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Rod Lyall 02/05/22

Three sides – Punjab and HBS in Group A and Voorburg in Group B – maintained their unbeaten records on Sunday, and have now taken a significant stride towards the Championship group, while after suffering a third consecutive defeat Dosti, ACC and Kampong seem likely to be facing a battle against relegation.

Of the three leaders HBS Craeyenhout had the greatest difficulty in making sure of the points against Sparta 1888 in a game of fluctuating fortunes at Sportpark Bermweg.

After winning the toss and electing to bat the Crows found themselves 1 for two after seven legal deliveries, Julian de Mey having been bowled by Ahsan Malik off the second ball and the previous day’s centurion, Tobias Visée, removed by Mudassar Bukhari off the first ball of the second over.

Tayo Walbrugh (56) and Gavin Kaplan (40) fought back with a third-wicket stand of 103, but when both were dismissed by Joost Martijn Snoep a collapse followed, as HBS went from 104 for two to 108 for seven.

With Ryan Klein (21 not out) managing the tail the visitors reached 139, Khalid Ahmadi again cleaning up to finish with four for 17, and Klein then grabbed three quick wickets, reducing Sparta to 31 for three.

That soon became 42 for five, and although Manminder Singh, Nasratullah Ibrahimkhil and Ahmadi were able to achieve a partial recovery, Klein returned to end the innings on 103 and finish with figures of five for 27, Ahmadi left not out on 23.

Group A rivals Punjab Rotterdam had fewer problems in accounting for ACC at Het Zomercomplex, bowling their opponents out for 87, of which skipper Anis Raza made a dogged 32 before he was eighth out.

The total at that point was only 57, but Rob Ackermann and Mees van Vliet added another 30 for the final two wickets; Safiullah Salarazai was the pick of the Punjab bowlers with four for 17.

Defending another disappointing total, ACC fought back hard, Van Vliet picking up three for 15 as Punjab crumpled to a precarious 24 for five, but Saqib Zulfiqar and Teja Nidamanuru ensured that there was no further damage, knocking off the remaining runs and ending on 23 not out and 43 not out respectively.

HCC consolidated their claim on the third Championship spot from Group A with a seven-wicket victory over Kampong Utrecht at Maarschalkerweerd.

Put in to bat, Kampong struggled to create momentum against an effective HCC attack in which the seam of Hidde Overdijk (four for 21) combined well with the left-arm spin of Tim Pringle, who took two for 17 in his ten overs.

Usman Malik batted for 85 deliveries for his 26, and it was only the late interventions of Sherry Butt and debutant Tushar Sharma which enabled the home side to reach 158.

HCC found scoring almost as difficult at first, but once Overdijk joined Zac Worden with the total on 70 for three the complexion of the innings changed; Worden reached his third half-century in as many innings, finishing with an unbeaten 65, made from 91 balls with five fours and a six, while Overdijk was the more aggressive of the pair, his 40 not out coming from 53 deliveries and including four fours and a six.

If the bowlers were generally in command in Group A, batters flourished to a greater degree in Group B.

In the Amsterdamse Bos VRA Amsterdam posted the highest total of the day with 253 for seven against Dosti Amsterdam, pinch hitter Eduard Visser kicking off with a 25-ball 40 and opening partner Vikram Singh contributing 49 before skipper Peter Borren took over in the middle overs with a 65-ball 58.

With Luke Scully, Jack Balbirnie and Aryan Dutt all chipping in VRA succeeded in setting Dosti a fairly formidable total, and it soon proved well beyond them: with Visser, debutant Anish Shah and Dutt picking up two wickets apiece and Leon Turmaine cleaning up the tail to finish with three for 11, they were bowled out for 70, giving VRA victory by 183 runs.

A solid effort by Voorburg’s top order saw them to 233 for five against VOC Rotterdam at Westvliet: Musa Nadeem Ahmad (52) made his first half-century for his new club, skipper Bas de Leede scored 62 and Delano Potgieter 49.

VOC made a decent start in reply, Max O’Dowd posting 59 before falling to young Shariz Ahmad, but apart from Arnav Jain (31) and Pieter Seelaar (39 not out) the rest of the batting again failed, and with Bobby Hanif, who had bowled just one delivery in Voorburg’s innings before retiring with a knee injury, unable to bat, the Rotterdammers were all out for 190.

Promoted side Salland were unable to repeat their heroics of the previous day and lost to Excelsior ‘20 by seven wickets at Thurlede: Elam Bharathi top-scored with 38 out of their total of 123, Joost Kroesen taking three for 26 for Excelsior.

