Tag: netherlands

Preview Round 18

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 31/07/2025

And so, unseasonably early, we reach the final round of this year’s 50-over Topklasse competition. As it turns out, all the tension on Sunday will be in the lower reaches of the table, even the positions of the notional top four having already been all but settled. So, too, are the relegation spots, although there are still a few possible, if unlikely, scenarios which could see things change at the very last moment.

RL: Let’s start with the meeting of HBS and Excelsior ‘20 at Craeyenhout. For the ninth-placed Schiedammers victory here is the absolutely minimal requirement if they are to have even the faintest chance of avoiding the drop. And that would still require results elsewhere to go their way. With the only positive net run rate in the bottom half of the table, the Crows are in a much happier place, and they can regard themselves as effectively guaranteed a spot in next season’s slimmed-down Topklasse. They will be without teenage opener Elmar Boendermaker on Sunday, since he is in Scotland with the national Under-19s, but they should still have plenty of resources to take the points and seal Excelsior’s fate. Having consistently performed below their potential all season, the visitors will no doubt be keen to end their campaign with a flourish, but with the season’s leader run-scorer Tayo Walbrugh leading the way, the Crows will start as odds-on favourites to finish with a win, and possibly even to sneak into the top half of the table.

BdJ: Given the state of play in the net run rate stakes, HBS can safely dispense with the spreadsheets at this point and start looking ahead at the short-format stage of the season. Despite having all-but secured their survival, it’s been a 50-over season most of the Crows will be keen to put behind them. The soon-to-be Dutch-eligible Walbrugh is of course a notable exception, while fellow overseas Botha and Rossouw have also had solid season with bat and ball respectively – the latter now leading the wicket-taking table. One would think Excelsior will be the more motivated of the two sides on Sunday, but that’s assuming that dread has not yet given way to despair at Thurlede. There’s still a pretty clear escape route open to the Schiedammers of course, with VRA heavy favourites against a weakened VRA, but they’ll need to string together back-to-back wins first against HBS and then the Hoofdklasse champions if they’re to pull a Houdini from here, and two consecutive wins is one more than they’ve managed this season.

RL: VOC Rotterdam could make Excelsior’s result irrelevant by beating VRA Amsterdam in the Bos, but they will have to do so without their two young pace bowlers, Aaditt Jain and Roman Harhangi, both of whom will be on U-19 duty in Scotland. Since they are the side’s leading wicket-takers with 21 apiece, they leave a not-inconsiderable hole, and a lot will fall onto the shoulders of Aaditt’s off-spinning brother Arnav and the veteran Jelte Schoonheim. It’s VOC’s batting, though, which has kept them in danger of delegation, and they will need a significant contribution from their overseas contingent if they are to overcome a VRA outfit which, while it has blown hot and cold all season, has plenty of oomph with both bat and ball. With T20 about to move centre-stage, this will be a last opportunity for internationals Vikram Singh and Teja Nidamanuru to play a substantial 50-over innings, and they are likely to want to make the most of it. For the Bloodhounds, even a victory is unlikely to get them out of eighth place and a play-off, and they would need a huge win coupled with a devastating loss for Hermes to see them escape that fate.

BdJ: While other rivalries may be more bitterly contested, few will be more keenly missed than the “dogfight” at the Bos between VRA and VOC should the latter find themselves in the Hoofdklasse next season. For VOC to avoid that ignominy, the equation is fairly simple – beat VRA (or hope HBS beat Excelsior) and then see off the Hoofdklasse champions. Actually accomplishing either will be far from simple, however, especially missing their two lead wicket-takers heading into what will otherwise be their last Topklasse match for a while. There’s resources to be drawn on in the twos in theory; both Ramdas Upadhyaya and Pierce Fletcher have pleny of Topklasse experience if they’re called on to cover, but containing a full-strength VRA card remains a tall order, even if their two Dutch international bats have been struggling for form. Patrick Gouge will doubtless be keen to sign off on a high before heading back to Jersey, where he still has a point of his own to prove to selectors. VRA may have half an eye on the T20 comp already, but they’re unlikely to be caught napping on home turf on Sunday. If VOC want a shot at survival, they’ll likely have to fight for it.

RL: Since Hermes-DVS will be away to wooden-spooners Sparta 1888 at the Bermweg, a reversal of the necessary scale seems profoundly unlikely. The Capelle side have only managed three wins all season, and while Hermes have fallen away dramatically from their achievements early in the campaign and certainly can’t take a win here for granted, the sort of turnaround which would be required for VOC to overtake their NRR would be among the most astounding results in the 130-plus-year history of the competition. It’s true that neither star batters Daniel Doyle-Calle and Ash Ostling nor spinners Hikmatullah Jabarkhail and Sahil Kothari have lately been in the sort of form which took the Light Blues to the top of the table back in May, but with Aryan Dutt and Olivier Elenbaas back in the side from international duty and injury respectively, Hermes are – or at least, ought to be – much less dependent on that quartet. Sparta’s dependence on Kyle Klesse with the bat, Ahsan Malik with the ball and Juandre Scheepers with both remains, and it would be a notable achievement for them to send Hermes home empty-handed.

