Asides

Rod Lyall 01/05/2023

The weekend’s feast of near-walkovers continued on a sunny Sunday as several sides powerfully asserted their claims to be front-runners for slots among the Topklasse top six, if not for the play-offs in August and a possible title.

The most decisive victory of the day came at Het Loopveld, where VOC Rotterdam hammered hapless ACC to the tune of 260 runs.

Much of the mayhem was caused by Dutch international opener Max O’Dowd, who clubbed a career-best 186, made from just 157 deliveries and including eight fours and eleven sixes; after taking a relatively sedate 52 balls to reach fifty, and bringing up his century from 116, he needed only another 41 to add the final 85, repeatedly bombarding the pavilion with powerfully-struck sixes.

He was ably assisted by Lane Berry, who contributed a stylish 35 before holing out to long off off the bowling of the hard-working Aryan Kumar, and then by Scott Edwards in a third-wicket stand of 205 which only ended with O’Dowd’s dismissal just two balls from the conclusion of the innings.

Edwards’s 74 not out, which displayed his full range of audacious shot-making and some very enterprising running, came from 60 deliveries with five fours and two sixes.

VOC’s other Max, pace bowler Hoornweg, now proceeded to rip through the top of the ACC batting order, claiming three for 14 from five overs, while Arnav Jain took two for 19 at the other end and the home side subsided to 26 for five.

Only Ammar Zaidi, batting at nine, was able to achieve double figures, and with Asief Hoseinbaks taking three for 9 and Burhan Niaz and Jelte Schoonheim picking up one apiece ACC were all out for 61 in just 22.5 overs.

The other outstanding individual effort of the day was at Westvliet, where Shariz Ahmad took five for 17, bringing his figures for the weekend to eleven for 30 in 17.4 overs and enabling Voorburg to dismiss Excelsior ’20 for just 90.

Lorenzo Ingram top-scored for the Schiedammers with 20, and although he removed Musa Ahmad when Voorburg replied, Noah Croes (47 not out) and Sybrand Engelbrecht (19 not out) saw their side to an eight-wicket victory with more than 27 overs to spare.

The most significant result was perhaps Sparta 1888’s 59-run defeat of Punjab Rotterdam at Sportpark Bermweg, an outcome which signalled strongly that this Sparta side is capable of mounting a serious challenge for the play-offs.

Sulaiman Tariq took two early wickets after Sparta won the toss and batted, but then Garnett Tarr’s 41 and 72 from Mudassar Bukhari laid the foundation for their total of 211 for eight; Khalid Ahmadi’s 26-ball cameo for 34, 24 of them from sixes, kept the momentum going, and only Sikander Zulfiqar’s three for 8 in three overs prevented the target from being even greater.

It proved to be big enough, however, as Ahsan Malik’s four for 35 and Ahmadi’s four for 42 cut through the Punjab batting, only an unbeaten 91 from Mohsin Riaz, batting at three, enabling his side to reach 152 before he ran out of partners; there were four ducks among the top and middle order, two of them golden.

Joining VOC and Sparta on two wins out of two – and two points behind Voorburg who have played a game more – were VRA Amsterdam, who secured a seven-wicket victory over HBS Craeyenhout in the Amsterdamse Bos.

Put in by Leon Turmaine, HBS owed their total of 203 for seven very largely to a fourth-wicket stand of 86 between Tayo Walbrugh (42) and Wesley Barresi (47); both were eventually removed by Turmaine himself, who finished with two for 39.

Without openers Shirase Rasool and Vikram Singh, both of whom were carrying injuries, VRA might have been in trouble when Swapnil Pote removed Jack Balbirnie early, but Aryan Dutt (59) and Johan Smal (72) put the home side back in control and Teja Nidamanuru and Tyler van Luin completed the job.

At De Diepput HCC posted their first win of the season, beating Salland by 124 runs.

Opener Ratha Alphonse, who had fought a lone battle against VOC on Saturday, enjoyed the support of Jonathan Vandiar this time, as the pair put on 161 for the second wicket.

Alphonse made 57, and after he had departed Vandiar went on to complete his ninth Topklasse century and his sixth for HCC, finishing with a 114-ball 109 which included eight fours and six sixes.

Hidde Overdijk struck four sixes in a brisk 33, but Fraser Bartholomew hit back for Salland, taking four for 43 as the home side reached 278 for eight.

Overdijk then removed both openers to put Salland on the back foot, and although most of the top order got a start only skipper Victor Lubbers with 46 was able to resist for a prolonged period and with spinners Clayton Floyd and Daniel Doram collecting two wickets apiece and Overdijk finishing with three for 34 Lubbers’ side were all out for 154.

