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Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 04/05/25

It’s another of those weeks where the luck of the draw pits the top five against the bottom five, so the priorities will be respectively consolidation and springing a life-supporting surprise. It will also see the disappearance of those national squad members who were allowed to play last Saturday, with varying implications for the sides involved. Last time the two halves of the table met there were some significant surprises, so maybe that will happen again.

RL: It would certainly be a sensation if Sparta 1888, now firmly rooted at the foot of the table, were to get the better of Kampong, who have created a very comfortable cushion for themselves at the top. The leaders will, of course, be without Max O’Dowd and Scott Edwards, but neither was influential in last week’s demolition of Hermes, and Alex Roy’s side has proved that it is perfectly capable of taking on all comers without them. The Spartans, it is true, are a tougher proposition at the Bermweg, where they posted both their wins so far, but they would need both to cut through Kampong’s top and middle order and to withstand their very effective spin attack to have a real chance of springing the upset of the season. In Ahsan Malik and Juandre Scheepers, the latter having developed the knack of removing big-name opponents, they perhaps have a chance of achieving the first, but the fragility of their batting, its cyclonic destruction of HBS apart, is a major reason for the side’s current plight.

BdJ: Just five games to go, five points clear with a healthy NRR advantage to boot, Kampong Utrecht’s coronation is not quite inevitable yet, but they’d have to work hard to mess it up from here. Contriving to lose to Sparta would certainly be a good start in that respect, and Bermweg a fine venue to do it, both of the Spartan wins this season having come at home. Such a result would certainly inject a bit more tension at both ends of the table, but the sides find themselves at opposite ends of the table for good reason. Sparta have shown some fight and occassional adventure in recent weeks, most notably against HBS in round 12, they’ve generally looked outmatched even by lesser opposition. And while Kampong will again be without Edwards and O’Dowd, Sparta have not beeen spared the selectors’ scythe – Kyle Klesse off to Malawi after getting his maiden call up for Germany. With Sam Ferguson also sidelined with a broken hand it would take quite something for the understrength underdogs to turn over the frontrunners.

RL: The battle for eighth spot looks like being the last major issue to be settled in this campaign, with Excelsior ‘20 and VOC duking it out all the way to the final round. Their schedules from here on in are remarkably similar, each meeting four opponents a week apart, and the sole difference is that while VOC will take on VRA in their final game, Excelsior face a daunting assignment this week when they travel to the Zomercomplex to take on Punjab-Ghausia. Both Punjab and Excelsior posted totals of 300-plus last week, although the way they did it differed: the defending champions never looked in trouble as their top order relentlessly hammered a wilting VOC attack, while Excelsior needed a brutal onslaught from Brett Hampton to set up victory of an admittedly much stronger Voorburg. While the Schiedammers undoubtedly have the batting to tackle Punjab’s bowlers, it’s less evident that their own attack is effective enough to tame the likes of Shoaib Minhas, Musa Ahmad, Mohsin Riaz and Sikander Zulfiqar, all of whom looked in very good nick last Saturday.

BdJ: One of the less remarked-upon stories of the season so far has been Punjab’s newfound vulnerability at home; while the Zomercomplex was a true fortress last year, the defending champions look rather less at home at their new-look ground. Indeed most of Punjab’s intimidating top-order have been performing better away from home that at the Zomercomplex this season. They’ve also generally been performing rather better than Excelsior of course, hence their disparate positions on the table, though the Schiedammers will take comfort both from Hampton’s exploits and Raynard van Tonder’s return to fitness and form. Punjab’s bowling has been litlle more penetrative than that of their opponents this season, and with Saqib Zulfiqar in camera with the national team one might wonder where their wickets are coming from too…

RL: De Diepput has never been a very happy hunting-ground for VRA Amsterdam, where they have won only six of their last twenty encounters, although to be fair they came away with the points after their last two encounters there. Somewhat surprisingly, perhaps, they will still have the services this time of both Vikram Singh and Shariz Ahmad, only Teja Nidamanuru having been included in the Dutch squad for the T20 Qualifier, and the skipper’s absence will be balanced by that of HCC’s leading wicket-taker, Hidde Overdijk, whose selection has surprised some but is justified by the way he has led HCC’s attack this season. But the Lions still have plenty of talent with both bat and ball, and while VRA have won three out of their last four games they have had to scramble a bit to get there. They will have been encouraged, though, by the efforts of Ibaad Zaidi and Viraj Thakur with the bat last week, and they have a bowling unit capable of causing their hosts plenty of problems. This could be one of the tightest encounters of the round, but home advantage may just give HCC the edge.

