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Rod Lyall 21/08/23

Defending champions HCC eased their way into next Saturday’s Topklasse grand final on Sunday with a 104-run victory over Punjab Rotterdam at Het Zomercomplex, setting up a repeat of last year’s final encounter with ‘minor premiers’ Voorburg.

If their start, having put in by Sulaiman Tariq, was not entirely convincing, Tonny Staal, Ratha Alphonse and Boris Gorlee all back in the dug-out by the time 69 runs were on the board, the Lions were well served by Jonathan Vandiar, who responded to his opening role with an uncharacteristically restrained 65.

Vandiar did hit three sixes and four fours in his 102-ball innings, but he combined these moments of aggression when opportunity offered with periods of long watchfulness, and it was his knock which paved the way for HCC’s eventual total of 244.

Teun Kloppenburg chipped in with a breezy 30-ball 36 which included four sixes, and then Hidde Overdijk (34) and Patient Charumbira (31) combined to ensure that their side gave Punjab, who had collapsed against Voorburg on Saturday, a significant total to chase.

Spinners Muhammad Shafiq and Saqib Zulfiqar had done the early damage for Punjab, but it was Sohail Bhatti, although he was rather expensive, who was the most successful of the home side’s bowlers with four for 64, including the vital wicket of Vandiar.

The Rotterdammers had brought in Steph Myburgh to play his first game of the season, compensating for the loss of Shoaib Minhas, and he showed glimpses of his old touch as the chase began.

Overdijk and Daniel Crowley, however, bowled with greater effect than Punjab’s pace attack had been able to manage, and Henrico Venter claimed the wicket of Saqib Zulfiqar just when it seemed that the innings might gain some momentum.

Thereafter it was the left-arm spinners, Clayton Floyd and Daniel Doram, who called the tune: Sikander Zulfiqar laboured for a solid 42, but he received little support, and with Doram taking four for 14 in another outstanding spell and Crowley returning to finish with four for 40 Punjab were all out for a disappointing 140.

VRA Amsterdam and Excelsior ’20 Schiedam completed their campaigns with home victories over HBS Craeyenhout and relegated Salland, but with all the issues in the lower part of the table already settled these games had an end-of-term feel about them.

Interest in the Amsterdamse Bos centred on whether Tayo Walbrugh, who has enjoyed another outstanding season, could get the 20 he needed to achieve 1000 runs in the 50-over competition, but he fell just short, making 8 before he was caught off the bowling of Udit Nashier.

Skipper Wesley Barresi’s 62 was the highlight of an HBS total of 169, Tyler van Luin the most successful of the VRA bowlers with three for 20, and then Van Luin and Shirase Rasool knocked off the runs in double-quick time, VRA winning by ten wickets with half their overs to spare.

Rasool ended on 81 not out and Van Luin on 82, and VRA had gone undefeated through their six-match programme in the Relegation pool.

Excelsior were given a great start by Luuk Kroesen (56) and Michael Hart (48), who put on their side’s best opening stand of the season with 107, and then former captain and Dutch international Tom Heggelman, playing his last game for the side, held the middle order together with 46 as they reached 253 for seven.

Salland put up a strong fight in response, Fraser Bartholomew making 44 in his unaccustomed opening role and Sahir Naqash contributing a run-a-ball 55, but there were four golden ducks in the innings, and although Gijs van der Molen made 28 and Victor Lubbers, batting at nine, made an undefeated 23, their efforts were not enough, and the side were all out for 205, 48 runs short.

Rod Lyall 20/08/23

If anyone had expected that the finals of this year’s Topklasse would produce tense matches filled with exciting performances they would have been disappointed by Saturday’s programme, which produced few fireworks and more than a few damp squibs.

Without leading professionals Shoaib Minhas, Mohsin Riaz and Garnett Tarr, Punjab Rotterdam and Sparta 1888 proved poor opponents for championship favourites Voorburg and title-holders HCC respectively, although Sparta did fight their way back from a seemingly impossible position and battled hard against heavy odds before losing a low-scoring match by four wickets.

Punjab’s best moments were in the opening hour at Westvliet when, after Sybrand Engelbrecht had won the toss and elected to bat, Muhammad Shafiq grabbed the wickets of Nehaan Gigani, Michael Levitt and Noah Croes to reduced Voorburg to 46 for three.