Rod Lyall 01/05/2023

The sun shone brilliantly on Saturday, the first day of a Topklasse double weekend, and after the miserable opening to the season the previous week some batters at least were able to take advantage of the conditions and get themselves among the runs.

Anyone hoping for tense, exciting cricket, however, would have been bitterly disappointed, for the disparities within the competition which had been hinted at before the rain ruined the first round were now fully in evidence.

The nearest thing to a competitive game was at Thurlede, where VRA Amsterdam beat Excelsior ’20 by a mere 86 runs.

The Amsterdammers got off to a great start after Tim Etman had put them in, Shirase Rasool and Vikram Singh putting on 87 for the first wicket and Johan Smal then helping Rasool to take the total to 196 for one.

Singh’s contribution was 35 and Smal’s 56, but when Niels Etman returned to remove Smal and Rasool, immediately after reaching his third Topklasse century, fell to Tom Heggelman, it was left to Teja Nidamanuru and Tyler van Luin to build on this platform.

They added exactly 50, but then there came a flurry of wickets as the middle and lower order hit out in the closing overs, six falling for the addition of only 15 runs as VRA closed on 265 for nine.

There were three wickets apiece for Heggelman and Lorenzo Ingram, but the pick of the bowlers was Michael Hart, whose figures of one for 54 did less than justice to the quality of his effort.

Van Luin, Aryan Dutt and Eduard Visser then combined to reduce Excelsior to 71 for five, and despite some resistance from Niels Etman (37) and from Hart, last man out for 69, the home side were dismissed for 179, Visser claiming four for 41 and Van Luin three for 18, while Dutt was again a model of control, conceding just 22 from his ten overs.

The highest total of the day came at Craeyenhout, where Sparta 1888 ran up 330 for nine against a somewhat threadbare HBS attack.

Ali Raza performed one of his smash-and-grab raids, hitting a 16-ball 34 to get his side into top gear, but the real basis of their score was a second-wicket stand of 130 between Sam Ferguson (57) and Garnett Tarr (95).

Will Clark, the other member of Sparta’s trio of overseas players, contributed 58 to follow up his half-century the previous week, while Kyle Klein was the most successful of the HBS bowlers with three for 68.

Ahsan Malik then claimed two early wickets as HBS replied, and although Tayo Walbrugh made 46 and there were thirties from Kyle Klein and Nic Adendorff the Crows could only manage 186, Joost Kroesen removing both of the latter and running through the tail to finish with five for 32, his best-ever Topklasse figures.

VOC Rotterdam’s overseas player Lane Berry confirmed the promise he had shown in the rained-off game at Punjab with a fine 124 against HCC at the Hazelaarweg, anchoring his side’s total of 254 all out with stands of 95 with Scott Edwards (40) and Tim de Kok (43) and setting up a comfortable 149-run victory over the defending champions.

Jan-Wieger Overdijk eventually had him caught, and removed De Kok, Pieter Seelaar and Burhan Niaz into the bargain to finish with four for 47, and there was a wicket for Daniel Doram, drafted into the HCC squad as a late replacement for the injured Tim Pringle.

The Lions had no real answer against VOC’s attack, Jelte Schoonheim picking up three wickets for 20 early on and Asief Hoseinbaks three for 14 later, and the innings ended on a disappointing 105.

Voorburg cruised to an easy victory over Salland at Het Schootsveld, Shariz Ahmad securing his best Topklasse figures with six for 13 from ten overs and Sajjad Kamal picking up the rest with four for 24 as the Deventer side collapsed from 90 without loss to 135 all out in the space of barely twenty overs.

Piyaranga Ottachchige (51) and Venkat Ganesan (39) had given them a record-breaking start, but once they had gone the rest had no answer to Shariz and Kamal, and although Elam Bharathi battled valiantly, taking all four Voorburg wickets that fell, 38 from stand-in captain Musa Ahmad and an unbeaten 47 from little brother Shariz ensured that the visitors completed their win with almost twenty overs to spare.

It was a similar story at Het Zomercomplex, where Punjab Rotterdam’s attack ran through ACC, bowling them out for 124.

Thomas Hobson’s 55 was the only significant contribution to the ACC total, with Saqib Zulfiqar taking three for 16 for Punjab and Sulaiman Tariq, Aliyaan Mahmood and Mohammad Shafiq collecting two wickets apiece.

Pienaar Buys gave the Amsterdammers some hope with two quick wickets, but Sikander Zulfiqar and Shoaib Minhas steadied the ship for Punjab, their unbroken stand of 62 seeing them to a seven-wicket victory.