BdJ: When the net run rate spread passes 400 runs it’s probably time to ditch the spreadsheets, though of course for the Hoofdklasse-bound Spartans such arithmetic has been moot for some time. They remain a threat however, especially on home mat, and with nothing to lose one might well imagine them putting on a show as they did against HBS. Umar Baker’s defiant knock last round demonstrated that Sparta at least have hitting depth, though it’s hard to imagine the Mermes attack being carted about in quite the same way for long. The Sky Blue batting line-up has looked vulnerable on the occasions that the Spanish skipper fails to deliver, but for a Spartan attack that’s collectively averaging well north of 30 with the ball taking his wicket early is likely necessary but far from sufficient.

RL: Having faltered against VRA a fortnight ago, champions Kampong will have another chance to finish the 50-over competition in style when they take on Voorburg at Maarschalkerweerd. The Voorburgers’ cause will not be helped by the absence of Cedric de Lange, Tom de Leede and Alejo Nota, all of whom are involved in the U-19 qualifier, but with their senior internationals restored to them they certainly can’t be written off against Alex Roy’s side, although the latter have every reason to underline their historic success with a win at home. What has been notable for Kampong has been the role of their home-grown players, in particular Pierre Jacod, and the valuable stabilising contribution of Lorenzo Ingram. This final game is an opportunity for Voorburg’s reserves to strut their stuff alongside the internationals, but Kampong have a stable side and can be expected to have the edge.

BdJ: The demands made on Voorburg by the national set-up have inevitably led to a consistent inconsitency in selection this season, which seems to have affected them more profoundly than in the past. In this respect Kampong’s decision to hand the armband to the dependable Roy over more prominent names looks a shrewd one, and the Champions’ success this season has been rremarkably independent of the occassional (if substantial) contributions of internationals Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd. The acquisition of Berry, Bangs, and seasoned Topklasse performer Lorenzo Ingram was of course an indispensible ingredient too, but above all it’s worth noting that Kampong have a core of nine players that have all played at least 15 matches this season – more than any other team in the competition.

RL: Most adversely affected by U-19 call-ups are HCC, who will be without five of their squad, three of them regulars, when they entertain Punjab-Ghausia at De Diepput. They are fortunate in having Yash Patel able to resume the gloves, which he has surrendered to young Mark Wolfe for most of the season, but it will be harder to replace Shirsak Banerjee and Teun Kloppenburg from their top and middle order, especially with allrounder Hidde Overdijk out through injury and likely to remain so for some time. The Lions have in any case found it difficult to establish an optimal batting order, while their opponents have steamrollered every attack in their path in recent weeks. HCC’s bowlers might present more of a problem, but with Musa Ahmad, Shoaib Minhas and Saqib and Sikander Zulfiqar all in top form they will have to be at their best to keep Punjab from setting another substantial target or chasing down whatever their own batters are able to assemble.

BdJ: Punjab’s intimidating top order has clicked a little too late in the season to mount a title defence, but now that it’s firing on more than a few cylinders they’ll likely be looking ahead to the T20 silverware (and ticket to Cartama) on offer later in the summer. Indeed with little on the line for either side in their Topklasse closer, both may well treat it as an extended warm-up for the short-form competition that’s about to start. The fixture looks more like a long run-up for Punjab though, while HCC,ith the seconds assured of promtion to the expanded Hoofdklasse, it’s perhaps an opportunity to test out some of their bench strength.

RL’s picks: HBS, VRA, Hermes, Kampong, Punjab

BdJ’s picks: HBS, VRA, Hermes, Kampong, Punjab

Preview Round 12

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 20/06/25

Whereas last weekend’s matches pitted the top five against the sides in the lower half of the table, this round sees more immediate rivals confronting one another, with the bottom four going head to head in games which will be vital in the battle to avoid relegation, while the pursuing pack who have not yet given up hope of snatching the title have crucial opportunities to gain some ground. With another warm, dry weekend forecast, we can look forward to some great contests.

RL: If the biggest question just now is: Who can stop the march of Kampong to the title?, then one possible answer is Punjab-Ghausia at home. The champions saw off VRA last Sunday without ever quite getting into top gear, and with the marginal advantage of playing on their own patch they will also know that a win here would move them to within a point of the leaders. Kampong, however, will be back to full strength with the return of Max O’Dowd and Scott Edwards, and although Punjab will regain the services of Saqib Zulfiqar, the reinforcement of Kampong’s mercurial top order is probably a more significant factor. On paper, at least, the sides are pretty evenly balanced, the difference being that up to now Alex Roy’s outfit has played to – and sometimes seemingly beyond – their potential, while Punjab have struggled to reproduce last season’s consistency.

