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Bertus de Jong 21/06/2024

Four weeks into the wettest season in recent memory we’re still a deal earlier in the competition than we might have hoped, with barely half the scheduled matches thus far actually having been played. The table, consequently, is a trifle messy, and the current pecking order in no small part a reflection of luck with the weather rather than performance.

Current table-toppers HBS Craeyenhout have amassed a total of five points on a 2-1 record plus the point they reluctantly took from the not-uncontroversial wash-out at de Diepput last week, where point were shared owing to HCC having already reached their two match rescheduling limit. They take on Excelsior ‘20 away at Thurlede, the Schiedammers fresh off their first win of the season having held off a spirited VOC fightback last week. That win was set up through the efforts of Jason Ralston with the new ball and Niels Etman at the back end, and as a bowling unit Excelsior look to be coming together nicely though the batting remains a worry. A full strength HBS, with Wes Barresi and Kyle Klein back from the World Cup, will be optimistic about holding on to the top spot for another week at least.

Defending champions Voorburg will likewise be welcoming reinforcements in the form of Vivian Kingma and Michael Levitt, and having gotten through the early season without their internationals with just the one loss will be bullish about their chances of defending their title. They won’t be welcoming back former skipper Sybrand Engelbrecht however, who called time on his cricketing sabbatical last week to concentrate on his career. They take on a Punjab-Ghausia side that may be a little rattled by their shock loss to Sparta last week, but still look capable of providing a stern test for the title-holders despite a disappointing 2-2- record thus far.

Meanwhile the only two unbeaten teams in the competition, HCC and VRA, will meet at de Diepput in hopes of getting a game played where others have failed. HCC are unbeaten thanks in no small part to three abandonments, but even under-strength looked in decent shape in the one game they did get in at Thurlede, young Teun Leijer again impressing with the ball. VRA meanwhile have bagged two wins already despite the absence of internationals Vikram Singh and Teja Nidamanuru, and will back themselves to make it three from three this weekend. An interesting question will be whether Singh returns to his customary opening slot or sticks with the number three role he’s been occupying for the Dutch, allowing the promising experiment of Demari Prince at the top with Shirase Rasool to run a little longer.

Over at Hazelaarweg VOC Rotterdam will welcome their second consecutive delegation from Schiedam in the form of Hermes DVS, but will be hoping for a different outcome from their valiant defeat at the hands of Excelsior. The newly-promoted Hermes already look a handful however, and with the return of Aryan Dutt from national duty could reasonably claim to be favourites. The batting card still looks a tad top-heavy, reliant on Daniel Doyle Calle in particular, but then a dependence on an in-form top order is probably preferable than looking to the lower order to dig you out of trouble, as VOC had to last week. The brothers Jain almost pulled off a remarkable recovery last week, and if the top order finds form the Bloodhounds will boast enviable depth, but another home defeat will make a top-four finish a tall order.

The round’s final fixture pits ACC against Sparta 1888 at Bermweg, and the outcome already looks like it could be crucial to an impending relegation fight. The Amsterdammers especially look destined for a fight to stay up, and with two heavy defeats already weighing down their NRR taking points off Sparta looks almost indispensable to their hopes of top-flight survival. The hosts will be firm favourites however, showing admirable resolve to fight back from 4-40 to put a score of sorts on the board against Punjab before the ever-impressive Khalid Ahmadi and last year’s Team of the Year skipper Martijn Snoep showed their worth with the ball to take two points from a rain-shortened match against Punjab. Indeed on paper the Spartans ought to be at least in contention for a top four spot this season, and a second win might just get their season back on track. Conversely a home loss to the unfancied ACC, one suspects, could send it into a tailspin.

BdJ’s picks: HBS, VCC, VRA, Hermes, Sparta

By a quirk of the schedule in this rain-disrupted competition, this Saturday’s matches pit the current top five sides against those in the lower half of the table, so most of the latter will need to produce a win if they are not to lose further ground on the pace-makers. But the forecast suggests that Messrs Duckworth, Lewis and Stern may get another workout, and we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that at least there will be five completed matches by the end of the day.