But then Musa Ahmad and Engelbrecht himself took charge, putting together a fourth-wicket stand of 201 which batted Punjab out of the game.

Both made centuries: Musa’s 102 came from 134 deliveries and included eight fours, while Engelbrecht needed only 109 balls for his 115, hitting 13 fours and a six.

Mubashar Hussain claimed the wickets of internationals Shariz Ahmad and Ryan Klein, but still Voorburg were able to reach an imposing 303 for seven, and when Karl Nieuwoudt, Viv Kingma and Klein combined to leave Punjab on 35 for three, there was no-one to turn the innings around in the way Musa and Engelbrecht had for Voorburg.

Saqib and Sikander Zulfiqar put up some resistance, but once they had gone the innings continued to decline, Mees van Vliet running through the middle order as he claimed three for 14 and Shariz finishing things off, bringing his season’s tally to 45 wickets with two for 4.

With skipper Sulaiman Tariq unable to bat, Punjab were all out for 89, and they have just 18 hours to gear themselves up for a last-ditch attempt to reach next Saturday’s grand final when they play HCC on Sunday.

The defending champions demonstrated that they would not surrender their title easily with a commanding performance by the bowlers at Sportpark Bermweg, where Sparta found themselves on 13 for four after six and a half overs, Daniel Crowley taking three for 12 in a devastating six-over opening spell.

He was backed up by spinners Clayton Floyd and Daniel Doram, the latter bowling two exemplary spells to finish with the remarkable figures of 10 – 6 – 4 – 1.

Sparta were 32 for six at one stage, but skipper Joost Martijn Snoep led a partial recovery, facing 105 deliveries in making 16, while Faizan Bashir (24), Prithvi Balwantsingh (10) and Sawan Sardha (21) managing to get the total up to 114.

Hidde Overdijk contributed a hostile ten-over spell, but the bulk of the wickets went to Floyd (three for 39) and to Crowley, who returned to finish off the innings and ended with four for 16.

Snoep then removed Jonathan Vandiar before he had scored, but Tonny Staal (33) and Ratha Alphonse (31) put on 61 for the second wicket, and although Sardha struck twice to dismiss Boris Gorlee and Teun Kloppenburg, first Floyd and then Patient Charumbira were able to steer their side home with almost twenty overs to spare.

Any remaining doubts about who would be relegated from the 50-over Topklasse were finally resolved at Het Schootsveld, where Salland’s 108-run defeat by HBS Craeyenhout.

A second-wicket stand of 139 between Kyle Klein (77) and Tayo Walbrugh (84) gave HBS a solid base, and although Akhil Gopinath struck back to remove both of them and finish with four for 41, the Crows were still able to reach 217 for six.

Walbrugh’s knock, the ninth time he had gone past fifty in the 50-over competition this season, took his aggregate to 990, and he will need just 10 runs in his side’s final match against VRA on Sunday to become the first player since Vandiar in 2017 to make 1000 runs in a Topklasse season.

Salland needed not only to win to keep their faint hopes of survival alive, but to do so quickly enough to eat away at their substantial net run rate deficit to rivals Excelsior, and Venkat Ganesan and Sahir Naqash set about the chase with some initial success.

Both were removed, however, by Nic Adendorff, and that was effectively the end of Salland’s hopes.

Elam Bharathi and Gopinath put up some resistance towards the end, but by then any realistic chance of victory had disappeared, and with an injured Finn Raxworthy unable to bat the innings closed on 109.

While Salland were slipping to defeat and relegation in Deventer Excelsior ‘20 were on the wrong end of a lack-lustre affair in the Amsterdamse Bos, where they battled their way to 169 for nine against VRA.

Michael Hart and Stan van Troost contributed 28 and 35 respectively, but it was former skipper Tom Heggelman, playing what is reportedly his penultimate game for the side, whose 56 negotiated them to at least a half-defendable total.

Leon Turmain took three for 28 for the home side, and Aryan Dutt two for 17.

Excelsior have in the past made something of a specialty of defending low totals, and with Jens Blankestijn confirming his promise with three for 23 they whittled away at VRA’s powerful but inconsistent batting line-up.

Johan Smal, however, held things together with 50 and Udit Nashier made 26, and in the end it was Turmaine and Eduard Visser who guided the Amsterdammers to a three-wicket victory with almost ten overs to spare.