BdJ: If Kampong are to be caught they’ll likely have to lose at least two from here, and if Punjab are to do the catching one of them will almost certainly have to be this one. Both sides have a battery of big guns at the top, usually needing only one or two to fire, though consistency has indeed been the main difference between the two in terms of totals, along with Lorenzo Ingram’s ability to lead lower order recoveries. The return of O’Dowd and/or Edwards would be welcome, though after a long tour where both have missed games Kampong may not be counting on them being ready for action. The real edge Kampong have had over the defending champions this season has been a comparatively effective bowling unit, with fully five bowlers in the top 20 wicket-takers this season, where Musa Ahmad is Punjab’s only representative. The Zomercomplex’s short boundaries may level the playing field somewhat on that front though. Punjab have not lost at home since Round 2, and it wouldn’t be the first time this season they upset the frontrunners there.

RL: The match between Voorburg and HCC at Westvliet is a real Four Pointer, with the sides currently level and three points off the pace. It is, moreover, an encounter with history: not only have the clubs contested two Grand finals in the recent past, but they have also operated something of a revolving door in their player lists, with Patient Charumbira’s move to Westvliet just the latest example. Whether he gets a game here following the return of Voorburg’s international contingent may be moot, depending in part on the often doubtful fitness of Viv Kingma, who only bowled three balls in the Netherlands’ victory over Scotland on Wednesday. The reunion of the home side’s enviable top six with the addition of Michael Levitt and Noah Croes certainly gives them a edge, especially since their opponents’ batting has been a lot less consistent. But Tonny Staal’s first big score of the season against Sparta last week, along with the wicket-taking of Josh Brown, are signs that HCC may be about to coalesce into serious challengers for the title.

BdJ: While both sides are a lot more than a single loss away from being mathematically eliminated from title contention, defeat on Saturday will leave one of the sides needing results elsewhere to consistently go their way if they’re to stay in the hunt.
The return of at least some of Voorburg’s internationals, especially the in-form Levitt if he’s good to go, would mean VCC will be fielding an even stronger batting line-up than the one that posted 327-7 when these two teams met at de Diepput, but a bowling attack likely weaker than the one that failed to defend it. That said Boris Gorlee’s 122 in that match underpinned that chase, and the HCC skipper hasn’t been able to carry his otherwise exemplary form onto natural grass wickets so far this season. Ollie White is the only other HCC bat to have crossed fifty more than once this season, and if HCC are to mount a serious title challenge they’ll either need more consistent contributions from the rest of the top order or for Gorlee to find his form off the mat. A sunny Westvliet this weekend does of course seem a fine occassion for either or both, but the hosts will be hoping for neither.

RL: At the other end of the table, Excelsior ‘20 will welcome VOC to Thurlede knowing that for both teams there’s even more on the line. Currently locked together on seven points, one of them is very likely to fill one of the automatic relegation spots, while the other may at worst face a play-off to ensure survival. That is, of course, barring a dramatic change in form, and in Excelsior’s case luck: injuries have certainly not helped their cause, but none of their overseas players has been able to impose himself so far, and it’s notable that each of their three wins has come when one or other has made a significant contribution. The same applies even more forcefully to their opponents, and although we keep banging on about the fragility of VOC’s batting it is without question the main reason that they find themselves in the basement, a point painfully illustrated by Voorburg last week.

BdJ: Almost certainly the most consequential match of the round, and perhaps the whole back half of the season. With three of the biggest overseas names in the league on the books Excelsior may well be wondering how they ended up here, especially with several of their home-grown players having better seasons than usual. Stan van Troost and Joost Kroesen have both looked genuine assets this year, yet the Schiedammers continue to look less than the sum of their parts. VOC, conversely, are about where most might have expected them to be. The comparartively callow Jannet and Oberholzer have contributed some solid scores on occasion, but VOC’s youthful new overseas have not been able to cover for the loss of Edwards and O’Dowd in the way their predecessors managed, in a team that all too often looks an unfortunate blend of age and inexperience. The efforts of the young bowling attack has been probably the only silver lining to the season so far, and on the rare occassions the batting unit backs them up the Bloodhounds have looked capable of pushing opponents hard, but as a rule this season they’ve rarely had much to bowl at.

RL: While Sparta 1888 may not yet have entered the Last Chance Saloon, there’s little doubt that they’re on the verandah outside, and the shoot-out with HBS at Craeyenhout on Saturday is absolutely crucial for their slim chance of escaping the drop. Sparta’s batters did well to reach their highest total of the season against HCC last week, but it proved to be insufficient for the attack to defend, and they may have similar problems against a Crows line-up which includes Tayo Walbrugh and Wes Barresi – picking them up early could well be the key to the Spartans taking home some desperately needed points. The fact that Ahsan Malik has gone wicketless in his last three games is an ominous sign, although it’s balanced to some degree by his emergence as a useful number three when his side bats. Their hosts on Saturday are not yet out of the woods, knowing that should either Excelsior or VOC put in a late surge they could find themselves in the bottom three, and they’ll be relieved to welcome Kyle Klein back to their ranks.

