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Rod Lyall 13/07/20

Time was that it was not uncommon in Dutch cricket for all four innings of a two-innings match to be completed in a single day, no side making much over 50 and all 40 wickets falling in the space of eighty or so overs.

Then a number of things happened: pitches and batting techniques improved, and eventually two-innings cricket was replaced by the one-day game. Even more significant, from the late 1970s onward clubs were permitted an overseas player, euphemistically known as the ‘coach’ but more frequently a hired gun who did little or no coaching but did the job they were employed for, winning matches with bat and/or ball.

Suddenly this season, the impact of coronavirus has driven overseas players largely – though not, as we shall see, entirely – from the scene, and we can more clearly see what the past forty years have achieved in the progress of Dutch domestic cricket.

And even when you take the lack of practice into account, you have to say it’s not an unrelievedly pretty sight.

Two matches on Sunday bore a distressing resemblance to the two halves of one of those long-ago games in what used to be called the Eerste Klas: across the two, 33 wickets fell in 81.5 overs, a total of 224 runs were scored, and the best individual effort was 22, only eight of the 38 batsmen reaching double figures.

At the Bermweg in Capelle a/d IJssel Sparta 1888 skittled ten-man VOC Rotterdam for just 46, and then knocked off the runs for the loss of three wickets in 7.2 overs.

It was a dispiriting performance by VOC, their two most experienced batsmen in skipper Pieter Seelaar and Jelte Schoonheim contributing one run between them, and once Sparta had gained the initial breakthrough they never took their foot off the pedal, Joost Martijn Snoep claiming three for 7, Nasratullah Ibrahimkil three for 5 and Manminder Singh two for 1.

Ramdas Upadhyaya and Arnav Jain showed the only real resistance, doubling the score in a dogged fifth-wicket partnership of 24, but for the most part the hallmark of the innings was tame surrender.

Sparta rubbed it in by dismissing the VOC bowling with near-contempt, although youngster Tiso Moorman picked up two wickets and Schoonheim one.

Dosti United collapsed for the second week in succession, this time against HCC at De Diepput, but this time they did so chasing, and chasing a modest target after their new South African, Touseef Ahmed, one of the handful of overseas players in the competition this year, had claimed six for 26 and confined the home side to a meagre 80.

But Dosti were soon reduced to 8 for four in reply, and only a belligerent 22 from Wahid Masood and an unbeaten 11 from Ahmed, batting at No. 10, enabled them get up to 50.

HCC needed only three bowlers, Hidde Overdijk taking three for 24 and Olivier Klaus four for 15 in an innings which lasted just 21 overs.

Elsewhere, the cricket bore a closer resemblance to what we have become used to.

VRA Amsterdam posted the highest total of the day, making 276 for eight against HBS Craeyenhout in the Amsterdamse Bos.

Highlight of the innings was opener Vikram Singh’s knock of 99, run out in the final over going for a second run which would have given him his second Topklasse century.

Singh was given good support, first by Ben Cooper with an aggressive 35-ball 48, then by Leon Turmaine, who made 36, and finally by Debrub Dasgupta, whose 39 hammered home VRA’s advantage.

HBS never seemed likely to mount a threatening challenge, especially after Quirijn Gunning had removed skipper Tobias Visée for 11, and although Navjit Singh and Adil Ahmed showed some resistance in the middle order they were eventually dismissed for 193 in the last of their 50 overs, still 83 runs short of VRA’s total.

Turmaine was the most successful of the home side’s bowlers with four for 40.

The most absorbing of the matches was at Westvliet, where ACC, recovering from 55 for five to set Voorburg a reasonable target of 197, gave the home side a scare in the middle overs before going down to a four-wicket defeat.

That they were able to put Voorburg under any pressure at all was due to a patient sixth-wicket stand of 84 between Ram Ramesh Babu (56) and 17-year-old Shreyas Potdar, who went on to post his maiden Topklasse half-century and ended unbeaten on 62.

Pick of the Voorburg attack was Stef Mulder with career-best figures of five for 33.

