Rod Lyall 31/07/23
In one of the most extraordinary matches ever played in the Netherlands VRA Amsterdam beat HBS Craeyenhout by 57 runs on Sunday, although that bald statement gives no hint of the frenetic pace at which the game was played.
No fewer than 853 runs were scored from just 85.5 overs, by far the highest aggregate score in any one-day top flight game, the average of ten an over being maintained from the moment Vikram Singh launched a devastating assault on the home side’s bowling.
Singh brought up his century off just 43 deliveries, including 17 fours and four sixes, and went on to make a 71-ball 155, sharing a second-wicket stand of 185 with Johan Smal.
It brought the Dutch international’s tally in his last two innings at Craeyenhout to 316 from 135 deliveries, at a strike rate of 234.
Smal hammered 170 from 95 balls with 13 fours and as many sixes, and although wickets began to fall in the closing stages, Julian de Mey claiming three for 62, VRA closed on 455 for eight in 47 overs, eclipsing Quick Haag’s legendary 428 without loss as the highest innings total in a limited overs match in the Dutch top flight, and the third highest in any format in the competition’s 133-year history.
HBS, though, showed no sign of being intimidated by this formidable target, Reece Mason (112 from 84 deliveries), his maiden Topklasse century, and Tayo Walbrugh (111 from 61) putting on 214 for the second wicket, and the Crows were ahead of the asking rate for much of their reply.
Once Walbrugh and Mason had gone, however, and Wesley Barresi had followed with a 37-ball 72, the challenge fell away, and with Singh taking four for 81 and Eduard Visser four for 96, HBS were all out for 398.
It was VRA’s second victory of the weekend, since they had made short work of beating Salland in the Amsterdamse Bos on Saturday, dismissing them for 118 despite Victor Lubbers’s 48 and then knocking off the runs in 24.3 overs; Zamaan Khan saw them to the win with an unbeaten 61.
Excelsior ’20 also eased any worries about relegation with two wins over the weekend, following up a six-wicket win over HBS on Saturday with a rather tighter three-wicket defeat of Salland in Deventer the following day.
Lorenzo Ingram took four for 19 and three for 10 across the two games, as well as making a decisive 41 against Salland, while it was opener Luuk Kroesen’s unbeaten 56 which ensured victory over HBS.
The two defeats leave Salland four points adrift at the foot of the table, and they will have to win all three of their remaining matches if they are to give themselves any chance of staying up.
The weekend’s results in the Championship pool left all five of the six contenders to join leaders Voorburg in the play-offs separated by just two points, and with two games remaining none of the five has any room for complacency.
The most exciting match of the two rounds was Sparta 1888’s tie with HCC at De Diepput on Saturday.
Garnett Tarr made 143 not out in the Spartans’ 273 for six, and Jonathan Vandiar responded with 117 at almost a run a ball for the Lions.
Teun Kloppenburg gave him good support with 64, but with three overs remaining 34 were still required with just two wickets in hand; Daniel Doram hit three sixes off the penultimate over, but in the last Mudassar Bukhari dismissed first Hidde Overdijk and then, with the scores level, Doram, and the points were shared.
Bukhari finished with three for 43 and Joost-Martijn Snoep three for 32.
HCC made it three points out of four on Sunday with a surprisingly comfortable 113-run victory over Punjab Rotterdam, moving to within a single point of their second-placed opponents.
Kloppenburg hit his second half-century of the weekend in HCC’s total of 233 for nine in 40 overs as the weather bit into the programme, and although Saqib Zulfiqar made 52 in Punjab’s reply they were all out for 120.
The Rotterdammers’ encounter with ACC on Saturday had been almost as exciting as the game at De Diepput: triplets Saqib and Sikander Zulfiqar had shared a fourth-wicket stand of 187, helping their side recover from a perilous 26 for three to 227 all out, and with Thomas Hobson, who had taken five for 21 in the Punjab innings, making an unbeaten 130 ACC came close.
But although they were well-placed on 160 for three at one stage, Hobson found himself watching a succession of dismissals at the other end, and the Amsterdammers were all out for 221.
Voorburg, meanwhile, seemingly march on towards the grand final on 26 August.
On Saturday they recovered from 66 for five to 204 all out against VOC Rotterdam, thanks to 42 from Viv Kingma, batting at nine, and then dismissed the Bloodhounds for 150, Karl Nieuwoudt and Shariz Ahmad taking three for 14 and three for 49 respectively; Mussayib Jamil top-scored for VOC with 57.
The Voorburgers then extended their winning sequence with a 68-run victory over ACC on Sunday; this time most of the damage with the ball was done by Kingma (three for 21) and Philippe Boissevain (three for 14), as ACC could only manage 153 in reply to Voorburg’s 221 for eight.
VOC salvaged something from their weekend with a 94-run win against Sparta, Roman Harhangi producing career-best figures of six for 17 as Sparta were all out for 129 in reply to VOC’s total of 223 in a match reduced to 42 overs; Lane Berry made 55 for the Bloodhounds, while Snoep was again among the wickets with four for 43.
TKcricket 