BdJ: Indeed the Spartans may not have made their entry to said metphorical watering hole just yet, but the camera’s fixed firmly on the swinging doors and the mournful sound of an ocarina is piping in ominously from somewhere. Even earning a play-off againt the Hoofdklasse champions to perhaps survive another season looks an implausibly tall order for the Cappelle side now, and a loss to 7th-placed HBS on Saturday would put the safety of the seventh spot definitively out of reach. Realistically the game is more likely to be of consequence to HBS, who risk being overtaken by the winner of Excelsior-VOC and sliding into relegation contention themselves. The return of Barresi and Klein would take some of the pressure off of Walbrugh, but given that they’ll likely be missing one or both of them again in a couple of weekss time there will be a degree of pressure on both to perform if and when they’re available. If they can’t take two points off the incumbent wooden-spooners, the Crows will be on a glide-path to a late season relegation showdown with Excelsior, VOC or both – those two would-be relegation rivals coincedentally HBS’ final two fixtures of the season.

RL: Once again, VRA have negotiated a shift of their match to Sunday, this time entertaining Hermes-DVS in the Bos. The Sky-blues remain title contenders, while for VRA, who will be delighted to welcome back their international contingent, the four-point gap which has opened up between them and the top five means that their season is now really about consolidating their mid-table spot and avoiding slipping into relegation trouble. The return of Teja Nidamanuru, Vikram Singh and Ben Fletcher can only improve their chances, but both the aggression of the Hermes opening pair of Ash Ostling and Daniel Doyle and the depredations of an attack led by Olivier Elenbaas and featuring the spin of Hikmatullah Jabarkhail, back as leading wicket-taker thanks to his Michelle against HBS are problems which Nidaamanuru’s side will need to solve if they are to claim the points here. If the resumption of the Peter Ruffell-Ben Fletcher new-ball partnership enables the hosts to make early inroads into the Hermes batting then VRA will be in with a chance, but otherwise they could find themselves struggling.

BdJ: Just three points clear of the relegation zone and seven adrift of Kampong at the top the most VRA can do on Sunday is do themselves and the frontrunners a favour by taking two points off Hermes, thus making things less interesting at both ends of the table. The return of some or all of the remaining three absent VRA internationals would make that outcome more likely, even if the three all had fairly forgettable tours, at least in their primary disciplines. Nidamanuru may be more likely to give himself a bowl after a career best return against Scotland in the T20I series, but the Sky-Blue slow bowling section remains the stronger of the two. VRA perhaps have an edge in the seam department and in depth of batting, at least on paper. Hemes have looked vulnerable on the occassions that their opening pair fail to deliver, and VRA have the attack to trouble them. A tough one to call just now, but prediction will likely be a lot easier by about the first drinks break of the Hermes innings.

RL’s picks: Kampong, HCC, Excelsior, HBS, Hermes
BdJ’s picks Punjab, VCC, , Excelsior, HBS, Hermes

Preview Round 7

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 27/05/2025

Last Saturday’s wetwash has left things pretty much as they were, although some teams will doubtless be regretting a lost opportunity to steal a march on their nearest rivals. But it now appears that the rainy season has finally arrived in the Netherlands, and our Ascension Day previews are written in the full awareness that Thursday may turn into a Descension Day instead. Since there are enough imponderables already without taking the weather into consideration, what follows assumes that there’s a match-sized gap in the eastward-flowing bands of rain.

RL: Still unbeaten, leaders Hermes-DVS face a tricky trip to the ironically-named Zomercomplex to take on Punjab-Ghausia. These two sides have had contrasting campaigns so far: Hermes, short on big names, have gone on winning thanks to determined team efforts and a remarkably effective attack, while Punjab, with most of the team which carried all before it last season, have struggled. Injuries undoubtedly haven’t helped, and they will be overjoyed to have Saqib Zulfiqar back in the side, especially if he is now fully fit. But the absence of his brother Sikander from the attack has perhaps been an even greater loss of cutting edge, and Punjab will be hoping that bolstering the attack with Tehzeeb Haider will make a difference to their fortunes. Hermes, on the other hand, will know that the men in green are always a tough proposition at the Zomercomplex, and will be looking to their bowlers, who until now have equally been without Oliver Elenbaas but have prospered nevertheless, to contain a potentially devastating top order.

BdJ: An away trip to visit the defending champions will be a significant hurdle if Hermes are to continue their remarkable unbeaten run, even if Punjab have looked off the boil all season. Both the remaining Zulfiqars are expected to play on Thursday too, both having got game time during last week’s pro-series fixtures, though Sikander notably wasn’t bowling and didn’t look at his quickest between the wickets either. With the Belgian national team in action this weekend Punjab will likely also have to do without the services of Burhan Niaz for one if not both of their upcoming games, leaving their seam attack looking still thinner. Hermes’ losses to international duty will hit even harder, however. With Daniel Doyle-Calle captaining the Spanish 50-over side in Denmark and Hikmatullah Jabarkhail headed to the Mdina Cup with Belgium, the front-runners will be losing both their lead scorer and the league’s leading wicket-taker for their trips to the Zomercomplex and then Westvliet. If they can make it through the extended week-end with their lead intact they may seriously start thinking about silverware, but it’s fair to say the odds are against them.