BdJ: While VRA have been spared the cull they suffered when last the national team came calling, it should be noted the scales for this fixture aren’t quite in balance in that regard, as of course they’ve also lost Patrick Gouge to Jersey again (and from an admittedly small one-innings sample size, Gouge had been one of VRA’s better bats on mats). Neither Gouge nor Nidamanuru have delivered for VRA this season as Overdijk has for HCC of course, but even without their pace spearhead the Lions remain favourites in thier own den. Indeed Joshua Brown has quietly overtaken Overdijk in the wicket-taking tally, while the latter’s contributions down the order with the bat are less likely to be needed at home, given the top order’s form. The spurned Singh, Shariz and perhaps even Fletcher may all feel they have a point to prove, even if sending a message to the Dutch team hotel remains a secondary priority so long as VRA remain in sight of the relegation zone.

RL: Six points behind the leaders, their gallant initial challenge for the title effectively over, Hermes-DVS will take on VOC Rotterdam at the Loopuyt Oval, their visitors in acute need of points to get away from ninth spot. In a normal season the Sky-blues would be locked in a fascinating battle for a place in the semi-finals, but this year they are in a mid-table no man’s land. A strong closing run could still see them finish runners-up, however, and to do that they will need at the very least to beat VOC and Excelsior in their next two games. The Bloodhounds’ attack was hammered into submission by Punjab last week, Aaditt Jain and Roman Harhangi’s inexperience all too evident in the latter stages, but Aaditt’s brother Arnav stood up to the pressure well. They will need to contain Ash Ostling and Daniel Doyle early on, of course, and their batters will have to find a way of countering Hermes’ spinners as well as the renewed threat of Olivier Elenbaas, a bowling unit which suffered a hammering of their own against a rampant Kampong.

BdJ: The momentum has indeed been leached out of Hermes’ early title challenge, and even with three games to come against the bottom three sides on the table it’s fair to say that 50-over silverware is beyond their grasp now. Thus with their opponents seemingly destined for a comfortable mid-table finish, one would imagine the Bloodhounds will be the hungrier of the two sides on Saturday. Yet while they managed to role Hermes for just 140 in their first encounter, even if they repeat that trick they’ll have to put up a sunstantially better showing with the bat this time round if they’re to avoid sinking deeper into the relegation zone. Hermes have tended to struggle to post substantial scores when their openers don’t deliver, but VOC’s own batting has looked brittle all through the order, and while Hermes’ attack took a drubbing last week they remain more than capable of taking advantage.

RL: Despite last week’s victory over HCC, HBS Craeyenhout know that they are just one win clear of the relegation threat, and they will face a visit to Westvliet to face even a depleted Voorburg with a degree of trepidation. The national selectors have denied us a meeting of the brothers Klein, both of whom are in squad for the Qualifier, but while Kyle’s absence is perhaps the greater loss for his side on current form, he has not in any case been available since returning from Scotland. Tayo Walbrugh’s second century of the summer again reinforced how vital he is to the Crows’ batting, and with 657 runs with five games to go he has an outside chance of reaching the magic 1000 for the season (he missed out by two runs in 2023). With Michael Levitt and Noah Croes as well as Ryan Klein again serving their country, Voorburg will once more need to draw on their copious reserves, and notwithstanding last week’s defeat by Excelsior they remain a considerable force. That said, if one of the lower five (for older readers, what used to be the right-hand column on Teletekst) is going to spring that surprise, then it might just come here. Or, perhaps, at De Diepput.

