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Preview Round 3

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong | 06-05-26

Still early days, but it’s already beginning to look as if there may be four serious contenders for this year’s title, while at the other end of the table VOC, HBS and to some extent HCC have confirmed their status as candidates for relegation. With five centuries and four Michelles there have been plenty of notable individual performances, several players doing their utmost to catch the eye of the national selectors. Half a dozen century partnerships in the first eight games is another encouraging sign, and this week’s programme promises some more crucial encounters.

RL: Not much doubt about the Match of the Day this week, as Rotterdam are at home to another of their main rivals in defending champions Kampong Utrecht. With totals of 338 and 331, Sikander Zulfiqar’s side has clearly established its credentials in the batting department, and Kampong’s attack will need to be at its sharpest if they are to contain Musa Ahmad and Co. Of the top six only Shoaib Minhas has gone cheaply twice, and it’s hard to believe that he will allow that run to continue for very long. The same applies to Kampong’s Max O’Dowd, who has so far managed 8 from two innings; someone is going to pay for that, one suspects, and despite Carl Mumba’s six for 47 against Hermes last week Rotterdam’s bowling unit could prove to his liking. Scott Edwards’ ominous form and Pierre Jacod’s fine support act have been the story of Kampong’s batting in the first two games, and they will need the rest of the top and middle order to chip in if they are to have any chance of halting the Rotterdammers’ impressive start.

BdJ: It’s early days to be labelling anyone frontrunners at this point of course, but the winner of this match will have as good a claim as any (bar perhaps Voorburg) by this time next week. Rotterdam’s batting card will certainly pose a sterner test for Kampong’s attack than any they’ve yet faced, though Kampong are a more balanced side this season than the batting heavy VRA or Hermes. They also have the batting to put Rotterdam under scoreboard pressure if they wind up chasing for the first time, and though O’Dowd’s ability to keep churning out runs in Orange despite rarely looking particularly fluent doesn’t seem to translate to club cricket, it’s worth noting Kampong managed to claim the title last time round despite his chipping in just 123 runs in his 8 games in blue. The defending champions will nonetheless want to bag as many wins as they can before the international season gets underway June, though given Musa Ahmad and Saqib Zulfiqar’s form Rotterdam may not escape the selectors’ attention either.

RL: Already one win behind the leaders, both VRA Amsterdam and Hermes-DVS Schiedam will be particularly keen to avoid making it two when they face off in the Bos on Saturday. As it happens, both have been on the wrong end of a 300-plus onslaught from the batting might of Rotterdam, and it’s fair to say that VRA made a much better fist of the subsequent chase than the Sky Blues were able to do last week. With 169 and a golden duck in his first two innings, David Rushmere has already run the gamut of Topklasse fortunes, but with Ash Ostling and Daniel Doyle Calle not so far giving their side the sort of starts they found so valuable last year and with Aryan Dutt also going early, Rushmore’s contribution has become even more vital. Teja Nidamanuru, Vikram Singh and Johan Smal, by contrast, have produced four half-centuries between them in six collective innings, and the Hermes bowling unit will have to strike early if they are going to contain the home side’s line-up.

BdJ: So a first home game for VRA and a first look at the Bos for Topklasse-watchers. With both sides looking a tad batting-heavy this season, and arguably somewhat dependent on assistance from conditions for penetration with the ball, the toss and the state of the square may play an outsized role come Saturday. VRA seconds getting rolled for 91 against Excelsior last week is hardly encouraging on that front, but an insider assessment reassures us “nah it’s pretty flat we just batted like idiots.” VRA’s top order has consistent form on their side, but it’s fair to say both Ostling and Doyle-Calle are due. Hermes look less reliant on their opening pair than they did last season, but if they’re to mount a similar early challenge as they did in 2025 they will be looking for more runs at the top.

RL: Down at the wrong end of the table, HBS and HCC will both be fairly desperate to break their duck when they meet at Craeyenhout. The Lions’ two knocks so far have gone in fits and starts: Shirsak Banerjee and Teun Kloppenburg have managed fighting half-centuries, but there have been no really substantial partnerships, and there will need to be some improvement against a Crows’ attack in which Lehan Botha and the emerging Joris van Oosterom have looked sharp, Kyle Klein may be returning to fitness, and Julian de Mey and Kent Goedeke provide useful spin options. But HBS have plenty of batting worries of their own, only Lucas del Bianco having gone past fifty in the first two games. But then HCC’s bowlers, so often the kernel of a successful side, only managed ten wickets between them against Voorburg and VRA – admittedly two the stronger batting line-ups – and Boris Gorlee will be looking for improvement in that department as well.

BdJ: The two Hague sides both have a top order issue, with respective skippers Walbrugh and Gorlee both starting slow and overseas reinforcements yet to deliver runs in quantity for either side. Youngsters Banerjee and Kloppenburg have provided some middle order resilience for HCC, but the Crows have looked rather more brittle when the top order fails, twice rolled for 175 despite the efforts of del Bianco and Navjit Singh. The fact that the best performers for both clubs thus far have been younger or less celebrated players does suggest they each have a fairly high ceiling if the seniors rediscover their form, but as it stands this match-up does rather have the look of a stoppable force meeting a moveable object.

RL: Also in the early relegation zone are VOC Rotterdam, and they are at least at home for their encounter with championship contenders Voorburg at the Hazelaarweg. With back-to-back centuries and a Bradmanesque average of 212, Cedric de Lange has been one of the stars of the season so far, while Noah Croes’s fine allround effort ensured victory against HBS. The depth of Voorburg’s resources is illustrated by the presence of no fewer than nine players from the club across the three newly-announced Pro Series squads, three of whom have yet to appear in the first team (that includes, of course, Bas de Leede, still being nursed back to fitness), and it’s hard to see VOC, for all the gutsiness their bowlers have shown in their first two matches, competing with that. Ethan Price’s knock against Kampong last week was encouraging, but you get the feeling that the Bloodhounds will continue to struggle in both departments.