RL: Leading the chase, Kampong Utrecht will welcome HBS Craeyenhout to Maarschalkerweerd for what will be another crucial match for both teams. Just one match behind the leaders, Alex Roy’s men (a) need to prevent the gap from getting any bigger, and (b) will be keen to capitalise fully on the availability of their internationals while they have them. The Crows are likely less affected by the latter, although Kyle Klein is a key member of their line-up, but for them the former is even more significant, since they are already four points off the pace and another defeat would leave them fighting for the best possible place mid-table. Significant as O’Dowd and Edwards are for Kampong, the club made the most of their winter, and Lane Berry, Lorenzo Ingram and Lachlan Bangs, alongside Damien van den Berg, give the Utrecht side a top six as menacing as any in the competition. HBS, it’s true, are very good at making the most of what they have, and no team which includes Klein, Tayo Walbrugh, Wes Barresi and Lehan Botha can be written off. Kampong will need to be at their very best to make sure of the points.

BdJ: Given the availability issues that Kampong are likely to encounter deeper into the season, they can ill afford to drop points when they are at full strength, much less at home. HBS have always been stronger on their own (lack of) turf, and have yet to pick up a win on a natural wicket this season. The Crows have struggled to shake a reputation as mat-specialists in a competition where grass wickets are becoming the norm, and indeed have only won four matches on turf in the past three years. That said, three years and a day ago they did take two points home from Maarschalkerweerd, albeit against a very different Kampong side. The current HBS squad is less a product of Craeyenhout than previous seasons too, and one which on paper might be expected to travel better. All told an upset is not out of the question, though if it does happen one imagines Kyle Klein will have a key role in it.

RL: Currently third and fourth on net run rate, VRA and Voorburg will lock horns in the Amsterdamse Bos in what is undoubtedly one of the day’s four-pointers. Again, one tends to think first of the big names – Singh, Smal, Nidamanuru and Shariz for the home side, Levitt, Kaplan, Croes and perhaps Boissevain for the visitors – but games like this are often swung by the contributions of their team-mates, and Voorburg will be boosted by the performances so far of Cedric de Lange and, more recently, Patient Charumbira. The occasion will also be enlivened by the return to the Bos of Udit Nashier, yet to fit fully into his new outfit but capable of making a significant impression. For VRA, the new-ball attack of Ben Fletcher and Peter Ruffel is likely to be a key factor, although the spin of Shariz and Leon Turmaine can’t be discounted either. The winner here will stay in the hunt for the championship, while life will become much, much harder for whoever drops the points.

BdJ: It’s not been a great season so far for recent champions, and neither VRA (whose memories of 50-over silverware are admittedly somewhat distant now) nor 2023 winners Voorburg have looked their best this season. Voorburg’s enviable batting line-up has been let down somewhat by a bowling unit unsettled by availability and injury issues, and those issues are likely to continue. If they can squeeze another weekend out of Boissevain before he has to go back to New Zealand to make his days as a local there it would certainly be a boon, but one suspects the timer’s already buzzing on that front too. VRA’s bench strength has served them somewhat better, with the likes of Turmaine, Hake or Abhinay stepping up admirably when called up from the seconds, while the front-line seam attack of Fletcher, Ruffel and Abid has been consistently effective. The battle at the top of VCC’s innings where that trio are pitted against the competitions’ most productive opening pair may well prove decisive.

RL: Perhaps even more important for both teams, the meeting between Excelsior ‘20 and Sparta 1888 at Thurlede brings together two sides desperate to move clear of the depths of the relegation zone. Sparta’s keenness to get a crack at VOC last Saturday was very obvious, and no-one perhaps had more reason to be disappointed by the arrival of the rain. At least on paper, Excelsior are a much more serious proposition, with Raynard van Tonder and Antum Naqvi capable of scoring freely against any attack. The local players, too, have chipped in usefully at times, and one has a sense that if they put it all together they could ease clear of the danger zone. Sparta, by contrast, have become skilled at making the most of relatively limited resources, and in Ahsan Malik they still have a pace bowler with match-winning capabilities. The batting has so far been over-dependent on Kyle Klesse, but Juandre Scheepers proved last year that he, too, is able to play important innings, and if ever there was a must-win fixture, this is it.

BdJ: Excelsior had assembled a remarkable roster for the washed-out Schiedam Derby last week, with not only van Tonder and Naqvi lining up but Brett Hampton also ready to take the field in the game that never came, they’re unlikely to look as strong again however. Hampton will presumably be back at Hampshire come Thursday, and there’s questions hanging while the continued availability of Naqvi and van Tonder for the full season is also in doubt. Anything but two points at home to popular relegation-picks Sparta on Thursday would likely see the 2019 Champions supplant Sparta as bookie’s co-favourites to go down along with the hapless VOC. Indeed it would be bitterly ironic if the Schiedammers were to slip out of the Topklasse just as the likes of Stan van Troost and Joost Kroesen were beginning to look at home there. Sparta may claim to be sanguine about their own risk of relegation, but they’ve shown no signs of rolling over this season, and it’s telling that they were one of the two sides to wait the longest last week before giving up on getting a game in…

RL: No less threatened with a spell in the Hoofdklasse, bottom side VOC will entertain HCC, currently sixth on the table and themselves not entirely clear of relegation anxieties. There’s no two ways about it: in terms of firepower with both bat and ball, the Lions have a distinct advantage over the Bloodhounds, although the latter did spring a surprise when their bowlers were too sharp for an out-of-sorts Punjab on 10 May. There’s plenty of talent, if rather less experience, in VOC’s attack, but they are clearly suffering from the largely-unremarked departure of Asief Hoseinbaks, their leading wicket-taker last season but now back at Hoofdklasse club Dosti. Their visitors’ batting has blown a little hot and cold so far, as their position on the table attests, but Roman Harhangi and the brothers Jain, as well as overseas Scott Janett and Christiaan Oberholzer, will need to be at their most effective if they are to keep HCC’s batting to within bounds that their own somewhat shonky batters will be able to match.