BdJ: An odd quirk of scheduling sees Voorburg playing at home while hosting the T20 Qualifier, meaning this match will be played on the second field while international affairs are addressed on the main square. HBS are unlikely to be complaining, as the artificial surface on the second ground may feel rather mor like home. Walbrugh’s run-tally on artificial surfaces this season is matched only by HCC’s Boris Gorlee, and while a fair few of those coming off the bench for Voorburg will be perfectly familiar with conditions on the second ground, it’s questionable whether the hosts will enjoy much in the way of home advantage. With VCC’s hopes of a title challenge receding and the home crowd’s attention likely elsewhere, the Crows may just sense a chance to steal a march on the chasing pack of relegation candidates.

RJ’s picks: Kampong, Punjab, HCC, Hermes, Voorburg.

BdJ’s picks: Kampong, Punjab, HCC, Hermes, HBS.

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 26/06/2025

The summer solstice is just barely behind us but we’re already two thirds of the way through the Topklasse season, and with six games each to go some long-established top flight sides find themselves in a bare-knuckle relegation brawl, while newcomers Kampong are threatening to pull away at the top of the table. There’s a few more shuffles left in the pack yet though, and every match this week will have an effect at one end of the table or another.

BdJ: Starting at the top, table-toppers Kampong face off against early front-runners Hermes DVS, who have since slipped to third in the pecking order. The Schiedammers took the honours when the two met earlier in the season at the Loopuyt, the fourth in a five-match opening winning streak. The return leg a Maarschalkerweerd may prove a tougher challenge if internationals O’Dowd and Edwards return, though given their respective knee and hamstring niggles and the threadbare resources available to the Dutch for next week’s T20 Qualifier, it would be understandable if they don’t risk it. Nonetheless Kampong have been managing alright without them, thanks in large part to the form of Lane Berry and lately Damien van den Berg at the top of the order, together with Lorenzo Ingram and Pierre Jacod’s occasional rearguards. Hermes, for their part, continue to look somewhat over-dependent on Ashley Ostling and Daniel Doyle-Calle at the top, the opening pair respectively averaging twice and four-times the next best bat. The sky-blues’ bowling has generally been enough to cover for any deficiencies down the order against most opposition, but against Kampong at Utrecht it may not be.

RL: All things are relative, but I do think it’s a little harsh of m’colleague to describe Ingram’s 364 runs at 45, with four fifties in ten innings, as ‘occasional rearguards’. With 16 wickets into the bargain he remains one of the most effective allrounders in the competition, and given the rather hit-or-miss recent record of the top of the Kampong order his presence at five is a key steadying factor, especially in the absence of O’Dowd and Edwards, in the Utrecht club’s quest to become the first side since Princes Wilhelmina Enschede (there’s a blast from the past) to take the national title in their first season back in the top flight – and that was back in 1939. With Hikmatullah Jabarkhail and Sahil Kothari in the top five wicket-takers Hermes do indeed owe their position in large part to their bowling, but Kampong have Jacod, Ingram and Alex Roy in the top dozen, and with Kirtan Nana and Shashank Kumar backing Roy in the seam unit they have the resources to test a Hermes batting line-up which has until very recently found it hard to get much paast 200.

BdJ: Having pushed past Hermes into second place, HCC face a short but tricky trip over to Craeyenhout to face local rivals HBS in a fixture that has the potential to make both ends of the table a lot more interesting, or indeed considerably less so. HBS will be hoping for the latter, having drifted dangerously close to the relegation zone following their loss to Sparta last week. Ducks for senior bats Walbrugh and Barresi certainly didn’t help in that game, though the Crows may be more worried about the lack of penetration and control offered by their bowling attack in the absence of Kyle Klein, whose availability on Saturday is not guaranteed. They’ll have their work cut out too against an HCC batting card most all of whom made runs last Saturday at VCC, with Clayton Floyd adding his name to the growing list of in-form all rounders on the books with the Haagse. For HCC, a win would mean they remain best-placed to capitalise on any slip-up from Kampong, while defeat would see their chances of reclaiming the title diminish appreciably. For HBS, with only net run rate keeping them out of the relegation zone, every win is a step toward safety.