BdJ: It should probably be pointed out that Tom de Leede and Aaditt Jain’s absence for the first few matches has also been a question of force majeur (injury and scholastic commitments respectively) rather than the youngsters being benched, but the point about VCC’s remarkable depth stands. With Rippon’s arrival, Peter Hatzoglou currently cameoing and Gavin Kaplan also a potential addition later in the season, Voorburg aren’t far from a full side of International or List A cricketers. VOC did show some admirable fight in their two opening games, but it’ll take a bit more than grit to pull off an upset on Saturday.

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

Rotterdam crush Hermes to go top

Rod Lyall 03/05/26

Another commanding performance by Rotterdam on Saturday saw off the challenge of Hermes-DVS with surprising ease and carried them to the top of the table on net run rate, ahead of pursuers Kampong Utrecht and Voorburg.

The Rotterdammers fell just short of last week’s total of 338, but it took a sustained late effort from the Sky Blues attack to briefly pause their onslaught after Musa Ahmad and Muhammad Gondal had put on 186 for the second wicket in just under 30 overs.

Musa had seemed certain to follow up last week’s century with another, but on 98 he cut Sahil Kothari uppishly to point, where he was caught by Oliver Herrington.

Three overs later Gondal also missed out on a well-deserved hundred, beaten by a direct hit from Hikmatullah Jabarkhail as, on 96, he attempted to regain the strike.

Four more wickets now fell comparatively quickly, but Saqib Zulfiqar ensured that the runs kept coming, and as the innings neared its close he hammered a 41-ball 55 to see his side to an imposing 331 for eight.

Hermes had also posted 300 last week, but chasing such totals is another matter, and when Carl Mumba removed Daniel Doyle Calle and last week’s record-breaking centurion David Rushmere with consecutive deliveries, their reply could scarcely have got off to a worse start.

The innings never recovered, Olivier Elenbaas and Nick Statham top-scoring with 25 apiece, but with Mumba returning to clean up the lower order and finish with six for 47 and Sulaiman Tariq chipping in with two for 27, Hermes were all out for 118, giving Rotterdam a thumping 213-run victory.

Voorburg joined the 300-plus club, posting 306 for five against HBS at Westvliet, but here both partners in a 166-run third-wicket stand did reach three figures, 18-year-old Cedric de Lange doubling up on last week’s century with exactly 100, made from 114 deliveries with eight fours.

After opening the previous week he dropped down to three to make room for Peter Hatzoglou, who contributed a brisk 39, but it was skipper Noah Croes who shared the big partnership for the third wicket, and who then went on to cash in in the final overs, reaching his own century and finishing with an unbeaten 120, from 112 deliveries with 16 boundaries.

Again, the task proved well beyond the Crows’ batting line-up, and although Kent Goedeke made 48 and Navjit Singh 41, the new-ball pairing of Jaynul Islam and Mees van Vliet ensured that their stand of 47 was the best HBS could muster.

This time it was Islam who collected the five-wicket haul, finishing with five for 32, while Van Vliet collected three for 60 as HBS were dismissed for 175; Croes bagged four catches behind the stumps to go with his unbeaten hundred.

VOC soon had reason to regret skipper Tim de Kok’s decision to bat first at Maarschalkerweerd, as Kampong’s new-ball seamer Shashank Kumar ripped through their top order, reducing them to 42 for four in the space of 11 overs.

Jason van der Meulen started a partial recovery, sharing a stand of 67 for the fifth wicket with Ethan Price, and once he had gone for 54 Price continued in company with a dogged Ahsan Malik, the pair adding another 75.

But Pierre Jacod eventually removed Malik, and although Price made 81, once he was gone the innings folded quickly, and VOC were all out for 215, Kumar taking four for 24 in that devastating early spell.

Pierce Fletcher struck back when Kampong replied, sending both openers back to the dug-out by the time 32 runs were on the board, but Scott Edwards now took over, and although he lost Lorenzo Ingram at 64, he and Jacod added 137 for the fourth wicket to take the game away from a persistent VOC attack, who again fought hard despite being unable to achieve the breakthrough they needed.

It finally came with just 15 more required, Edwards caught by Price off Jelte Schoonheim for 88, but despite losing Lachlamn Bangs soon afterwards, stayed to the end, finishing with an unbeaten 75 as Kampong won by five wickets with more than ten overs to spare.

The least one-sided game – not that that is saying very much – was at De Diepput, where after a delayed start HCC again struggled to create momentum against VRA after winning the toss and electing to bat.

Sharad Hake, Viraj Thakur and Shariz Ahmad picked up a wicket apiece to reduce them to 51 for three, and the only time they looked like getting on top was when Tonny Staal and Teun Kloppenburg were batting together.

But Staal eventually hit a return catch to Darsh Abhinay and departed for 43, and it was eventually Vikram Singh who took charge with the ball, collecting the last five wickets in the space of 24 deliveries and finishing with five for 25, his best figures in the Topklasse.

Kloppenburg’s 71-ball 61 was by a distance the most assured innings for the Lions, but once he had gone Singh took over, and HCC were all out for 184.

Singh then capped a fine all-round performance by making a 67-ball 57, getting the reply off to a rollicking start by smacking Hidde Overdijk’s first ball for six and adding two more, whereafter Johan Smal saw his side home with a composed 77 not out, VRA winning by six wickets with 13 overs to spare.

Preview Round 2

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 30/04/26

And they’re away! The Topklasse 139th (-ish, depending on how you count) season is up and running, and so far the trimmed-down competition’s started similarly to last year with VRA the only one of the 2025 opening round winners missing from the top half of the table after the first weekend. Despite hopes that the reduction to eight teams would increase competitiveness, there’s already some substantial net run rate gaps opening, and a bold prognosticator might suggest that come the end of the season the table likely won’t look too different to how it looks now. That’s a long way off yet though, and Round 2 may yet shake things up.