RL:  HCC, admittedly, are really only in seventh spot because they’ve played just the one game, their first two fixtures having fallen victim to the weather, and they will be aiming to move up the table when they welcome HBS Craeyenhout to De Diepput. While their bowling was decidedly more impressive than their batting as they demolished Excelsior last week, there’s no doubt they have a well-balanced side, and the way in which young Teun Leijer has slotted into the attack is an encouraging sign for the rest of the season and beyond. But the Crows have shown great early form, with Tayo Walbrugh and Matt de Villiers among the runs, and this game will be a good guide to the true strength of both sides. Once again, it may be the big guns who make the difference: HCC’s trio of overseas played a relatively small part in last week’s victory, but if Conor McInerney and Jed Wiggins come off with the bat then they might just have the edge over an HBS side which battled to contain Voorburg’s batting last Saturday.

BdJ: Indeed given the disparity in games played the table’s far from a fair reflection of the real state of play, and HCC’s win percentage is still 100% from that one game. Nonetheless HBS have looked the better all-round outfit thus far despite their opening loss to Punjab. HCC can afford their local talent in Gorlee and Staal to have a lean period with the bat, or their overseas to have a fallow spell, but not both at once. HBS do look reliant on their hired muscle at the minute though, and may not be too upset at the prospect of an early Dutch exit at the World Cup if it sees Barresi and Klein back in black.

RL:  There will be another such test at Westvliet, where Voorburg will take on a Hermes-DVS outfit still finding their wings in the top flight. The Schiedammers were untroubled in seeing off ACC last week thanks to Ralph Elenbaas’s destructive opening spell, and we can perhaps expect the brothers Elenbaas continuing to share the new ball. But here they will come up against Gavin Kaplan and Noah Croes, both of whom have been scoring heavily, and Hermes will need to get them early if they are to have a realistic chance. They will also need their own top order to fire, with Daniel Doyle, Ashley Ostling and CP Klijnhans facing the challenge of a Voorburg attack which, even without Kingma, Ryan Klein and Van Beek, has fared reasonably well, Mees van Vliet doing the heavy lifting and Michael Molenaar slotting in effectively alongside Floris de Lange. Points against Voorburg while their stars are away are, of course, worth their weight in gold for teams on the fringes of the top six, although Hermes will equally be looking forward to the return of Aryan Dutt. 

BdJ: Voorburg will be another club with mixed feelings about the Netherlands’ likely early return from the other side of the Pond, but fair to say the bench at Westvliet has proved deeper than at some other clubs missing fewer players. The development of both Elenbaas brothers into genuine all-rounders has certainly helped in terms of team balance, but the Schiedammers still look reliant on their top three for runs at this level. While there’s every chance Klijnhans and Doyle-Calle will be able to get on top of a depleted VCC attack, taking three first-choice bowlers out of their line-up doesn’t signal free-runs-day at Westvliet the way it might elsewhere.

RL: Currently fifth by virtue of a victory over Sparta 1888 last week, VOC Rotterdam are at home to Excelsior ’20, who have yet to post a win and will have been disappointed by their collapse against HCC. Strikingly, it’s been Asief Hoseinbaks, Jelte Schoonheim and Arnav Jain who have been the Bloodhounds’ principal wicket-takers, and apart from Jock McKenzie their overseas brigade have so far (which is, of course, not very far) not really lived up to expectations with the bat. Here they will encounter Excelsior spearhead Jason Ralston and an attack which was competent rather than truly threatening at Thurlede last Saturday. By batting Derek Mitchell as an opener Excelsior have exposed their middle order, where the South African was so effective in partnership with Lorenzo Ingram, and having failed to capitalise on a great start against Voorburg and then fallen to bits against HCC, the Schiedammers may need a rethink before taking on VOC. But Ingram is too good a player to stay quiet for long, and Excelsior will hope that he’s able to cash in with either the bat or the ball (and preferably both) against a VOC side which is also battling to cohere as a unit.

BdJ: While it’s understandable that VOC looked to reinforce their batting after the loss of Edwards and O’Dowd to Kampong over the winter, one wonders whether they’d not have done better to pull in a bowler too for the season, with young prospects Aaditt Jain and Roman Harhangi still looking a little raw at senior level. Excelsior meanwhile look a little light on batting, with Ingram’s lack of form with the bat a particular concern in a middle order that’s lent so heavily on him in the past.

