Tag: Kampong

2026 Preview | Kampong & VRA

Bertus de Jong | 17-04-2026

Newly-promoted Kampong Utrecht made history last season by becoming the first clubs since Prinses Wilhelmina Enchede in 1939 to win the top division immediately upon their return, clinching the Topklasse title with two games to spare. The defending champions don’t look to be changing a winning formula, and the 2026 squad looks broadly similar to last season.

Kampong’s success in recent years has been in part based on shrewd past acquisitions, tempting Dutch international duo Max O’Dowd and Scott Edwards over from VOC and the veteran Lorenzo Ingram from Excelsior, and the trio are expected to play a substantial role in Kampong’s title defence again. Edwards in particular was imperious when available last year, and though O’Dowd had a comparatively quiet season, Kampong will hope a comparatively light international schedule will mean the pair will be around a bit more.

Pierre Jacod

The absence of last season’s top-scorer Lane Berry, who remains in Australia means the title-holders will be likely need a few more runs from their Dutch international pair, While the returning Lachlan Bangs along with Damien van den Berg ensure Kampong will not be short of hitting power, the Kampong top order may be left looking like something of a glass cannon if and when O’Dowd and Edwards are called away on national duty. That said, Pierre Jacod comes into the season in fine form, having followed up an excellent 2025 Topklasse season with an impressive winter in Australia, and combined with the evergreen Ingram provides not only an enviable left-right spin combination but also a degree of depth to the batting card.

The bowling attack likewise looks much the same as last season, though Kirtan Nana is understood to be taking a summer off, with young Gert Swanepoel expected to get a few more chances in the senior side, joining skipper and spearhead Alex Roy in an otherwise comparatively callow pace attack. The spin trio of Ingram, Jacod and Akhil Gopinath will likely bowl the bulk of the overs again this season, while Dutch prospect Zach Lion-Cachet is also on the Kampong list, the young offie will likely be available only when in the country with the national squad.

Roy is somewhat phlegmatic about the prospect of Kampong defending their title,
“winning was great but of course this year we’ll have a bit of a target on our backs important thing is consistency, it would be great to go back to back but really we just want to show we can keep competing at the top level. We’ll be aiming first to keep pace in the top four, but of course if we can push on for the title again then great.”

While the competition may be somewhat fiercer this season as talent concentrates into the newly streamlined top division, the defending champions established a working blueprint for success in their first season back last year, and taking the title off them will doubtless take some doing.

T20 champions and runners up in the fifty-over competition last year, VRA Amsterdam will be looking to add to their silverware collection again this time around, albeit with a somewhat reshuffled squad. The local core of the side remains largely unchanged under captain-manager Teja Nidamanuru, but the overseas section looks markedly different for the coming season.

Among the more significant personnel changes is the departure of pace pair Ben Fletcher and Peter Ruffel, who accounted for some fifty wickets between them last season, with Jersey international Patrick Gouge another notable absence from the 2026 roster. New arrivals include Kiwi bats Sam Cassidy (cousin of current keeper Jack) and Lovepreet Padda, along with seam all-rounder Devin Wilke and legspinner Ivan Zmak.

While most if not all of the newcomers will be in contention for first team spots, VRA’s fortunes will likely hinge on their trio of sometime Dutch internationals, Vikram Singh, Shariz Ahmad and skipper Nidamanuru, who collectively had a somewhat modest season last year. Singh and Nidamanuru’s limited returns with the bat left VRA rather dependent on vice captain Johan Smal, who’ ha’s looked in fine form in pre-season after an excellent 2025, and may himself may push for Dutch selection when he becomes eligible in a few weeks’ time, potentially leaving VRA vulnerable to something of an exodus when the selectors come calling.

Johan Smal

The top order looks solid on paper though, and the Amsterdammers are confident in their local bowling depth. While Shariz Ahmad has not hit the heights of past seasons, the return of left armer Udit Nashier, backed up by the veteran Leon Turmaine (VRA’s stand-out slow bowler last season) together with Nidamanuru’s own improving offspin ensures they won’t be short of spin options. The loss of Fletcher and Ruffel means responsibility for leading the seam attack will fall to left arm quick Ashir Abid, backed up by Singh’s medium pace and potentially opening up more space for youth and second-team prospects to push for more regular opportunities in the top flight.

Nidamanuru struck an upbeat tone ahead of the season on that front, telling TKcricket “We’ve some local talent coming through for sure. We’re very happy with the new guys coming in from overseas of course, but partially we’ll be looking to a couple of them to bring some stability in the seconds rather than coming straight into the first team … we’re relying on our local bowling especially this season, and I do think we’ve got the depth to go one better this year.”

The fact that VRA finished runners-up last time round despite several senior players having sub-par personal seasons does suggest there’s potential for the squad to break the silver-medal ceiling that they’ve bumped against on occassion since their last fifty-over title in 2011, if they can get a few more cylinders firing on full.