RL: No two ways about it: at least a half-century from Walbrugh or Barresi, or both, has been a necessary, but not necessarily sufficient, requirement for an HBS victory this season. All four wins have involved significant innings by one or other or both, although in fairness the contribution of Lehan Botha with bat or ball should not be underestimated. Young Elmar Boendermaker’s patient knock against Sparta, too, is evidence of his development. Whether that will be enough to repeat the Crows’ victory over HCC is extremely doubtful, since not only has the Lions’ batting proved to have greater depth than most, but the bowling unit combines pace and spin very effectively indeed, making them probably the principal threat to Kampong’s title hopes. The Crows, by contrast, look a lot less menacing without Kyle Klein leading the attack, and at batter-friendly Craeyenhout they will need to fire on all cylinders if they are to take the points.

BdJ: Snapping at their heels are 8th-placed VOC, who take on title-holders Punjab Rotterdam at Hazelaarweg. Defeat at the hands of the Bloodhounds earlier in the season marked, if not the end, then perhaps the end of the beginning of the end of Punjab’s hopes of defending their title. A repeat of that result would put them pretty definitively out of contention. With the departure of Jonathan Vandiar and Musa Ahmad’s return to form stuttering, Mohsin Riaz is the sole member of Punjab’s imposing top order to be regularly in the runs, while Ahmad is the only consistent member of the attack to be delivering more than one wicket a match on average. VOC meanwhile, despite a brief return to type against VCC, have now won three of their last four matches including a crucial victory over relegation rivals Excelsior. While they remain outmatched on paper, this is the sort of match VOC will have to win if they’re to secure another season in the top flight.

RL: The reversal in VOC’s fortunes has indeed been one of the features of the middle part of the campaign, and the efforts of Scott Janett, Christiaan Oberholzer and Monty Singh with the bat have been instrumental in bringing it about, masking the continuing limitations of the rest of the line-up. Restricting their contribution will therefore be a priority for Punjab’s attack, which even with the advent of Tehzeeb Haider has relied on spin to keep the side in the game. Now five points behind the leaders, Punjab are probably going to have to settle for a mid-table position; the absence of play-offs this year has robbed the latter stages of the competition of what would otherwise have been a fascinating six-way battle for a top four spot. Pride, however, is a perfectly legitimate thing to play for, while for VOC the stakes are way higher than that. Their young attack will have its work cut out to contain even an out-of-form Punjab line-up and make it four wins out of five for the Bloodhounds.

BdJ: Meanwhile Excelsior ‘20 likewise find themselves struggling for even a chance at survival, and will be desperate to pick up points against Voorburg, who they host at Thurlede on Saturday. VCC have been appreciably weakened by the wear and tear brought about by a punishing international calendar, with Viv Kingma ruled out, Ryan Klein in doubt and Michael Levitt also potentially resting up to be sure of fitness for the coming Qualifier. Yet Excelsior, despite some fine contributions from their regulars and three of the biggest name overseas in the competition, have struggled to put it together all season. Raynard van Tonder is now back from a hamstring injury but far from at his best, while Antum Naqvi and Brett Hampton put in solid performances in a losing cause last week, the Schiedam faithful will be acutely aware that they won’t be able to count on them to save them at the back end of the season. Hints of fraying nerves are already evident at Thurlede, and another home defeat could well send them into a spiral.

RL: The end of a 44-year spell in the top flight which brought the club a dozen national championships is beginning to loom large for Excelsior, whose three wins have all come at the expense of their rivals in the bottom four. Seldom has there been a greater gap between strength on paper and performances in the field, and although injuries, particularly to Raynard van Tonder, have played a part in their perilous situation, the previous two seasons already gave a hint of what was in store. Antum Naqvi, Sam Rahaley, Van Tonder, and Brett Hampton have all fired with the bat on occasion, but none has managed it regularly enough to compensate for the side’s weaknesses. For Voorburg, on the other hand, it’s the presence in the squad of a quartet of internationals which has put them effectively out of contention for the title, although young Cedric de Lange has almost kept pace with overseas Gavin Kaplan and is fifth in the batting rankings with 437 runs at an average of 43.70. It’s the bowling which has let Voorburg down somewhat, with Usman Malik and Patient Charumbira their leading wicket-takers despite having played only five and seven matches respectively. If Excelsior are to mount a serious campaign to avoid the drop, it really has to start here.