BdJ: There’s little question that VOC are outmatched on paper in this encounter, and will be hoping to catch HCC on an off-day, but when those have come for Lions this season they really have been very off indeed, and even this depleted Bloodhounds squad still have the quality to take advantage. That said, while VOC are not the only club affected by Dosti getting the old gang back together this season, I’d have to agree the impact of the loss of Hoseinbaks has received too little attention from the Topklasse commentariat (which I guess is mostly just us really, so our bad there). This week they’ll also have to do without Monty Singh, who’s on duty with Denmark for the first of several engagements, leaving the batting still more dependent on new overseas Scott Jannet, unless someone else in the top order happens upon some kind of form. Playing as they have been VOC will be underdogs if HCC manage more than 150 runs, which they’ve done on three out of five attempts this season.

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

KNCB faces pushback on domestic structure overhaul

Bertus de Jong 12/03/2025

The beleaguered KNCB board headed by Guido Landheer will face further tribulation tomorrow, as they look to face down opposition to the overhaul of the domestic one-day competition structure that was announced in January. A number of clubs from various divisions, including Sparta 1888, VRA, Dosti, Hercules, Rood en Wit, Salland CC, VVV, Quick 1888 and Qui Vive among others, moved last month to request a Bijzondere Algemene Ledenvergadering (Special General Members Meeting) to reconsider the proposed changes, and that meeting has been duly scheduled for tomorrow (March 13th).

Perhaps unsurprisingly Hoofdklasse clubs comprise a substantial proportion of the remonstrants, more than half the current competitors in the second division adding their voices to the call. Under the current proposal the Hoofdklasse will see fully half of the current field relegated at the end of the coming season, with five teams dropping down to an enlarged Eersteklasse for 2026, to make room for three relegated Topklasse teams and the promotion of the 2025 Eersteklasse champions.

Speaking on behalf of the clubs appellant, former national team captain and sometime KNCB vice chair Steven Lubbers stressed that the appeal for a BALV was a move of last resort, but the group saw no other option. Lubbers, who has long advocated a broader pyramid with expedited promotion especially at the lower end of the ladder, told TKcricket that the remonstrant clubs felt there were significant deficiencies both in the process and that led to the new structure revealed in January, as well as the outcome.

Lubbers argues that the relegation of half of the Hoofdklasse would leave those clubs in an appreciably weaker position vis-a-vis local councils and rival sports when it came to Topsport subsidies and competition for facilities. Lubbers also echoed an observation which several commentators have raised regarding the board’s proposed promotion/relegation scheme for 2025/26, namely that the absence of any relegation playoffs means that sides in lower divisions enjoy a perverse advantage in jockeying for position for 2026. A team now in the Eersteklasse, for example, need only win that division (effectively placing 21st on the ladder) to win promotion to the Hoofklasse for 2026 while a team starting in the Hoofdklasse would have to place in the top five (essentially 15th in the full rankings) to retain their place.

Lubbers had previously championed and alternate plan which had come to be known as Voorstel Salland, which envisioned broadening the pyramid structure substantially all the way up to the Hoofdklasse, which under the Salland plan would be split into two pools and expanded to 16 or more teams, while lower divisions would also be expanded and slip into more pools – a format which Lubbers argues would both alleviate competitive pressure on clubs while allowing for expedited promotion.

Former VRA chair John Wories, who has played a leading role in the opposition to the new structure, observed in a memo circulated to clubs early last month that “expanded relegation will increase the pressure on clubs for extra reinforcement with foreign players/coaches” further crowding out homegrown youth talent on the field while limiting other expenditure “if only because financial resources would be used for [overseas recruitment] rather than for improving facilities (including grass wickets), strengthening participation and developing (young) players.” Indeed while early indications suggest that we may be on course for record spending on overseas talent for the coming season, at least in the Hoofdklasse. That in and of itself may however generate resistance to the remonstrants’ proposals from clubs that have already invested heavily ahead of what is currently slated to be a cut-throat season.

The remonstrating clubs are arguing for a postponement of any substantial restructure, either maintaining the same format as 2024 for the coming season or, in deference to the difficulty of overhauling the calendar at this late stage, at least postponing the envisaged transition to the planned 2026 structure and the numerous relegations that it would entail. Pointing to perceived deficiencies in the consultative process followed by the KNCB, which saw a nine-member working group headed by Reinout Scholte and Adriaan van der Dries arrive at the current restructure plan, the dissenting clubs propose a new committee be set up to consider the question.

