Rod Lyall 25/08/23
Back at the start of the season, much of the talk was about the formidable squad which Voorburg had assembled, and with just one defeat in 14 50-over matches last year’s beaten grand finalists have fully lived up to that billing.
For defending champions HCC, however, 2023 seemed likely to be a season of rebuilding, with half of their side from last year unavailable, and it is remarkable that after a shaky start to their campaign they have again reached the grand final, peaking at just the right time and giving themselves a real chance of winning the title from fourth position on the table.
The Lions have momentum on their side, but any grand final comes down to how the two sides perform on the day; how, then, do the squads stack up against one another?
The Voorburg pace attack against the HCC top order
With current internationals Viv Kingma and Ryan Klein, backed up by the up-and-coming Mees van Vliet and the steady medium pace of Karl Nieuwoudt – who often shares the new ball with Kingma – Voorburg have plenty of quicker options, none of the four having gone for more than five an over across the whole campaign.
Kingma may only have nine wickets so far, but he has the best strike rate of anyone in the side, and he has a proven ability to dismiss good batters inside the initial powerplay.
For HCC, the arrival of Ratha Alphonse has been a real bonus, his 386 runs at 32.17 having compensated to a considerable degree for the fact that Tonny Staal has had a relatively quiet season by his standards, averaging just 15.94.
In Alphonse’s absence in the play-off phase, however, the Lions have experimented with Jonathan Vandiar as an opening partner for Staal, Alphonse slotting in at three, and it will be interesting to see who opens on Saturday.
Vandiar’s innings against Punjab in the qualifying final was a model of restraint, but there is an argument that he is at his most effective at four or five, when his attacking instincts can be given full reign.
The top five is completed by captain Boris Gorlee and by sixteen-year-old Teun Kloppenburg, the latter having strung together three consecutive half-centuries in his first Topklasse season; if Vandiar does drop down the order, he and Kloppenburg have the potential to capitalise on any platform that Alphonse, Staal and Gorlee have been able to build.
The HCC pace attack against the Voorburg top order
Hidde Overdijk and Daniel Crowley have been in awesome form in their most recent games, reducing Sparta to 25 for four in the initial powerplay and putting Punjab under sustained pressure in the qualifier, and Overdijk’s 29 wickets at 20.07 puts him in equal third place among the leading wicket-takers.
There are, perhaps, more questions about the change bowling, with Henrico Venter and Patient Charumbira among the more expensive of the regular seam bowlers, although both have also been able to pick up valuable wickets; they have, though, been deployed later in the innings than Klein and Van Vliet have for Voorburg.
With a top five who all average 30 (or in Musa Ahmad’s case, just a tad short of it), Voorburg have a formidable line-up, but on closer inspection those stats are a little less encouraging: having made 456 runs at 57 in the first phase, Michael Levitt has added only 97 at 16.17 since the competition resumed and Noah Croes, too, has been less dominant in the back end.
Against that, Musa has made more runs in six innings since the break than he did in nine before it, and the transformation in skipper Sybrand Engelbrecht’s form has been even more dramatic: only Tayo Walbrugh made more runs in July and August than Engelbrecht’s 333.
All in all, then, the ability of Overdijk and Crowley to make early inroads into that imposing Voorburg top order may be one of the factors on which this year’s title depends.
Voorburg’s spinners against the HCC middle order
The most interesting battles of the day, however, may come when Engelbrecht and Gorlee turn to their slower bowlers.
With 45 wickets so far, Shariz Ahmad just needs what would be his fifth five-for of the season to become the first player since Chris Pringle in 1996 to take fifty wickets in a season, and it would come as little surprise if he did it; few batters have been able to get on top of him all year.
While his fellow wrist-spinner Philippe Boissevain has had a more modest return with 17 wickets at 21.59, he makes an outstanding foil for the young googly bowler, and they can be expected to cause plenty of problems in the middle overs.
Who’s at the crease when they come on will depend, of course, on how successful Voorburg’s quicker bowlers have been, and there could be a fascinating contest between their wiles and the aggression of Vandiar and Kloppenburg.
Beyond that, the HCC middle order of Clayton Floyd, Overdijk and Charumbira will need all their wits about them if they are to make a significant contribution to their side’s total.
HCC’s spinners against the Voorburg middle order
As against Voorburg’s wrist spinners, the Lions have two left-arm finger spinners, of whom late signing Daniel Doram has been distinctly the more effective with 27 wickets at 15.04 apiece.
His figures in the last two games of 10 – 6 – 4 – 1 and 9.2 – 2 – 14 – 4 were truly remarkable, and if he can manage something of the same order on Saturday it could be a game-changer.
Floyd has had a less successful campaign, but like Boissevain he provides outstanding support for Doram when the two are bowling in tandem, and his reliability means that Gorlee can use seamers Venter and Charumbira more sparingly.
Their battle with the Voorburg middle order, again, will be a key feature of the game, and of the later batters only Shariz, with 261 runs, has a comparable record to that of Floyd, Overdijk and Charumbira, although it must be said that the dominance of the top five has given them relatively few opportunities.
It’s all shaping up for a memorable contest, one that is, as election-night commentators say, too close to call. All this, and a chance to see the World Cup trophy as well!
TKcricket 