BdJ: The top table clash between Hermes DVS and the re-dubbed Rotterdam CC at the Loopuyt will undoubtedly be the match of the day, featuring two genuine title contenders and two of last week’s three centurions. Hermes are again making the early running this season courtesy debutant David Rushmere’s dramatic entrance on Sunday, but their bowling unit especially will face a sterner test in containing a batting line up anchored by fellow centurion Musa Ahmad that put up a total of 338 against VRA last week. Hermes’ attack struggled somewhat for penetration until scoreboard pressure allowed the spinners to profit against VOC, and Rotterdam’s batting card looks both deeper and more pressure-resistant than that of the Bloodhounds. Rotterdam may be more worried about their own bowling however, their record total last week looking like it might not be enough for at least the first 20 overs of VRA’s chase. While the Ostling-Doyle partnership that carried Hermes through the early season failed last week, it’s hard to imagine DDC will be kept quiet for long and the addition of Rushmere means there’s now three must-get early wickets for Hermes’ opponents.

RL: Skippers Sebastiaan Braat and Sikander Zulfiqar are certainly going to face some challenges in the field as they seek to cut into their opponents’ imposing top orders, and as m’colleague observes, the Hermes captain is faced, at least on paper, with a rather bigger task. With Burhan Niaz batting at seven last week and keeper Fawad Shinwari at nine, Rotterdam’s resources with the bat look a good deal more substantial than Hermes’. Their attack, too, with Muhammad Shafiq sharing the new ball with Carl Mumba, followed by Suleiman Tariq and the brothers Zulfiqar, will have better days than they did against VRA, while Braat may hope that Olivier Elenbaas will be able to contribute more than the three overs he managed last week after his splendid efforts with the bat. With Sahil Kothari in such outstanding early-season form, Oliver Herrington only bowled four overs and Aryan Dutt five, so it could be said that the Sky Blues have plenty in reserve.

BdJ: It’s back-to-back home games to start the season at Westvliet, where Voorburg will welcome HBS on Saturday. VCC had their youngsters to thank for their hard-fought victory over HCC last week; Mees van Vliet’s five wicket haul, Cedric de Lange batting through for an unbeaten century, and Aarav Swaroop’s back end acceleration seeing them home. They’ll want more from their seniors on Saturday though, and while Ryan Klein’s ten over spell was admirably frugal there remain slow bowling concerns, at least so long as Michael Rippon remains in South Africa. The Crows’ worries run deeper though, Lucas Del Bianco’s continued improvement with the bat the only significant positive to take from their season opener. Swapping out 2025 lead wicket-taker Jayden Rossouw for German/South African batting allrounder Kent Goedeke was intended to shore up the batting, but HBS will need more substantial contributions from him, and indeed newly Dutch-eligible skipper Tayo Walbrugh if they’re to push up the table.

RL: The promotion of Julien de Mey to open was only partially succesful for HBS last week, but one might also ask whether the side’s batting issues, especially in the absence of Wes Barresi, are not weighing heavily on the shoulders of skipper Walbrugh. More than two-thirds of his 4000-plus Topklasse runs, after all, have been made at three, and the lack of a reliable opening partnership, as well as the fragility of the middle order, inevitably put more pressure on the captain. (That said, he still averages over 80 in the opening role.) With Cedric de Lange rapidly emerging as one of the competitions most encouraging talents, Voorburg have fewer problems at the top of the order, but they will be hoping that Michael Levitt and Noah Croes contribute plenty of runs in the weeks to come. On the bowling side, HBS did reasonably well in containing a powerful Kampong line-up last week, with Goedeke and Benno Boddendijk bowling unchanged through twenty of the middle overs and Lehan Botha cashing in towards the end, and they will need to maintain that level against an equally-menacing Voorburg. For whom the untried new-ball combination of Jaynul Islam and Don Glover will be aiming to cause more mayhem among the Crows’ top order than they were able to do against HCC last Saturday.

BdJ: One of the tougher games to call this round is HCC’s first home fixture against VRA, both sides went down fighting last weekend, and neither necessarily look destined to stay in the lower half of the table. The visitors’ chief concern, like most sides that give up 300+ runs in their first game, will be the bowling. The loss of both Peter Ruffel and Ben Fletcher has left the pace attack looking rather toothless, and the VRA seconds’ nine-wicket hammering at the hands of Rood & Wit at the Bos on Saturday suggests there’s no ready solutions to be found there either. The Amsterdammers managed to bag more wickets than HCC did last week though, with Teun Leijer’s 3-28 the only real bowling highlight for the Lions at Westvliet. It’s fair to say that neither side really played to their potential first up though, and it’s notable that the new or returning overseas didn’t quite come off for either team. Zach Worden has plenty of Topklasse pedigree, and Sam Cassidy was well on course for a pre-season ton when he was retired against Rotterdam a couple of weeks ago, so there’s a decent chance the outcome on Saturday will come down to which of the two is first to find their feet again.

RL: Though neither managed to bag the points, these sides lost in contrasting ways last week: chasing 338, VRA’s top order gave their opponents a scare, Teja Nidamanuru, Vikram Singh and Johan Smal all posting half-centuries, while HCC, batting first, never really got out of second gear and were reliant on some heroics from the tail to reach 230 for nine. On the other side of the ledger, the Lions’ attack had their moments, reducing Voorburg to 8 for two and 70 for four, while VRA were mercilessly put to the sword by a dominant Rotterdam. On their own bijou ground, Boris Gorlee’s side will fancy their chances with the bat against the Amsterdammers’ restructured – and depleted – bowling unit, while an attack which includes Hidde Overdijk, Daniel Crowley, Josh Brown, Clayton Floyd and Teun Leijer certainly cannot be underestimated. Whoever wins the toss at De Diepput will have an interesting choice to make.