RL: The Amsterdam derby, perhaps second only to the Schiedam version among such traditional encounters, is always a big occasion, and it’s VRA’s turn to make the short journey to Het Loopveld this week to take on ACC. Not for the first time, their fortunes this season have been markedly different, the visitors riding high at the top of the table after their Houdini act against Punjab-Ghausia last Saturday and the home side languishing near its foot. Short as the physical distance may be, it’s a far cry from VRA’s turf square in the Bos to ACC’s mat on the other side of Amstelveen, and even without Singh and Nidamanuru stand-in skipper Johan Smal’s side is much stronger on paper than that led by Shreyas Potdar. It was the spin pairing of Clayton Floyd and Shariz Ahmad which made the difference against Punjab, but ACC’s cutting edge comes from Indian overseas Izhaan Sayed, backed up by the spon of Devanshu Arya and Co. VRA, one feels, would have to be well below their best for their hosts to be in with a chance, but stranger things have happened on a ground where runs are never easy to come by.

BdJ: It’s been a long while since ACC have been anything but underdogs when one team or other shuttles up or down the Kalfjeslaan, and despite reinforcement in the form of old Dosti hands they’ve looked out of their depth in the one format where they’ve held onto a place in the top flight. VRA’s new arrivals have rapidly adapted to mat-cricket, perhaps helped by the fact that their home square has been out of commission for much of the season for one reason or another. The short boundaries, verdant outfield and idiosyncratic surface at ‘t Loopveld may be something of a leveller, but it will likely take more than that to tip things in ACC’s favour.

RL: Having suffered their first defeat of the competition at the hands of VRA last Saturday, Punjab-Ghausia Rotterdam travel to the Bermweg to face Sparta 1888. If not quite a full-on derby since Sparta made the move to Capelle a/d IJssel, there’s an element of local rivalry here as well, not to mention another encounter between potential title contenders and a side whose main concern may prove to be relegation avoidance. Punjab will have been encouraged by a more substantial contribution by Jonathan Vandiar against VRA, and their top order of Musa Ahmad, Shoaib Minhas, Mohsin Riaz, Vandiar and Sikander Zulfiqar is as imposing as any in the competition. It’s doubtful whether Sparta have the bowling resources to meet this challenge, although Cameron Fraser looked sharp against VRA and Khalid Ahmadi can be much more effective than we have seen this season. The reverse applies when Sparta bat: they are too dependent on Riley Mudford if they are to post significant totals, and Punjab’s bowling unit combines skilful spin with nagging seam bowling which can frustrate even the best sides.

BdJ: Khalid Ahmadi’s best performances this summer have been in the red of Belgium rather than Sparta, but he remains a potent threat on any surface. At full strength Sparta ought to be a match for most sides on paper, but too often they’re carrying passengers in an increasingly unforgiving environment. Punjab meanwhile have an embarrassment of riches on the batting side at least, and while they may lack a genuine spearhead with the ball they’re rarely short of options. One suspects it would take a red-inker of a day for one or more of the Spartans to put Punjab under pressure at Bermweg come Saturday.

RL’s picks: HCC, Voorburg, VOC, VRA, Punjab.
BdJ’s picks: HBS, Voorburg, VOC, VRA, Punjab.

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 06/06/2024

After a rain-ravaged start to the season the weekend finally promises some proper cricket weather, and (touch wood) we may just be in for a full round’s worth of Topklasse Cricket. While we do have the distraction of the national team’s World Cup date with South Africa to contend with, the elements at least look unlikely to interfere with Saturday’s action.

BdJ: Current front-runners Punjab-Ghausia are on the road again as they head up to the Amsterdamse Bos to take on VRA Amsterdam for their first turf assignment of the season. A nervy, rain-abridged win over HBS followed by a more convincing win at home to Hermes has seen Punjab to the top of the table early, though VRA are also unbeaten having breezed past Sparta in the only match the weather has permitted them. That game saw a welcome return to form for keeper-bat Demari Prince, who had struggled for runs in the deeply Dutch conditions this season. Prince’s promotion up the order looks a sound move in the absence of Vikram Singh, though with skipper Teja Nidamanuru also absent and deputy Johan Smal in dubious form after a long lay-off the VRA batting still looks vulnerable. Not so Punjab, who displayed their depth on that front in their opener and saw off Hermes comfortably despite a lack of returns for danger-man Jonathan Vandiar. Their concerns are chiefly on the bowling front, struggling to contain Hermes’ top order even if they ran through the middle and tail easily enough. Unlike Hermes, VRA have the hitters down the order to capitalise on a platform if Punjab let them set one, and bowling attack better equipped to trouble Punjab bats, even if there are an awful lot of them.