BdJ: Finally VRA, back playing Saturdays, welcome wooden spoon incumbents Sparta 1888 to the Bos on Saturday and will be hoping to take some tension out of their late season. Having pulled clear of the danger zone with a win over Hermes last week, the Amsterdammers will be looking to consolidate their place in the mid table. They do have a habit of dropping points to the Spartans, it should be said, but they rarely do so at home. That said, Sparta have rarely looked as spirited as they did last week against HBS, and while VRA are back at full strength the return of their internationals hasn’t done them a great deal of good, at least in terms of batting. While early returnee Shariz Ahmad has settled back into domestic competition nicely, both Teja Nidamanuru and Vikram Singh have yet to find form with the bat either in Orange or in VRA’s blue this season, and pressure will be building on both to deliver. Conversely Sparta’s carefree batting last week brought them a step closer to an unlikely escape, and has perhaps given them a sense of what can be, unburdened by what has been.

RL: Everything would need to go right for Sparta if they are to overcome VRA and give themselves a fighting chance of getting away from the foot of the table, and that would include the Woodlanders again failing to play up to their potential. Vikram Singh gave one hint last week of his undoubted ability before he departed, but the disruption to the side’s top order which has come from international commitments has had a profoundly negative effect on their performances, and they will be delighted that once the T20 Qualifier is over they should be able to field a more settled team in the campaign’s finishing straight. It was Juandre Scheepers who ripped through HBS last week and the aggressive batting of Sam Ferguson, Lukas Boorer and Khalid Ahmadi which finished the job, but whether either will be readily repeatable against VRA, and in the Amsterdamse Bos, is a very big question indeed.

BdJ’s picks: Kampong, HCC, Punjab, Voorburg, Sparta
RL’s picks: Kampong, HCC, Punjab, Voorburg, VRA.

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 12/06/2025

Two double weekends back-to-back have seen us hare past the half-way point of the season, and while there’s plenty still to play for, by this time next week most sides will likely know whether they’re headed for a championship challenge or a relegation battle. This Saturday’s round pits the top half of the table against the bottom, and if the outcome goes on first-half form there will be five sides aspiring for the top spot and five left concentrating their attention down towards a looming relegation risk.

BdJ: Among the sides already battling to avoid a stint in the Hoofdklasse are VOC Rotterdam, who will have taken heart (along with four points) from last week’s efforts, tripling their points for the season with wins over VRA and frontrunners Kampong. They face almost as stern a challenge when they welcome third-placed Voorburg CC to Hazelaarweg on Saturday, though once again the Bloodhounds are fortunate in the scheduling. Whether they like it or not (and one suspects not) the Dutch national team are still stuck in Scotland for the time being, meaning VCC will be without Levitt, Kingma and skipper Croes on Saturday – bringing the total opposing players avoided by VOC in the week to nine (or ten if one includes VRA’s Patrick Gouge, who was away with Jersey last Saturday). Voorburg have a deeper bench than Kampong or VRA at the minute though, and though they went down to Kampong in a shortened match last Saturday, the weather forecast is likely to play to their advantage this weekend. Dropping Gavin Kaplan down the order and promoting Carl Mumba to open proved a smart gambit on Monday, taking some of the sting out of the threat of Aaditt Jain and the new ball and shoring up the middle order in the absence of Croes. While VCC are unlikely to pile up the sort of score they put on VOC at full strength earlier in the season, it’s hard to imagine they’d need to. While VOC have at times impressed with the ball, they’ve yet to chase a score north of 200 and indeed have only passed the milestone once thus far.

