unresolved unpleasantness at the Zomercomplex) buoyed last week by the return of Heino Kuhn and Roelof van der Merwe to Topklasse competition. While Kuhn didn’t have quite the impact he might have hoped with the bat, van der Merwe certainly did, and if the pair can be called upon more regularly HBS’ prospects look a good deal better, especially given Lehan Botha’s form and the hints that Tayo Walbrugh’s horror early season may be behind him.

RL: With one notable exception neither Damien van den Berg nor Max O’Dowd has been able to give the Kampong innings a decent start, and without last year’s Lane Berry or, at present, the injured Lorenzo Ingram, the top and middle order has looked vulnerable, despite useful contributions from Karel Vieler at three and the dependability of Jacod and Edwards. The bowlers have, as m’colleague says, saved their blushes somewhat, but they will need to get rid of Walbrugh and Botha early if they are to contain an HBS line-up which successfully chased down 282 on Monday. The Crows’ middle-order, with Kent Goedeke and Lucas del Bianco, has been firing well, though, and although their bowling unit was able to make no impression on Ash Ostling and Daniel Doyle in that game, they have the potential to trouble Kampong,

BdJ: Meanwhile at the bottom of the table, where Hermes DVS unexpectedly find themselves, the Sky Blues welcome VOC Rotterdam to the Loopuyt Oval. Hermes’ 136-run opening win over the Bloodhounds remains their only victory of the season, though their three-point tally probably isn’t a fair reflection of the quality of the cricket they’ve played. The return to form of the prolific opening pairing of Ostling and Doyle last week just happened to coincide with a sub-par outing for the rest of the order, and that’s arguably been pretty typical of their season so far. VOC meanwhile have been battling commendably throughout and finally found some reward last week with a win over VRA, with young Roman Harhangi and the veteran Ahsan Malik again the stand-outs. Hermes remain much the stronger side on paper, but VOC have been playing closer to potential of late, despite an unsteady early season.

RL: To be fair, the Hermes middle order sacrificed itself on Monday in the search for quick runs, but it’s not the first time the Sky Blues have collapsed after an outstanding start, and with David Rushmere struggling to reproduce his brilliant debut the batting has generally been less than overwhelming. The attack, too, has lacked bite in a season where the batters have generally been in charge, its best effort probably dismissing Voorburg for 228 in a match that was eventually tied. Sahil Kothari and Sebastiaan Braat have been their most successful bowlers, and skipper Braat has made valuable runs as well, but the side will haave to lift itself in the back-half of the season, starting with this must-win game against fellow relegation-candidates VOC. The Bloodhounds pulled off a remarkable last-minute win against VRA, and they will know that a win here would greatly ease those pressures.

BdJ: Finally VRA Amsterdam welcome Rotterdam CC to the Bos, with both sides coming off the back of a tough run of results. Rotterdam’s scarcely believable collective early form with the bat was not enough against Voorburg, and then seemingly deserted them entirely when they were skittled for 120 by HCC on Monday. That said, the fact that their average score batting 50 remains north of 300 will be playing on the minds of a VRA side that gave up 338 against them in the season opener and who themselves have gone winless for four rounds. The Amsterdammers have suffered a series of close defeats despite getting into winning positions, and despite flashes of form from all of the top order it’s been rare for all or even most to fire at once. The bowling also remains a concern, as while league lead wicket-taker Vikram Singh is having a revelatory season with the ball the rest of the attack has looked rather innocuous, leaving a tricky forty overs to fill.

RL: It would be stretching credibility to the limit to suggest that Rotterdam might collapse in a heap two matches in a row, especially since their opposition this week lacks the incisiveness of HCC’s bowling unit. For Musa Ahmad, Shoaib Minhas and Mohsin Riaz to assemble ten runs between them is close to unheard of, and it’s a lot to ask of VRA’s new-found spearhead Vikram Singh to repeat that blitz. But VRA are something of an enigma: with the introduction of Lovepreet Padda and the return of Johan Smal the batting looks a lot more solid, but the side has displayed a notable ability to conjure defeats from winning situations, and they will really need to cast off that tendency if they are to get their campaign back on track. With only two partnerships of 75+ in seven matches, their batting has been as vulnerable as their bowling; Rotterdam, at the other end of the scale, have had seven, in six completed innings.

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BdJ’s picks: Voorburg, Kampong, Hermes, Rotterdam
RL’s picks: Voorburg, HBS, Hermes, Rotterdam.