Scholte, KNCB board member with the High Performance portfolio who has acted as point-man for the board on the issue, stepped down last month citing in part the increasingly fractious nature of the controversy, but the board shows little sign of throwing in the towel. Regretting the departure of Scholte, KNCB chair Guido Lanheer said in a previous statement, “The reasons for his departure give rise to thought and reflection on the way we deal with each other within cricket Netherlands. Differences of opinion will always exist, but the way we currently deal with each other and with these differences of opinion does not lead to the best result for cricket Netherlands in our view.”

Speaking to TKcricket, Landheer defended the process that produced the restructure plan, which included wide consultation with clubs across various divisions. While conceding that it was regrettable that the subject could not be discussed at the December ALV (which was busy with other matters), an extra virtual meeting was scheduled in January to address the issue specifically. “There were 45 clubs represented at the January (8th) meeting, and all clubs were afforded the chance to comment up until January 24th.” Landheer said, observing that neither Salland nor VRA did so at the time.

Referring to the alternate proposals first tabled two years ago, Landheer insists they were not dismissed out of hand. “The so-called Voorstel Salland was considered in depth, and several aspects of it have been incorporated into the new structure.” Landheer told Tkcricket, “a broader pyramid, and regionalisation at lower levels, for example, the latter especially has been made easier by the new scheduling software.” Landheer explained. “We’ve sought to give more attention to T20 and recreational cricket, while providing for more predictable and stable scheduling compared to the previous system.” The board is not entirely blind to some of the problems the upheaval expected at the end of the 2025 season may throw up, and aspects of the “Big Bang” transformation are less than ideal as Landheer concedes. “Transition is difficult but it is a necessary investment in the future.”

Following several bruising meetings focusing on the KNCB’s now well-documented financial woes, the board may even be relieved to be back on the familiar ground of wrangling about domestic structures, and it has been noted that the ALV’s role in questions of domestic structure is, constitutionally speaking, purely advisory. Nonetheless it is doubtful that the board will be afforded an easy time of it tomorrow, though with the first ball of the season now just weeks away it is late in the day to be changing course…

Topklasse to return to eight teams from 2026

Bertus de Jong 18/01/2025

The KNCB today confirmed a substantial overhaul of the Dutch domestic one-day competition structure, with both the Topklasse and Hoofdklasse to return to an eight-team divisional league format from 2026 onwards.

The coming 2025 edition will dispense with the play-off system, reverting to a simple double round robin format, with the ten teams playing each other home and away. At the end of the season the bottom three Topklasse teams will be relegated, with the Hoofdklasse champions promoted to join the remaining seven for an 8-team competition in 2026. The crowded calendar precludes the possibility of a finals day or relegation play-off, meaning both the title and promotion/relegation will be directly determined by the final standings on the table. Similarly, the crowded schedule leaves no room for replays or reserve days during the competition.

The Hoofdklasse will likewise be returning to an 8-team format from 2026, with the consequence that no less than five teams will face relegation to the Eersteklasse at the end of the 2025 season, while the 2025 Eersteklasse champions will join the three relegated Topklasse sides and the four surviving Hoofdklasse sides for the 2026 Hoofdklasse season. As with the top division, there is no provision for a relegation play-off.

Conversely the Eersteklasse will be expanding from the current 10-team format to a two-pool 16-team leaguev (similar to the current Overgangsklasse) from 2026 onwards. The champion of the 2025 edition, also played as a straight ten-team double round robin, will win promotion to the 2026 Hoofdklasse, while the bottom two sides will be relegated to the Overgangsklasse, the latter to be renamed “Tweedeklasse”. A similar numerical naming scheme is to be applied to lower leagues, which remain otherwise unchanged.

The one-day season for 2025 is set to begin on the 26th of April and run until the 6th of August, with matches again played on Saturdays until the switch to Sundays in mid-July. The T20 competitons look broadly similar in format to last season, albeit switch to the other end of the Summer, commencing on August 13th and culminating in a finals day a month later.

The points system and the finals

Robert Vermeulen

21/11/2024

In May I posted an article about the delicate future of our beloved Game in The Netherlands. The vast majority of the feedback I received was positive. In this polarised digital world and a quite tribal Dutch cricket community, that is a remarkable thing. It stands to reason that there are several ways to solve the issue I tried to address. The most important thing is that we acknowledge the problem and try to formulate a strategy to face it.

You might think that I, as a lawyer, would propose strict rules and regulations. That is only partly true. Sure, I salivate by the thought of drafting such documents, but rules are more effective if they are broadly supported, are seen as ‘obvious’ and, finally, reflect an internal moral belief. The reason one does not steal is -hopefully- not that it is illegal, but that is ‘not right’. It goes against your moral fabric and would make your mother very very disappointed in you.

Breaking the trend

A rough estimate by ‘those-in-the-know’ is that we collectively, as clubs, might have spent as much as half a million Euro’s this year on players. If true, and I am afraid it might be, that is a shocking amount of money. At best one would hope that this money was spent on a lot of junior coaching hours…. if there were any juniors to coach.