RL: If you take out Scott Janett, Christiaan Oberholzer and Monty Singh, the rest of the VOC top six are collectively averaging under 11 with the bat, and that includes one knock of 71 by Jason van der Meulen against HCC. In other words, it’s the consistent failure of the batting, already a problem last season, which has left VOC battling to stay up, and it’s a problem to which there’s no immediately obvious solution. The club’s Seconds are in the lower half of the Eerste Klasse, none of the batters making an insistent case for promotion. That leaves the attack, spearheaded by the youngsters Aaditt Jain and Roman Harhangi, to carry an almost impossible load, although last weekend’s results suggest that their efforts could yet bring redemption. A strong youth policy and some smart horse-trading have yielded Voorburg untold riches by comparison, Cedric de Lange’s 378 runs at 47.25 the clearest illustration of the former factor. Boosted by the return to fitness of Ryan Klein, Voorburg are poised to mount a challenge for the title they last won in 2023, and for that to happen this is a must-win for them.

BdJ: Another side that may take some encouragement from the surprise result at Hazelaarweg last week are Excelsior ‘20, with the sheen of invulnerability rather rubbed off of Kampong, who they will take on at Utrecht on Saturday. Yet that result hardly improved Excelsior’s position on the table, and while the frontrunners will still be without Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd, and doubtless perturbed by the precedent of their loss to VOC, the lion’s share of the pressure on Saturday will be on the Schiedammers, whose loss to VRA on Monday has left them staring down the barrel. Nor have Excelsior been at full strength through the middle phase, with a hamstring issue keeping their star bat Raynard van Tonder carrying drinks for the last couple of games. Skipper Roel Verhagen stepped up admirably against VRA in his absence, but without more support from the rest of the batting card the outcome on Saturday is likely to be the same. As VOC demonstrated, early wickets are key to containing Kampong’s top order, and Excelsior spearhead Jason Ralston has yet to rediscover the form that made him last season’s lead wicket-taker. Conversely Joost Kroesen’s legspin has become a reliable source of wickets for his side, and Antum Naqvi has made a decent fist of shouldering the responsibility of two overseas, but to take a win home on Saturday will likely require more of Excelsior’s line up to fire at once than they have managed so far this season.

RL: Having been reduced to 10 for three, 49 for four and 38 for three in their last three outings, Kampong will be well aware that they need to build stronger foundations if they are to avoid putting undue pressure on Lorenzo Ingram and the lower middle order, although Pierre Jacod’s efforts with both ball and bat have been among the most encouraging features of their season so far. Excelsior do have the bowling resources to test the leaders’ aggressive strategy in the initial powerplay, even if Ralston has not been the force he was last season. Conversely, the Schiedammers’ form with the bat has also been somewhat hit-and-miss, Verhagen’s solo effort on Monday a clear illustration of the problem. The yawning gap between the performances of the Topklasse’s 35-plus overseas players and most of the locals continues to widen, and apart from some notable exceptions like De Lange and Jacod it’s an issue that must be addressed. That said, Kampong have more Dutch-produced players capable of holding their own in the Topklasse than most of their rivals, and that may prove to be the difference here.

BdJ: Still three points adrift of incumbents Kampong, erstwhile frontrunners Hermes DVS will be in the odd position of cheering on local rivals Excelsior, even as they busy themselves with the more immediate task of taking two points home from their trip to HBS Craeyenhout. It’s been Hermes’ enviable bowling line-up that saw them make the early running, and even without Aryan Dutt facing the Sky-blue attack will be a worrying prospect for HBS, especially without Wesley Barresi and Kyle Klein. Without question the overriding concern for the Crows, however, will be how to remove the prolific Daniel Doyle-Calle at the top of the Hermes batting order. When Doyle’s been absent or out the Sky-blues have struggled to compile any sort of score, even if they’ve shown themselves capable of defending sub-200 totals more often than not. Getting the Spanish captain early, one would think, is thus a necessary but not sufficient condition for an HBS victory come Saturday.