BdJ: Finally defending champs Kampong welcome VOC to Maarchalkerweerd for what ostensibly looks like the easiest game of the round to call. Indeed Kampong arguably have the advantage of a somewhat soft start to the season, and after their comfortable win over HBS will be keen to consolidate a place at the top end of the table again. VOC did show some admirable resolve in the face of Rushmere’s onslaught, but Tim de Kok cycling through eight bowling options to little effect does suggest the absence of the brothers Jain will be keenly felt this season. New overseas Ethan Price going wicketless is a particular concern, and it’s hard to see the Bloodhounds picking up points without the slow southpaw picking up some scalps. The top order at least all got to double figures, and keeper-bat Caleb Montague impressed, but the early evidence suggests a tough season ahead for the Rotterdammers. The title-holders’ season began inauspiciously with a first baller for senior international Max O’Dowd, but given that they’ll be without him and Scott Edwards for at least a few games this season it’s arguably a good sign that they’re not entirely reliant on contributions from the Netherlands’ ODI lead run-getter. Pierre Jacod and Alex Roy both look in particularly fine form, and if it stays that way Kampong’s prospects of doubling up look rosy.

RL: That’s a big call given some of the opposition, but it’s true that it would take a very significant reversal of form for VOC to head back to Rotterdam with the points on Saturday evening. A side which boasts Max O’Dowd, Scott Edwards and Lorenzo Ingram, all of whom average 42 or better across their Topklasse careers, backed up by the hitting power of Damien van den Berg and the skills of Jacod and Lachlan Bangs, demands nothing but respect, and this week O’Dowd and Edwards have the additional incentive of facing their former team-mates of VOC. None more so than the veteran Pierce Fletcher, who emerged from the seconds to spearhead the attack against Hermes last week. The Hazelaarweg pitch admittedly had some of the qualities of a road, but as concerning for the Bloodhounds as Price conceding seven an over and failing to take a wicket was the cavalier fashion with which Ostling and Rushmere treated Ahsan Malik, taking 32 off his initial four-over spell, including seven boundaries. Having survived a relegation play-off last season, VOC may be in for another tough campaign.

BdJ’s tips: Hermes, Voorburg, VRA, Kampong.
RL’s tips: Rotterdam, Voorburg, HCC, Kampong.

Hermes’ Rushmere rewrites the record book

Rod Lyall 27/04/26

A piece of Dutch cricket history was rewritten at the Hazelaarweg on Sunday, when David Rushmere, Hermes’ new overseas, posted the highest score ever by a player on debut, plundering 169 from a hard-working but ineffective VOC attack.

27-year-old Rushmere, who played a couple of List A matches for South African provincial side Boland half a dozen years ago, came to the crease at 9 for one, and was watchful at first but then hammered a series of boundaries, including three in one over from former Dutch international Ahsan Malik.

Joined by Olivier Elenbaas with the score at 71 for three, he reached his half-century from 48 deliveries, and his century, the 18th time a player had achieved this in his first top-flight innings in the Netherlands, from 101 balls, by which time he had struck 16 boundaries.

Batting with supreme assurance and well supported by Elenbaas, he now expanded his range of shots, surpassing Tim Zoehrer’s debut record of 153 as the Hermes total reached 250 with seven overs remaining.

A tired Rushmere eventually fell to Malik when he was on 169, made from 140 deliveries with 26 fours and two sixes; his partnership of 184 with Elenbaas was a club record for the fourth wicket.

Elenbaas’s role had up to this point largely been taking singles to get Rushmere back on strike, and he reached his fifty, from 83 deliveries, just before losing his partner.

Now, however, he went on the attack, so effectively that when the final over began he had gone on to 84; Nick Statham gave him the strike with five balls left, but he could only manage 12 from them, and was left stranded on 96 not out, facing just 24 deliveries after passing fifty.

Hermes’ total of 328 for five always seemed likely to be beyond VOC, and although their new overseas Caleb Montague made 59 and they reached 94 for one in the first 15 overs of their reply, thereafter their challenge subsided, and they were all out for 192.

The pick of the Hermes bowlers was Sahil Kothari, whose four for 41 accounted for almost the whole of the VOC middle order.

There had been plenty of interest as well, some of it statistical, in the three matches played on Saturday.

Transformed over the winter from Punjab to Rotterdam CC, Sikander Zulfiqar’s side ran up the third-highest total in the club’s Topklasse history, their 338 against VRA Amsterdam at the Zomercomplex built around opener Musa Ahmad’s composed knock of exactly 100.

While he anchored one end, a succession of partners hammered the Amsterdammers’ bowling: coming in at 44 for three, Saqib Zulfiqar plundered a 60-ball 90 which included nine fours and five sixes, his brother Sikander compiled a relatively quiet 37 (but with three fours and two sixes), and then Burhan Niaz topped it off with a 42-ball 77, hitting five fours and six sixes to add to VRA’s misery.

Vikram Singh and Viraj Thakur each claimed three wickets as Rotterdam were all out off the last ball of their 50 overs, but former international (and Musa’s brother) Shariz Ahmad went wicketless, conceding 60 off his seven overs.

VRA were certainly not intimidated by this big total: skipper Teja Nidamanuru (55) and Singh (70) put on 134 for the first wicket in 20 overs, Singh smacking six sixes as he answered the Rotterdammers’ aggression in kind, and Johan Smal kept up the momentum with a solid 46.

But 105 were still needed with ten overs remaining, and by this time six wickets had fallen; it was now up to Udit Nashier, back with his old club, to finish the job, but although he made 59 from 43 deliveries the Rotterdam attack was able to hang on, and VRA finished 29 runs short of their target with the last pair together.

A fine all-round effort by Pierre Jacod, who made 52 and then claimed four for 30, was the key to Kampong’s successful start to the defence of their title, as they overcame HBS by 81 runs at Craeyenhout.

Young Joris van Oosterom had given the Crows a great start when he had international opener Max O’Dowd caught in the covers off the first ball he receeived, but a solid second-wicket stand of 72 between Damien van den Berg (42) and Scott Edwards (70) laid the foundations for a big total by Alex Roy’s Utrecht side.

Overseas Kent Goedeke and local seamer Benno Boddendijk bowled 20 overs on the trot as HBS skipper Tayo Walbrugh seemed content to let Kampong consolidate, only Van den Berg and Lorenzo Ingram falling during that passage of play, but once Julien de Mey had removed Edwards the middle order faltered, and it took Jacod’s half-century, his fourth in the Topklasse, and a run-a-ball 32 from skipper Roy, to get them to 256.