I would suggest that it is time to start the (long) process towards addressing our unhealthy habits that have crept into our top leagues. We must stop spending resources on things that not evidently ensure the long term survival of the Game as a whole. A club will truly survive a relegation. Trust me, I have been there. Healthy clubs that invest in their home-grown stock and the health of their own club organisation and culture, will survive and return. Take VCC as an example, they went through a major lean patch some years ago but now they were (again) in contention for a championship. Good on them!

Only if the club does not have a strong foundation, the players might move on. That is the risk of those clubs who are ‘a bank account with a first team’. Mercenaries follow the money.

If we are to survive, a collective action is needed to stop ‘stupid money’ and encourage ‘smart money’. In my very humble opinion, a points based system as suggested by me in May, would stimulate that and see to it that clubs are forced to make the right choices. We must break the arms-race.

Let’s have a look at our semi-finalists in the Topklasse of this year: Punjab Ghausia (Punjab), VRA, VCC and HCC.

When I speak of local players, I mean those players that are either home-grown players or are players that are here for other reasons than cricket. This last group are those that moved here for work, study or other non-cricket related reasons like marriage/relationships/family reunion or refugee status. Home-grown players are players that learned their cricket here. Overseas players are players whose main reason for being in The Netherlands is to play cricket.

In this piece I will add the distinction between home-grown players by the club itself and home-grown players that came from other clubs. Why keep things simple?

Semi-finalists

On 1 September 2024 I partly watched VCC 1 beat my beloved HCC 1. No complaints there: they were the better side, especially on the day. If one breaks down the makeup of the teams, HCC fielded 3 home-grown HCC players, 2 home-grown players that moved from other clubs, 3 local players (players who live here but are not home-grown) and 3 overseas players. VCC fielded 4 home-grown VCC players, 3 home-grown players that moved from other clubs, 1 local player and 3 overseas players. The home-grown players on a whole were quite influential, so cheers all round!

Punjab, a powerhouse in the last years, was in the Grand Final. Again, good on them. VRA had a sniff at victory but fell just short. A breakdown of these teams is as follows. Punjab fielded 0 home-grown Punjab players, 4 home-grown players that moved from other clubs, 3 local players (if Belgium is deemed local / plus a player I could not place in the other columns) and 4 overseas players. VRA fielded 3 home-grown VRA players, two home-grown players that moved from other clubs, 3 local players and 3 overseas players.

The differences between the clubs are not extreme.

The main reason Punjab does not have Punjab home-grown players is their recent rapid rise to prominence. Their efforts in junior cricket will reap benefits in due time. VCC fielded 4 VCC home-grown players on Sunday and 3 home grown players that came over from other clubs (two HCC raised and one ACC). 7 home grown players in total. Well done. Fair play!

Breakdown of relative influence of types of players in last Sunday’s games:

This is only one game but it should be interesting to make a broad analysis over the whole season. Certain retired CBS statisticians might be interested to have a go at this…

Second teams

In the Eerste Klasse VRA 2 beat Punjab 2 in the Grand Final. Punjab 2 beat HCC 2 in the semifinal. The fact that all-but-one player in HCC 2 are HCC home-grown players, delights me. They beat Qui Vive 1 in the elimination final and are clearly a tight group that have a boat load of fun together. That is what it is all about.

VCC 2 might have relegated to the Eerste Klasse, but that might only be healthy for the team as a whole so that they can rebuild and play at a level that might be more fun for younger players. I would say that VCC and HCC, for now, have a bright future. The strength of VRA 2 and Punjab 2 is very promising as well, albeit that the latter team contains not a lot of home-grown players and even overseas players.

The point that I am trying to make here is that the second teams of all the semi-finalists in the Topklasse are vibrant as well. That shows a broader basis of playing talent than just the flagship team. These second teams are usually not stacked with ringers, albeit that they might have potential first team players that were pushed out by overseas players acquired for the first team. If you would add to that picture the line up of these clubs in the U17 and U15 leagues, these Topklasse semi-finalists are largely healthy clubs. They are not an empty shell.

Points system

field competitive teams with the back up of strong second elevens and talented youth. VCC survived a drain from the Dutch XI and pro’s leaving home by fielding a slew of home-grown players; so did VRA. Again, cheers all around. The four finalists had enough depth in their selection to fill the gaps.

I would say all potential champions this year were clubs with a role to play in the future of our local Game.

If we would be able to reduce the amount (and influence) of overseas players in these (and other) teams, the further development of home-grown players could be stimulated and create a more level playing field for all clubs with good intentions. I am sure that these four clubs would support that idea (as they live in relative luxury). Others might be more reluctant, but it has to be done!

Clubs have limited resources that could and should be used wisely. The club members should demand transparency from their committees regarding the finances surrounding players. Depending on sugar daddies and non-recurring donations (even in kind) is no basis for long term policy. If they suddenly leave, you are done for.

The introduction of a points system results in a reduction of overseas players, this would reduce the need to spend money on everything surrounding overseas players and could free up resources for other, more productive, causes.

I hope that this autumn and winter will provide us with ample time to develop ideas to improve the future of or local Game.