RL: There’s a world of difference between Punjab’s relatively contained ground at the Zomercomplex and the expanse of Amstelveen, not to mention the adjustment from astroturf to grass, but Sikander Zulfiqar’s side undoubtedly have the quality in both batting and bowling to go toe to toe with a VRA outfit which wasn’t really tested at the Bermweg last week. Mohsin Riaz batted very well indeed against Hermes, and the Amsterdammers will need to remove both him and Shoaib Minhas early if they are to get on top of the leaders. Suleiman Tariq is still taking wickets, Sajjad Kamal and Burhan Niaz is more than useful additions to the attack, and Ahmed Sharif, wicketless last Saturday, will be keen to make amends in the Bos. VRA’s own spin unit, with Shariz Ahmad, Clayton Floyd and Udit Nashier, will be a major threat on their own turf, while the pace of Elijah Eales and Ben Fletcher, backed up by Ashir Abid, while Punjab will indeed present more of a challenge than Sparta were able to do, are likely to make effective use of the new ball. Even at this early stage both these sides look like serious contenders for the top six and beyond that the championship, and this has a good claim to be this week’s Match of the Day.

BdJ: Level with Punjab on points at the top are defending champions Voorburg, who have found a way to win both their first two matches, albeit in less than convincing fashion. They’ll have their first mat-match at Craeyenhout coming up against HBS, who bounced back from their opening defeat to Punjab with an eventually comfortable win over ACC last week. Neither side have looked exactly convincing, though VCC’s understudies have stepped up admirably in the absence of Kingma, Klein and Engelbrecht the batting especially looks dependent on new overseas (and ex-crow) Gavin Kaplan, and of course skipper Noah Croes, who was fortunately (from a VCC perspective) spared selection for the World Cup. HBS are in a similar position however, with stand-in skipper Tayo Walbrugh’s sudden return to form the main reason they bested ACC, with a hand from fellow overseas de Villiers and Botha. Who comes away with the points might be decided by which team’s youngsters step up, but equally likely it will come down to whose big guns fire loudest.

RL: Let’s not forget that Voorburg are also without newfound Dutch star Michael Levitt, and with Musa Ahmad now opening at Punjab, the top of their order has a slightly makeshift look. It asks a lot of young Cedric de Lange as well as of the more experienced Nehaan Gigani, and they will no doubt need time to settle into their role. Facing Lehaan Botha’s pace and Matt de Villiers’ spin will be a good test, but with Kaplan and Croes to follow they know that they have players behind them who were in superb form last week. I would actually have more questions about a Voorburg attack without Kingma, Klein and Van Beek, not to mention the now-departed Nieuwoudt, which struggled to make an early impression on the Excelsior top order last week, although they did hit back somewhat later in the innings. HBS certainly need at least two of Botha, De Villiers and Walbrugh to fire with the bat, and a real concern for them is the comparative lack of experience below their top five. Man for man, even without five first-choice players Voorburg probably have greater depth, and while the Crows are dangerous opponents, especially at Craeyenhout, for my money it’s the visitors who start as marginal favourites.

BdJ: Working our way down the ladder we come to HCC, who sit in 5^th place by virtue of not having played at all yet, courtesy De Diepput living down to its name thus far. They head to Thurlede to take on Excelsior ‘20 who sit in 6^th after a fighting defeat to VCC last week. There were plenty of positives for the Schiedammers from that game, not least runs for Tim Etman and new opening partner Darren Mitchell, though the middle order looks a tad soft, especially should Lorenzo Ingram’s lean patch prove the start of a decline rather than a rough patch of form. Jason Ralston looks to be taking to Dutch conditions however, and Victor Lubbers’ arrival from the East strengthens the lower order and bowling both. Whether HCC’s lack of game time will affect them unduly remains to be seen, they’ll certainly be fresh, one would expect.