Lehan Botha took three for 54 for the Crows, while Van Oosterom returned to finish Jacod’s innings with a crushing yorker.

Roy started with the medium-pace of Shashank Kumar and Ingram’s left-arm spin, and although neither claimed a wicket they bowled tightly enough to have HBS already falling behind the asking rate.

Then Roy himself removed Goedeke and Walbrugh before running out danger-man Botha, and at 61 for four in the 21st over the home side’s challenge was starting to fade.

Keeper Lucas del Bianco did his best to hold things together with a defiant 65, but Jacod’s four-wicket haul ensured that there was no recovery, and when Del Bianco was the last man out the total was just 175.

The closest of Saturday’s matches was at Westvliet, where Voorburg, helped by an unbeaten century by opener Cedric de Lange, went into the final over before completing a four-wicket victory over HCC.

Put in to bat, HCC’s innings never really fired against a disciplined Voorburg attack, the star of which was Mees van Vliet with five for 53.

The Lions’ top and middle order got a series of starts, but only Shirsak Banerjee was able to build a substantial innings; he made 54 before he was freakishly run out, seamer Don Glover getting a boot to a powerful straight drive by Clayton Floyd and deflecting the ball onto the stumps with Banerjee stranded.

That was a key turning-point as HCC battled to recover from 140 for five, Ryan Klein having delayed their progress with an impeccable ten-over spell which conceded just 23 runs.

Josh Brown and Daniel Crowley chipped in with a 41-run ninth-wicket stand which helped their side to 230 for nine, and when Hidde Overdijk and Teun Kloppenburg reduced the home side to 70 for four it seemed as if HCC might be getting the upper hand.

De Lange, however, was still there, and although Voorburg were still in trouble at 150 for six with 14 overs remaining, that brought 17-year-old debutant Aarav Swaroop in to join the opener, just a year his senior.

The two teenagers proceeded to add 82 in an unbroken winning stand, De Lange finishing with 112 not out – his second Topklasse century – and Swaroop 43 not out.

Kloppenburg was the most successful of HCC’s bowlers with three for 28.

Vibe-Coding the Rules – a look at the Player Points System

Bertus de Jong | 23-04-2026

The KNCB’s new player-points system for the Topklasse, Hoofdklasse and Eersteklasse is a welcome and arguably overdue effort to address long-standing problems in Dutch club cricket and may yet prove a model going forward, but the slapdash formulations and nonsensical categorisations set out in the new rules risk rendering it unfit for purpose. The board will need to rely on the collaboration and indulgence of clubs to make the half-baked system work, and if it proves a source of rancour, the KNCB will have only themselves to blame.

The question of regulating the participation of overseas players in domestic competition has been a perennial source of controversy and contention in Dutch cricket over the past decade at least, with past efforts to place limits on squad or team composition foundering in the face of opposition, loopholing, and even legal challenge. The board’s new player-points based approach (modelled on systems used in Australian club cricket) has much to recommend it in principle, but the final language of the regulations, which were circulated to clubs two months ago, is so vague, contradictory or perverse as to risk generating still more controversy and conflict, such that it will require a concerted and collaborative effort from all parties to avoid their implementation derailing the coming season entirely.

The new system seeks to allocate each player a points-value dependent on their national origin and level of prior cricket experience, with progressive reductions based on length of service to their current club, and then places a cap on the total points-value of a side that may be fielded in any given match. In the manual for the new system, a first draft of which was circulated late last year, the KNCB lays out the main aims:

Local Player Development—Encouraging clubs to invest in homegrown players and provide them with opportunities at the highest level.
Reducing Dependence on Overseas Players—Balancing the use of international talent with the development of Dutch players, so clubs don’t rely solely on overseas signings.
In short, the system is designed to reward clubs that develop Dutch talent while still allowing space for international players to contribute to the competition.

There are reasonable arguments to be made against the system even in principle; implicit penalties for players transferring between clubs systemically weakens the hands of cricketers vis-a-vis clubs and militates against professionalisation. As written, the rules could be seen as exacerbating the particular problem of player retention after school age, when youngsters moving away from from their home towns (and clubs) for work or study often drop cricket altogether. The system also risks undermining the policy of encouraging Netherlands-eligible players who learned their cricket abroad to play in the Dutch competition if they wish to be considered for national selection, and arguably does too little to incentivise clubs to attract or develop players likely to be called up for national selection given the ever-increasing burden the international calendar places on player availability.

Yet these are ultimately trade-offs which must be made, and debates where reasonable disagreements are inevitable. In truth, there appears to be broad consensus that a system of this sort is needed, and the model which the board has adopted ought to be sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of the club competitions that have served as the game’s foundation in the Netherlands. The Topklasse has a history stretching back well over a century. By most metrics it is the oldest extant club cricket competition in the world, and indeed it predates the Netherlands’ participation in international cricket by almost half a century. Many in Dutch cricket (including this publication) consequently regard the integrity of the club competition per se as taking precedence over its role as a production line or feeder league for the national team, a role for which it is not necessarily well-suited, and which one might hope an expanded Pro-Series may one day fulfil (on which more another time).

There are clear upsides to limiting the number of overseas players in the Topklasse; not least lessening the financial burden on clubs imposed by the ballooning expense of maintaining a competitive squad in the upper divisions. The system also rewards sides whose youth systems develop young players, and to encourages them to blood such players in the top flight. The points-based approach also affords clubs a degree of flexibility in selection, while the option to introduce bonus points allocations in future seasons for clubs that provide umpires, field women’s and youth teams or the like might also allow the KNCB to incentivise such objectives in a more flexible manner than hard and fast regulation. The board is ultimately answerable to the clubs on such questions, and it’s excusable, given that the preponderance of input has come from club administrators rather than active players, that the basic framework of the rules favours the former over the latter. What less excusable, however, is just how incredibly sloppy the final document is in its definitions and categorisations.