RL: Now just two points ahead of Excelsior and VOC, HBS are in some danger of slipping into the danger zone, and really need to win games like this in order to stay out of trouble. But again, in the absence of the dependable Barresi the batting is too dependent on Tayo Walbrugh and Lehan Botha, as the collapse against Punjab on Monday clearly demonstrated. Hermes’ combination of the seam of the brothers Elenbaas (who have seemingly slipped into Box-and-Cox mode), Sebastiaan Braat and the easy-to-underestimate Roy Numair, with the spin of Hikmatullah Jabarkhail and Sahil Kothari will likely test their opponents’ line-up to the full, and will need to do so if too great a burden is not to be imposed on their own fragile batting. But a win here is no less crucial for the Sky-blues, who have lost three of their last four games and will be painfully aware of the pursuers breathing down their necks.

BdJ: For fourth-placed HCC it would likely take a catastrophic return to first-game form for them to drop points the beleaguered Sparta 1888, who they take on at de Diepput on Saturday. While the HCC batting has looked vulnerable whenever Boris Gorlee fails at three, the HCC skipper will be back on his home astro again this week and, as has been repeatedly noted in these pages, there’s no better bat on a mat. Meanwhile the early season fight that saw the Sparta struggle to semi-competitive scores at the start of the season seems to have been beaten out of them, the Spartans not having passed 200 since round four. Coming up against season lead wicket-taker Hidde Overdijk, it would take a remarkable reversal for Martijn Snoep’s side to take anything but hard lessons back to Bermweg.

RL: Now two games adrift of their nearest rivals at the foot of the table, Sparta are not yet at the Point of No Return, but it has definitely become visible on the horizon. Apart from their three principal overseas, only Ahsan Malik, pressed into service at first-wicket down, averages better than 15 with the bat, and even his cutting edge with the new ball can’t disguise the limitations of an honest but far-from-menacing attack. HCC, for all their occasional fitfulness, look much stronger in all departments, and like Voorburg and Punjab, they have created a launching-pad from which they could potentially take advantage of any further lapses by the top two. It’s true that after dominating with the ball they struggled a bit to beat Hermes on Monday, but even that eventual victory illustrated the depth of their batting and their resilience when things get tough. Five of the current side were in the team which came from behind to take the title in 2022, and there’s no question that that experience stands them in good stead on such occasions as that.

BdJ: And finally, after a long absence, and a day behind the rest of the round, Topklasse cricket returns to the Bos on Sunday, though it finds hosts VRA in a rather less comfortable position than when last they played a home game. Still short fully four Dutch internationals, VRA face the prospect of taking on a full strength and finally (if fitfully) firing Punjab Rotterdam, who’ve strung a series of wins together as their title defence belatedly got into gear over the past couple of weeks. A crucial win over relegation rivals Excelsior on Monday meant stand-in VRA skipper Johan Smal will have at least two points to present the returning internationals when they get back from Scotland, but he’d likely like a couple more to cheer up his clubmates when they get back from what’s shaping up to be a less-than-triumphant tour. While Smal has done his best to marshal the diminished and diminishing resources available to him, one suspects he may be regarding the team-sheet handed in by opposite number Sikander Zulfiqar with a degree of envy on Sunday.

RL: This match-up of fifth and sixth on the current table is crucial for both sides, and that makes it pretty clearly the Match of the Day. From one angle it looks like an ordinary mid-table clash, but so crowded is that central space and so narrow the margins between safety and a battle to stay up that these points take on much greater significance than that. For Punjab, too, there is the knowledge that a really successful sprint to the finishing-line, combined with the right results elsewhere, could yet see them in the mix for the title. Three of their batters are among the dozen who have posted centuries this season, Musa Ahmad the latest to join that company, and the return of Saqib Zulfiqar reinforces the strength of a spin department which has taken over from the seamers as the side’s principal weapon in the field. For the home side, the addition of Sharad Hake and Viraj Thakur to the seam unit and Ashir Abid’s stepping up with the new ball proved vital in the victory over Excelsior, and if the batting remains an uncertain force in the absence of the internationals there’s enough quality there to set or chase a decent total. Another tough one to pick, this.

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