The Villagers appeared to be cruising to victory when Rigchardt Pieterse (31) and Bas de Leede (56) put on 95 for the first wicket in just 16 overs, but then they lost five wickets for 12 runs in eight overs, Anis Raza and Sahil Kothari claiming two apiece, and it seemed as if ACC might again haul themselves back into the game.

Philippe Boissevain had other ideas, however, and in company first with Floris de Lange and then with Viv Kingma he steered his side to victory, making a 57-ball 65 not out and getting Voorburg home with more than six overs to spare.

Excelsior ’20 Schiedam won the title last year by defending low totals, but even 186 proved insufficient t the Zomercomplex as Punjab Rotterdam took just 34.4 overs to cruise to a five-wicket win.

Lorenzo Ingram was, as so often in the past, the mainstay of the Excelsior innings, making exactly 50, but once he had gone the Schiedammers, fielding two teenage debutants, were unable to build on that foundation.

Mubashar Hussain claimed three early wickets at a cost of 25, and then Suleiman Tariq again returned to finish off the tail and end with three for 28.

Stef Myburgh got the Punjab reply off to it accustomed hectic start, belting 34 off 24 deliveries, but Rehmat Zulfiqar held things together even when Niels Etman chipped in with three wickets, removing brothers Asad and Saqib, and eventually Rehmat himself for a well-made 53.

But by that time Punjab’s Indian-born New Zealander Anil Nidamanuru had settled in, and his 41-ball 56 not out, including two fours and five sixes, ensured that his side, like VRA, HCC, Voorburg, and now Sparta, retained their 100% record.

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 10/07/20

Unsurprisingly, there were plenty of signs of rust when the Topklasse got under way last Sunday – the inclement weather may have contributed to that as much as the long, largely practice-free lay-off – but there were also some encouraging signs that, despite the absence of clear goals and menaces in this foreshortened season we may be in for some good, entertaining cricket.

RL: VRA Amsterdam, finding themselves with an unscheduled home start to their campaign and having celebrated with a comprehensive demolition of Dosti, will entertain HBS Craeyenhout in the Bos this week. The Crows found promoted side Punjab Rotterdam at full throttle last Sunday, and despite some solid resistance from new recruit Tim Drummond and some determined bowling from seamers Ferdi Vink and Najvit Singh they were unable to recover from a disastrous early batting collapse. VRA’s attack, even without Quirijn Gunning, was too much for Dosti, and they will be keen to demonstrate that that effort wasn’t a flash in the pan. HBS’s best hope might be to put the home side’s untested batting under early pressure, but that would need Tobias Visée to start by calling correctly.

BdJ: The Amsterdammers may have been forced by circumstance to blood a bevy of youth players earlier than planned, but Peter Borren’s confidence in his young charges seems to be well founded. While the batting indeed remains somewhat untested this season, the presence of Borren himself as well as Dutch internationals Vikram Singh and Ben Cooper, who were not required to bat last week, means it’s unlikely that the batting will be VRA’s chief concern, especially with HBS missing their top three wicket-takers from last season in Farshad Khan, Zac Gibson and Berend Westdijk. Visée and Drummond may be looking forward to getting stuck into a gifted but rusty or raw VRA attack, but it will likely require a serious score from one or the other to put VRA under real pressure.

RL: Having dominated HBS almost from start to finish, Punjab will take on last year’s champions Excelsior ‘20 at the Zomercomplex. Excelsior, of course, missed their match last week because their Thurlede pitch was unplayable, and have therefore not had a chance to settle before facing a buoyant Punjab side which has been reinforced by a full quartet of Zulfiqars. The Schiedammers do have Lorenzo Ingram, but they are without opener Tim Etman, who moved to Australia at the end of last season, and with just the one overseas player in the side will have a different balance from that which has seen them claim three titles in four years.