The definitions and category descriptions provided, along with the pair of flow charts intended as guidance, make a series of assertions and implicit assumptions which are by turns contradictory, plainly mistaken, or nonsensical – and some of which would appear to mandate distinctions on the basis of nationality which serve no obvious developmental or competitive purpose and risk running afoul of Dutch anti-discrimination or privacy law.

remember me?

The KNCB has to date provided no rationale for discriminating between EU passport-holders and players of other nationalities, a distinction which the provided flowcharts imply to be prior to any other question. There is of course a clear rationale for giving preference to players who are eligible for the Dutch national team, but no explanation is given as to why it is desirable to treat other European nationals differently to players from further afield. It cannot simply be deference to EU law, as Dutch (eligible) players are still being privileged over other EU citizens. And it’s worth remembering of course that it was not the application of EU law that saw the previous restrictions on overseas players tossed out, but rather the Dutch Algemene Wet Gelijke Behandeling, which precludes any discrimination on the basis of nationality whatsoever.

The inclusion of this EU/non-EU distinction thus seems to be not only confusing and pointless, but also prima facie illegal. In the wider cricket world the question of a player’s legal nationality is generally treated as secondary to their affiliation to (and eligibility to represent) a given ICC member board, the two obviously being not entirely unrelated but certainly not identical. The KNCB’s departure from this norm is both inexplicable and problematic – potentially legally and certainly practically.

in or out?

The needless distinction on the basis of nationality rather than eligibility leads to a number of perverse or contradictory outcomes if one were to follow the plain meaning of the document. The most glaring of these stems from an apparent misunderstanding of ICC eligibility criteria, which leads the authors of the document to assume any Dutch-eligible player must also be in possession of an EU passport. This is not the case. Any player who has been resident in the country for three years is eligible to represent the Netherlands even if they hold no EU passport – a category which in fact covers a huge swathe of those playing in the Netherlands, including at least one current Dutch international – yet the rules (which incorrectly treat Dutch-eligible players as a subset of EU nationals) makes no provision for such players.

Other categorisations are equally slipshod. A brief mention is made of “Representative U19s Competitions” but no clarification is offered as to how these are to be defined. One might guess the intended meaning is international under 19s cricket, but it is unclear whether this is meant to include only Youth ODIs, Youth Tests and Youth T20I, or any Under 19 team representing an ICC member. The rules then state any foreign Under 19 player should be classified as “international,” a plain reading of which would mean that a player that’s turned out for, say, Namibia Under19s at an African regional qualifier would attract a higher points value than one who has played Country Cricket or even IPL – a decision which, if intentional, would bespeak a remarkable unfamiliarity with the actual standard of cricket of these competitions.

Conversely a careful definition of “Expat Payer” [sic] is laid out, complete with onerous requirements for proof of employment or study. Aside from the fact that, as one captain observed, “it’s a bit much to expect a casual cricketer to throw his whole employment contract on the table,” one imagines these requirements will run afoul of all manner of privacy laws. The rules governing “expats” moreover make no provision for players not in full time paid work or study, thus excluding asylees, care-givers, home-makers, dependent minors and such, again without explanation. Equally inexplicably, the category is seemingly applicable only to non-EU players, but then given the provision that non-homegrown players must always be placed in the category attracting the highest points allocation, a plain reading of the rules renders the entire class of “Expat” functionally redundant anyway, which is perhaps for the best.

edge case?

The second-highest tier is titled “1st Class & List A”, but restricts that category to Full Members. Premier and franchise cricket outside of Test-playing countries thus fall outside either category, presumably meaning that Major League Cricket or the ILT20 (both of which have List A status) nonetheless fall into the same category as a pub league in the UK. The next tier down is something called “Provincial A team cricket” a term used throughout the document as if it were a globally recognised category of cricket, which it is not, an oversight which once again one can only assume is rooted in an extraordinarily broad ignorance of what the game outside of the Netherlands actually looks like. Whether, for example, National Counties cricket in the UK, or the Breakout League in the West Indies fall into this category cannot be discerned from the text other than by (ultimately subjective) reasoning by analogy.

It would have been comparatively trivial to supply category definitions which comported more closely with objective reality, ideally supported by a tiered list of foreign competitions ahead of time. Instead it seems likely that such questions will be left to the discretion of an ad-hoc arbitration committee. It is to be hoped said committee boasts greater expertise than apparently went into the creation of the regulations it is tasked with applying, and that clubs accept its rulings with equanimity. So far, at least, they appear to be doing so.

Yet relying on case-by-case committee decisions to flesh out the details that the rules fail to provide – a strategy which might be charitably labelled a “Common Law” (or less charitably a “vibes-based”) approach – will inevitably leave the KNCB open to allegations of bad faith or bias the moment a difficult dispute arises, as the slapdash manner in which the rules have been written all but guarantees, or lead to conflicting and contradictory standards should the committee’s rulings not be made with considerably more care and expertise than is evident in the authorship of the regulations themselves. To mangle the old adage, Bad Law makes Hard Cases, and Hard Cases make Bad Law.

It is of course too late to change the rules at this stage, the KNCB having waved off the questions and concerns of informed third parties (including your correspondent) for some months. We thus left hoping that the community pulls together and muddles through, honouring the laudable aims or at least implied intent of the provisions rather than exploiting the ambiguous or nonsensical text. Past precedent unfortunately suggests that there are few clubs entirely above rules-lawyering on questions of player eligibility where it is to their clear advantage. We are consequently reduced to hoping that a spirit of collegiality prevails, at least until the rules can be clarified and rationalised next season, but in the meantime one can’t help but feel the KNCB has laid down a rake for its own face, so to speak.

The need for this new system has been a point of rare consensus among Dutch cricket clubs, and it would be a shame if it were to founder simply due to its initial drafters’ lack of attention to detail. The goals of the system are shared by most if not all in Dutch cricket, and fundamentally a points-based model is likely the best suited to the needs of the game in the Netherlands. For all its faults, even in its current sorry state the system is likely workable if all parties strive in good faith to make it work.

Lets hope they do.