RL: Still something of an unknown quality in this format, the Lions nevertheless seem very likely to be serious challengers for the top six once they actually get on the park. Their three overseas players have plenty of one-day experience, while we know that skipper Boris Gorlee, Tonny Staal and Hidde Overdijk can be match-winners on their day. They will, of course, miss Clayton Floyd, Henrico Venter and Doram/Pringle from their attack, although Daniel Crowley and Patient Charumbira bowled well in the T20 Cup, adding to the incisiveness of Overdijk and Adam Leonard. But a very businesslike Excelsior away is a tough way to start, and while Roel Verhagen’s side will lament their inability to cut short the Kaplan-Croes stand and defend 254, they will have learned a good deal from the experience. Mitchell, Ralston and Ingram – the last now with 5496 Topklasse runs and 201 wickets to his credit – are as powerful a trio as HCC’s McInerney, Wiggins and Leonard, and much may depend at Thurlede too on which set of imports has the better day. Even if that’s a perception I’d love to see proved wrong!

BdJ: Meanwhile VOC Rotterdam welcome Sparta 1888 to Hazelaarweg, the former having not gotten on the park last week and the latter probably wishing they hadn’t. Both sides have looked (do we sense a theme emerging?) heavily dependent on their overseas for runs this season, Riley Mudford in Sparta’s case the chief threat with the bat, though the lower order showed commendable fight against VRA. Belgian international Khalid Ahmadi has been the stand-out with the ball too, especially given Ahsan Malik’s sporadic absences. VOC’s main advantage simply looks to be that they have more high-calibre overseas to call on, though the brothers Jain remain a key component in the Bloodhounds’ attack, while Asief Hoseinbaks has quietly made himself indispensible.  All told one would think VOC have a clear advantage on home turf, though Sparta have the matchwinners to spring a surprise if they can back them up.

RL: Apart from Mudford, Cameron Fraser impressed last week, more with the ball than the bat, but overall Sparta, admittedly on the evidence of just one 50-over outing, seem to be more likely to be battling relegation than pushing for a place in the top six. That’s not to say they do not have both plenty of experience and undoubted potential in their squad, but against sides with seven or eight top-level performers they are going to find the going tough. VOC are something of an enigma: again, they’ve only played one 50-over match, losing only in the final over and in controversial circumstances, but their performance in the T20 Cup was less than stellar, and with the exception of Jock McKenzie it’s been the old routiniers like Jelte Schoonheim and Hoseinbaks who have been most effective. One senses that they may be just one good performance away from clicking as a side, and should that happen soon they could still have a significant impact on the top-six battle.

BdJ: Finally the Topklasse’s newest turf wicket will finally see some fifty-over action when Hermes DVS welcome ACC to the Loopuyt Oval at Harga. Hermes continue to look like a top-heavy team on the batting side, but then the weight at the top in the form of Daniel Doyle Calle and CP Klijnhans will have that effect. Olivier Elenbaas’ promotion to three last week can be accounted a success, however, and if he and Sabba Braat can continue to find runs Hermes have a decent enough top five at least. Conversely the ACC batting card has looked deeper than it does dangerous, with a lower-order rally saving them some respectability against HBS but not threatening a serious score. That the ever-elegant but rarely reliable Rahil Ahmed has been their best bat this season says a fair bit about an ACC side that looks a little flimsy in the absence of Heino Kuhn.

RL: Still adjusting to the demands of Topklasse cricket, Hermes performed creditably against a stronger Punjab last Saturday, although their subsidence from 125 for one to 196 all out raises some serious questions about the durability of their batting. But as m’colleague observes, it has more quality in the top five than do this week’s opponents, greatly as Rahil Ahmed’s return to something like the form which once took him into the national team is to be welcomed. Few players have had as dramatic an entry into the Dutch competition as Izhaan Sayed, removing Lehaan Botha with his very first delivery, but Het Loopveld last week was an even less hospitable for batting than usual, and Ben van der Merwe and Guy Sheena may relish the chance to bat on the hybrid turf at the Loopuyt Oval. They’ll be facing the bowling of Elenbaas and Braat, of course, and of Abdul Jabar Jabarkhail, who suggested against Punjab that he’ll be an effective foil for Elenbaas.

BdJ’s picks: VRA, HBS, Excelsior, VOC, Hermes.

RL’s picks: VRA, Voorburg, Excelsior, VOC, Hermes.