BdJ: If VRA are fortunate to be able to fall back on their youth in this unusual season, Punjab’s acquisition of the full set of Zulfiqars gives them still greater depth, and could not have been more timely. Though missing their intended overseas players this season, Steph Myburgh demonstrated that he remains a menace at the top of the order, and backed up by a quartet of Zulfiqars the Punjab batting looks a sound as any in the league this year. Despite skipper Tariq hitting the ground running with ball in hand, however, the bowling attack is as yet unproven and Excelsior are unlikely to prove as cooperative as HBS were last week, at least in terms of run-outs. Probably the toughest game to call this week, but with Ingram in the side it’s never safe to bet against the title-holders.

RL: The other unknown quantity is Sparta 1888, whose journey to Thurlede last Sunday was in vain. So their first outing, at the Bermweg, will be against VOC Rotterdam, who showed their lack of practice against Voorburg in their opening game. The main exception was Ayaz Durrani, who responded admirably to the increased responsibility of opening the innings, but VOC will need the top and middle order to weigh in more effectively if there are to set their opponents reasonable challenging targets. Sparta do, of course, have a proven match-winner in former international allrounder and new skipper Mudassar Bukhari, and will looking to their new acquisition Lenert van Wyk to anchor a batting line-up which was pretty brittle last year.

BdJ: With Sparta yet to bowl a ball in anger this season it’s hard to know what to expect when they take the field on Sunday, but on paper they look in decent enough shape. Among returning players, Bukhari was without question the MVP of the 2019 Topklasse, and if he can replicate that form this summer then Sparta will be serious title contenders (or would be if there was a title). VOC, conversely, are a long way off fielding a first choice eleven and the eleven they did field last week still underperformed. It will take a remarkable turnaround from Pieter Seelaar’s side if they are to put points on the board this Sunday.

RL: Voorburg looked impressive in their win over VOC, and in Viv Kingma, Ahmed Ali Qasim, Bas de Leede and Stef Mulder they arguably have the sharpest seam attack in the competition, even after the departure of Brandon Glover. They are at home to ACC this Sunday, and despite the initial success of their new opening pairing of Cameron Burnett and Charles McInerney the Amsterdammers seem likely to find it tough to recover from the loss of three Zulfiqar brothers and Shirase Rasool. There may be more questions about Voorburg’s batting than their bowling, and they needed a captain’s innings from Tom de Grooth to see off VOC. But Righardt Pieterse demonstrated that he can be a useful opening partner for his skipper, and with De Leede also in the top order and a clutch of other promising youngsters this could be a valuable team-building season for the Villagers.

BdJ: With the absence of the Smit brothers and Clayton Floyd’s departure, VCC certainly do have a rather longer tail this season than they’d like, but it’s questionable whether that will prove a problem against ACC’s attack. The arrival of Burnett and McInerney, at least on first showing, promises to alleviate the batting concerns somewhat, but ACC will need someone to step up on Sunday to do the same with the ball if they hope to take two points back from Westvliet.

RL: There may be no title at stake this year, but HCC did enough in beating ACC last Sunday that if there were they would be serious contenders. Admittedly, their attack had to labour for nearly 25 overs before claiming their first wicket, but once they had the breakthrough they never looked back. They are a well-balanced bowling outfit, all the more effective for the arrival of Damien Crowley, and his unbeaten 74 showed that he, like opener Musa Ahmad, is a great acquisition. It will take a huge effort for Dosti Amsterdam to recover from last week’s debacle on their visit to De Diepput, although skipper Vinoo Tewarie has some talented local players at his disposal and will give a better account of themselves second time around.

BdJ: Though Burnett and McInerney’s opening stand on Sunday does raise some questions about the effectiveness of HCC’s seam attack without Qasim and Street, nothing about Dosti’s display at the Bos lost week suggested a team equipped to take advantage. The absence of Taruwar Kohli , Mohammad Hafeez and Anees Davids was keenly felt, and now also lacking Rahil Ahmed, Dosti’s batting looks threadbare indeed. Mashesh Hans and skipper Vinoo Tewarie will need to provide contributions commensurate with their senior roles in the side if they are to compete against an HCC side that looks scarcely weaker than the one that challenged for the title last year.

Rod Lyall’s tips: VRA, Punjab, Sparta, Voorburg, HCC.

Bertus de Jong’s tips: VRA, EXcelsior, Sparta, Voorburg, HCC.