Preview Round 1

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong | 22-04-2026

And so we start once more, this time with eight teams in the Topklasse. There are, of course a few other changes: the Player Points system will influence team selection (though probably not very much in practice, at least this year), and the European T20 Premier League is promised for later in the summer, although with the 50-over competition scheduled to conclude on 5 July it won’t be affected. There will again be no play-offs for the title, with the team at the top of the table after 14 rounds being declared the winner. There’s a good deal more guesswork than usual involved in this initial preview, since it’s not entirely clear who among the still numerous overseas contingents will arrive in time for the season’s opening encounters.

RL: Last year’s champions, Kampong Utrecht, start the defence of their title with a trip to Craeyenhout to take on HBS. With Lehan Botha back in the Crows’ ranks and Kent Goedeke replacing Jayden Rossouw, the South African component is still central to the plans at Craeyenhout, skipper Tayo Walbrugh, ex-international Wesley Barresi and current national squad member Kyle Klein all adding a hint of the braai to HBS’s fortunes. They will have their work cut out, though, against Alex Roy’s side, which will miss only Lane Berry from last year’s winning combination. That’s admittedly quite a gap in the top order, but with Lachlan Bangs returning and Max O’Dowd and Scott Edwards available for much of the 50-over season, Kampong will still take some beating. The big question, perhaps, is whether Kampong’s attack will prove strong enough to restrict the Crows’ top order on what is frequently a runs-rich ground.

BdJ: The departure of last season’s lead wicket-taker Rossouw to Quick Haag is likely to mean there will be even more runs to be had at Craeyehout this time round, and the Crows will probably need early wickets from Klein or Botha if they’re to contain what remains an intimidating Kampong batting order. With Bangs and the ever-improving Jacod coming in as low as six and seven for the title-holders, simply looking to outscore them is a risky strategy.

RL: Runners-up VRA Amsterdam head even further south, travelling to the Zomercomplex to face the newly-renamed Rotterdam (né Punjab), who were themselves champions in 2024. The Rotterdam batting powerhouse of Musa Ahmad, Shoaib Minhas and the brothers Saqib and Sikander Zulfiqar have started in menacing form, Sikander smacking a 54-ball, not-out 126 against VOC in the final of the Rijnmond Cup a fortnight ago. Their opponents are something of an unknown quantity, with a further influx of Antipodeans to augment Dutch internationals Teja Nidamanuru, Vikram Singh and Shariz Ahmad, all of whom have plenty to play for as they try to re-establish their positions in the national side. There are more questions about the respective attacks: again, Rotterdam have a tried-and-tested combination, but with Ben Fletcher and Peter Ruffel not reappearing VRA will need to find both a new new-ball pairing and an effective spin unit, which may include the returning Udit Nashier, hardy perennial Leon Turmaine, and Australian leggie Ivan Zmak.

BdJ: The rebranded Rotterdammers have certainly shown some impressive early form in pre-season, but it’s worth noting that VRA bested them fairly comfortably in Saturday’s warm-up fixture at the Bos. Vikram Singh and Johan Smal have looked in particularly fine form for the Amsterdammers, as has new arrival Sam Cassidy. It could well be a different outcome at the revamped Zomercomplex of course, and indeed the question of the make-up of VRA’s seam attack looms large, with much resting on the shoulders of Ashir Abid. Whoever takes the new ball for them will be happy not to have to bowl at Mohsin Riaz at least, Punjab’s stand out bat last season busy with commitments in Pakistan for now, but the Rotterdam batting card is plenty stacked without him.

RL: There have been many stirring contests between Voorburg and HCC in recent years, not least in the 2022 and 2023 grand finals (remember when we used to have grand finals?). Home side Voorburg will presumably be boosted by the return of Bas de Leede, whose spell at Durham has come to an end, and that will be significant compensation for the loss of De Leede’s fellow-international Viv Kingma, who has moved to VOC, and of young allrounder Udit Nashier, who has returned to VRA. So will the advent of promising youngster Aaditt Jain, whose path has crossed that of Kingma somewhere between the Hazelaarweg and Westvliet. We probably shouldn’t read too much into the ease of Voorburg’s victory in the final of last week’s Next Communications T20 Cup, but the Lions will need the returning Zac Worden to boost their largely home-grown top order if they are return to De Diepput with the points.

BdJ: De Leede, we understand, is likely to be used sparing if at all in the early season as he comes back from injury, but the addition of Jaynul Islam may go some way to compensate – Voorburg quick to snap up the recently-arrived Bangladeshi right arm seamer. Voorburg hardly lacked for pace options even before picking up Islam and Jain, though there’s a little less competition for slow-bowling spots at Westvliet now. One will certainly be taken by dual-international Michael Rippon when he lands back in the Netherlands, but the VCC bowling card does look a tad pace-heavy as it stands. The same is true of their opponents however, looking somewhat reliant on slow southpaw Clayton Floyd, whose ten overs could well prove crucial on Saturday.

RL: Ground constraints mean that the final match of the opening round will take place on Sunday, when Hermes-DVS will make the short trek to the Hazelaarweg to take on VOC Rotterdam. They will be facing a pace attack featuring the returning former international Ahsan Malik and his erstwhile international colleague Viv Kingma, who has stepped over from Voorburg, as well as the steadily-improving Roman Harhangi. The Bloodhounds will again be looking to a useful group of overseas players, including New Zealanders Caleb Montague and Ethan Price. Such resources have not been able to disguise the fragility of their batting in recent seasons, but the early-season form of Francois Fourie may hint at better prospects this time round. With the run-getting power of Daniel Doyle Calle and Ash Ostling reinforced by that of South African David Rushmere, the Sky Blues have the potential to test VOC’s new-look pace attack to the full, while an experienced, well-balanced attack will be looking to exploit any cracks in the home side’s top order.