Younger brother Luuk then made 38 when the Schiedammers replied, and with Lorenzo Ingram unbeaten on 31 they reached their target with more than 26 overs to spare.

Rod Lyall 02/05/22

An exhilarating century by Tobias Visée and a first Topklasse victory for promoted side Salland were the highlights of Saturday’s matches in a busy double weekend.

Salland threw Group B wide open at the Hazelaarweg, half-centuries by German international Venkat Ganesan and Sahir Naqash enabling them to reach 203 for nine against VOC Rotterdam, Bobby Hanif taking four for 42 for the home side.

Then Ganesan removed both VOC’s openers, Dutch internationals Max O’Dowd and Scott Edwards, and although the 18-year-old Belgian-born Burhan Niaz put up a spirited fight with 46 on his Topklasse debut the Rotterdammers were dismissed for 174, Ganesan finishing with three for 31 and Elam Bharathi with three for 25.

The match was also notable for the return of 69-year-old former international captain Steven Lubbers, veteran of 362 top-flight matches, whose last appearance had been for VRA in August 2003.

Elsewhere in Group B, Excelsior ’20 Schiedam made short work of VRA Amsterdam, Brett Hampton making a successful return to his old club with four for 10 in six overs as the home side were shot out for just 57 in the Amsterdamse Bos.

Lorenzo Ingram also contributed with the ball with figures of 4 – 2 – 3 – 3, and VRA, having reached 34 without loss, saw all ten wickets fall for the addition of just 23 runs.

Tim Etman’s unbeaten 40 then helped Excelsior reach their target in a mere 11.1 overs, giving their net run rate a significant boost in what now seems likely to be a tough battle for second and third place in the group.

Voorburg, meanwhile, reinforced their early position as favourites to top the group table with a six-wicket victory over Dosti Amsterdam at Westvliet.

Viv Kingma, Delano Potgieter, Philippe Boissevain and Shariz Ahmad each claimed two wickets as Dosti were dismissed for 83, Waqas Raja, batting at eight, top-scoring with 22 after his side had been reduced to 37 for six.

The Voorburg reply was again not entirely convincing, but Nehaan Gigani made 25 and then Potgieter saw them home in 22.2 overs.

In Group A, HBS Craeyenhout opener Visée, standing in as captain after Ferdi Vink tested positive for Covid, produced a magnificent response to Kampong Utrecht’s 232 for nine, racing to his fifty off just 22 deliveries and completing his century from 45, hitting 18 fours and three sixes, including five off one Alex Roy over.

After the early loss of Tayo Walbrugh, Gavin Kaplan (47) supported Visée in a second-wicket stand of 119, but Kampong refused to give up the fight, and with Roy returning to claim five for70, including the wickets of both Visée and Kaplan, it was left to Kyle Klein and Benno Boddendijk to squeeze out a two-wicket victory.

Earlier, Kampong had been given a fine start by Cole Briggs (54) and Ratha Alphonse, who put on 103 for the second wicket, Alphonse going on to make 91.

But a middle-order collapse followed, and it took battling contributions from Roy and from Robert van der Harten to get the Kampong total well past 200; Stephan Vink was the most successful of the HBS bowlers with three for 35.

Zac Worden’s 67 gave HCC a great start against Punjab Rotterdam at Het Zomercomplex, but then Sharafat Khogyani worked his way through the middle and lower order, taking six for 29 as HCC declined from 136 for two to 198 all out.

Steph Myburgh again began in top gear, his 58 coming from just 31 deliveries with six fours and three sixes, but once he had gone the innings faltered somewhat, despite a solid 50 from Rehmat Zulfiqar.

But then Teja Nidamanuru was joined by Saqib Zulfiqar, and with the former making an unbeaten 43 they saw their side to a six-wicket win to stay top of the group.

On a miserable day for the three Amsterdam clubs, ACC were all out for 101 against Sparta 1888 at Het Loopveld, Khalid Ahmadi doing much of the damage with four for 17 after Ahsan Malik had removed both openers, including Anis Raza for a golden duck; newcomer Fergus Wegener top-scored with 24.

ACC fought back hard in the field, however, and although Ali Raza contributed a hard-hitting 38-ball 40, Mees van Vliet struck back with three wickets and with Sparta, on the brink of victory, slumping from 99 for five to 100 for eight, the Capelle side just managed to creep across the line for a hugely important two-wicket victory.