2025 Preview 1: Kampong and Excelsior

Rod Lyall 09/04/2025

Back in the Topklasse after a two-year absence, Kampong Utrecht will be keen to ensure that their stay in the top flight lasts longer this time than their single, Covid-related season in 2022.

Since then, of course, they have acquired the services of internationals Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd, and if their commitments with the national side are likely to mean that their appearances for Kampong are limited, they will provide plenty of star quality when they do turn out for their club.

The Utrecht side will also have the benefit of the allround skills of Lorenzo Ingram, who has ended his 11-year, 171-match relationship with Excelsior ’20 Schiedam, in which he contributed 5912 Topklasse runs at 44.79 and claimed 221 wickets at 18.21.

Few overseas players have given such long service so profitably, and he is likely to make a significant contribution to Kampong’s drive to stay up; with two automatic relegation spots this year thanks to the KNCB’s reorganisation of the competitions and the side finishing eighth facing a play-off against the Hoofdklasse champions, the safety of a mid-table position will be every club’s first ambition.

The Maarschalkerweerd club will also welcome Western Australian Lane Berry, who had a very successful season with VOC Rotterdam in 2023, when Edwards and O’Dowd were his team-mates, and Kampong will be hoping he can replicate the form which earned him 674 runs at 51.85 for the Bloodhounds.

Also coming from Australia is 25-year-old allrounder Lachlan Bangs, whose left-arm pace will add some fizz to an attack which includes captain Alex Roy, last year’s leading wicket-taker Shashank Kumar, Kirtan Nana, Saurabh Zalpuri and youngster Gert Swanepoel.

Another important contribution to their batting, alongside those of Berry and Ingram, will likely come from South African-born opener Damien van den Berg, whose 566 runs at 35.38 last season made a significant contribution to their Hoofdklasse title and earned him call-ups for the Pro Series and the Dutch A side.

He and O’Dowd could form a strong opening partnership, with wicketkeeper Ratha Alphonse, who returned from HCC last season and also played a significant part in the side’s promotion, a potential stand-in when O’Dowd is on international duty.

With Pierre Jacod and the improving Tushar Sharma providing spin options the core squad looks more than strong enough to challenge for that mid-table spot, and in a season in which reserve capacity is likely to be a crucial factor Kampong have enough talent and experience to go into the campaign with a fair degree of confidence.

With the loss of not only Ingram but also of Victor Lubbers, who returns to Salland after one season at Thurlede, Excelsior ’20 have made two of the most attractive signings of the winter in the person of former South African Test opener Raynard van Tonder and the 25-year-old Belgo-Zimbabwean Antum Naqvi.

Van Tonder, now 26, has had a great first-class season with North West, hitting a century and three fifties in eight innings, and he should bring greater solidity to an Excelsior line-up which showed a disturbing tendency to crumble last year.

The only issue facing the Schiedam club is whether his availability will be affected by his possible selection for South Africa A.

Few players have a more intriguing CV than Naqvi, who was born in Brussels but who grew up in Australia before moving to Zimbabwe, where he made his first-class debut for the Mid West Rhinos in January 2023, scoring centuries in his first two first-class innings.

A right-handed bat and off-break bowler, his allround skills should be invaluable, and Excelsior will be hoping that he proves an outstanding replacement for the departed Ingram.  

The attack will again be spearheaded by Australian James Ralston, whose 38 wickets at 14.84 last season was a crucial factor in the side’s avoidance of relegation; not only did his ability to rip the top off opposing batting line-ups give Excelsior a vital edge, but his new-ball partnership with the rapidly-improving Jens Blankestein made a real contribution to the Schiedam club’s future.

Excelsior, too, have joined the movement towards a larger cohort of overseas players, a fourth member of their squad being the South Australian Sam Rahaley.

Part of the Kensington side which has just won the state’s first-grade competition, Rahaley will slot into the middle order at Thurlede, while his off-breaks will provide another option once Ralston, Blankestein and left-armer Niels Etman have exploited the new ball.

The locally-produced contingent is not greatly different from that which brought the trophy to Thurlede three times in four seasons between 2016 and 2019, but it’s fair to say that that youthful cohort has not lived up to the promise its showed back then, and they have greatly missed the leadership of Tom Heggelman in the middle.

The news, therefore, that he will be more involved in coaching this year will be welcomed on Excelsior’s side of Schiedam.

With a plentiful supply of Kroesens – batter and leg-spinners Joost and Luuk, and pace man Gijs – and Van Troosts – pace bowler and useful lower middle-order batter Rens, and emerging batter Stan – there will be some strong competition for a spot in the first-choice eleven.

Skipper Roel Verhagen and his fellow-opener Tim Etman had modest seasons last year, but with less pressure on them given the rejigged top order they will be looking to reassert themselves this time round, and with likely few disruptions from international call-ups Excelsior should have a decent crack at one of those coveted mid-table positions.