BdJ: Word is Kingma’s role at VOC will be focused more on coaching this coming season, though we’re also told Pierce Fletcher may be playing a more prominent on-field part for the Bloodhounds this summer. Harhangi will be the principle purveyor of youthful zip with the new ball though, and will be crucial in VOC are to find inroads into Hermes’ reinforced batting order. Breaking the prolific Ostling-DDC partnership at the top now looks like a still-necessary but perhaps no-long-sufficient condition to containing Hermes, and with several key components of VOC’s new batting card boasting overseas pedigree but little Topklasse experience, the hosts may still be unsure of what a chaseable total looks like.

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

Topklasse Fantasy Cricket Returns

Bowing to whelming popular demand, CricketXI and TKcricket are delighted to announce the return of Topklasse Fantasy Cricket for the 2026 season.

Pit your managerial wits against your friends and team-mates, test your Topklasse knowledge against the self-styled experts.

Submissions for teams and leagues are now open over at CricketXI. Entry is entirely free, the trophy for the global winner is a rather fancy hat. (Hat still believed to be in the custody of Mr RC Campbell, county Durham)

2026 Preview | Voorburg & VOC

Bertus de Jong | 19-04-2026

2023 Champions Voorburg CC had a surprisingly poor 50-over season last year, but are widely-tipped as potential challengers again this time round. There’s been a fair reshuffle at Westvliet over the winter, especially in the seam bowling department, the headline-grabber of course being the return of favourite son Bas de Leede from England.

Injury may limit the role de Leede’s able to play early in the season though, and with Carl Mumba off to the newly-renamed Rotterdam CC (formerly Punjab-Ghausia) and the long-serving Vivian Kingma departing for VOC, young left arm quick Aaditt Jain, making the opposite switch, may slot straight into the role of pace spearhead. Also likely to feature in the first-team seam attack is new arrival Jaynul Islam, a right arm quick with List A experience in Bangladesh, alongside Mees van Vliet in an enviable stable of front line pace bowlers, backed up by part timers Michael Levitt and Ryan Klein.

Michael Rippon

The other big name arrival at Westvliet is sometime Dutch international and occasional blackcap Michael Rippon, the left arm wrist spinner “bringing not only a wealth of experience but also a much needed spin option and a very important part of our batting line up.” as skipper Noah Croes remarked to Tkcricket. Rippon will thus fill the role of lead spinner vacated by southpaw Udit Nashier, who returns to VRA, as well as bolstering an already intimidating batting card.

Young Cedric de Lange has established himself in the opening slot alongside Michael Levitt, while the middle and lower order boasts further national team talent in the form of Croes himself as well as Ryan Klein. That line-up does leave VCC particularly vulnerable to the predations of national selectors however, with de Leede, Rippon, Levitt, Klein and Croes all potential picks, while Lange is already on the Oranje’s radar too.

Voorburg are somewhat insulated from that risk by their depth of youth talent; de Lange, Alejo Nota and Tom de Leede increasingly impressive, while Luuk Kroesen also comes over from Excelsior. A deep roster was not enough for Voorburg to challenge the top last season though, in part perhaps because constantly rotating selection prevented the team from really settling. They are likely to face similar challenges this season, even if they are arguably better equipped to handle them.

Croes himself was upbeat, telling TKcricket “here at the Westvliet we’re happy with the way we are tracking … the guys are well prepared to have an impact and continue to push at the top end of the table. I think the development of our young players is going to be really exciting and hoping to see some new guys step up.”

It’s been almost a decade since VOC Rotterdam last added to their tally of Topklasse titles, most recently finishing top of the log back in 2018 – notably the freshman year of this very masthead. The Bloodhounds have spent the seven seasons since largely in the bottom half of the table, narrowly escaping relegation on a couple of occasions, including last season when they saw off ACC in the relegation play-off. Survival will be the first target this time around, though in a smaller and more competitive field dodging the drop again will be a tougher ask this season.

The Rotterdammers will have to reckon with the loss of both Jain brothers – young Aaditt switching to Voorburg and Arnav emigrating to Spain. The pair accounted for 40 wickets between them last season as well as occasional but sometimes crucial lower order runs, and leave a substantial hole to fill. Likewise the departure of overseas Scott Jannet and Christiaan Oberholzer, who along with Danish international Monty Singh provided the bulk of VOC’s runs last summer, will put pressure on the rest of the VOC line-up to deliver with the bat.

Ashan Malik

On the other side of the ledger, veteran former Netherlands international Ahsan Malik returns from Sparta, providing some welcome stability in the middle order as well as control with the ball. The indefatigable Jelte Schoonheim also signs on for another season, ensuring the seam attack certainly will not want for experience, though doubtless the hope is that young Roman Harhangi, VOC’s lead wicket-taker last season, continues to shoulder increasing responsibility as spearhead.

By way of slow-bowling additions Hazelaarweg welcomes Ethan Price, a left arm spinner recently turning out for Northern Districts A, who joins the ever-promising Siebe van Wingerden and the returning Asif Hoseinbaks in the spin section. The otherwise somewhat threadbare batting card is shored up by keeper-bat by Caleb Montague, also of New Zealand, but long-serving skipper Tim de Kok will certainly hope to contribute more with the bat personally this season. The arrival of Samir Butt from Punjab Rotterdam does take some of the pressure off the captain however, as does the pre-season form of Francoise Fourie, who missed much of last season through injury.

De Kok’s principal task will remain getting the best out of an overhauled side, and group cohesion is indeed his top priority. “Above all we’re looking to rely on players that fit well within the club and subscribe to the philosophy and overarching narrative we’re trying to build here at VOC. It’s crucial to keep working on the ethos and atmosphere within the club. So we’re also really happy to have Stephan Myburgh back as head coach, along with club legend [and former Netherlands international] Rob Vos who have both been working hard over the winter to build our programme and training philosophy. There’s a lot of people in the background who have contributed enormously to our goal of being the most welcoming family club with the stand-out development program in the top flight.”

While the on-field focus for the back end of the summer will be regaining a place in the T20 top division, consolidation is the order of the day in the fifty-over competition. “In the Topklasse the goal is to show that we can compete with a solid core of local VOC talent, and demonstrate the importance of a strong foundation for the club.”