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyalll 25/04/23

While the April weather got the best of round one, with Voorburg versus HCC the only fixture that managed to beat the rain, the forecast looks somewhat more promising for the first of what now looks likely to be several doubled-up rounds this coming weekend. The four washed-out match from last Saturday will likely be replayed on Sunday the 7th, by which time we ought to have three more rounds on the board and a fair idea of how the season’s shaping up. For now though it’s still all to play for.

BdJ: Having closed out a convincing 8-wicket win over the defending champions on Saturday, Voorburg will be looking to extend their early lead when they make the trip out to Deventer to take on Salland on Saturday. Though the abbreviated match against HCC didn’t give us much to go on, it’s fair to say the bowling unit at least looks in decent shape, with the four man seam section all bagging at least one wicket and the twin leggies looking good before the rain came. The diminutive target meant the batting wasn’t truly tested, though if Salland can’t improve on last week’s performance that may be be the case again come Saturday. Salland’s batting was never their strength of course, and their bowlers didn’t get a chance to try to defend the handful of runs they’d scraped together. Both Venkat Ganesan and Victor Lubbers showed some admirable obstinacy with the bat, but they will need more from their overseas than a pair of first-ball ducks if they’re to get points on the board on Saturday.

RJL: If this Voorburg has a weak spot, it’s fair to say that HCC didn’t find it last week, and there was little in Salland’s effort in Amstelveen to suggest that their chances of doing so are any better. That said, conditions in the Bos – and everywhere else – were hardly ideal for cricket last Saturday, and on their own turf Victor Lubbers’ outfit may be able to put up a more sustained performance. But with Noah Croes looking to be in ominous form and Michael Levitt clearly capable of playing big innings, the Deventer-based side will need to fire on all cylinders if they are to treat their home supporters to a win. They showed occasionally last season that they are capable of springing a surprise, and in the end they stayed up comfortably enough, but it would be a brave prediction to anticipate anything other than a Voorburg victory here.

BdJ: Though VRA will be frustrated to miss out on the points against Salland, they’ll nonetheless have taken plenty of encouragement from their performance with the ball last Saturday. Southpaw spearhead Ashir Abid proved incisive with the new ball, while the offpin combination of Aryan Dutt and Leon Turmaine looked a potent one, Dutt barely going for a run an over and Turmaine bagging three wickets on his debut as captain. They may have a tougher job when they arrive at Thurlede of course, though Excelsior ‘20’s batting line up looks both shorter and more fragile than it has in seasons past. The Schiedammers will draw some encouragement from newcomer Michael Hart’s showing with the new ball alongside Niels Etman, though they will be hoping he can also replicate his predecessor Brett Hampton’s contributions with the bat last season.

RJL: Tom Heggelman’s side has long been better than the sum of its parts, due in no small measure to the captain’s own contributions with both bat and ball as well as his canny tactical sense. Whether that will be enough to overcome a VRA side which showed every sign last week of shrugging off the departure of Peter Borren is another matter, and the Amsterdammers’ visits to Thurlede have had an extra edge since the days when they seemed to take turns in claiming the championship. Two well-balanced attacks will provide serious tests for the opposing batting line-ups, both of which will be looking for decent starts from their seasoned opening pairings of Roel Verhagen and Tim Etman for the home side and Vikram Singh and Shirase Rasool for the visitors. VRA look to have more fire-power in the middle order, but much may depend on whether Hart is able to impose himself with the bat. This one is, especially in our current state of knowledge (very little), too close to call.

BdJ: The big news at Bermweg last week was of course the evident non-retirement of both Mudassar Bukari and Ahsan Malik, meaning Sparta 1888’s line-up looks more formidable that might have been expected. Bukhari’s measure innings at number four alongside an impressive debut for William Clarke suggests the Spartan top six could be a force this season, despite being reduced to 13-3 on Saturday as Mahmoon Latif, second overseas Sam Ferguson and the returning Garnett Tarr all fell cheaply. They’ll likely have an easier time at Craeyenhout against a rather green HBS attack hollowed out by departure and retirements, though they will still need to contain the Crows’ potentially dangerous batting line up. Tayo Walbrugh and Wes Barresi both failed at ACC last week but they’re unlikely to stay quiet for long, and an impressive outing for debutant Swapnil Pote suggests HBS may have deeper reserves than some suspected.

RJL: Sparta certainly look like a much stronger side on paper than that which has often struggled to stay up in recent seasons, but the question may be how well that group of talented – and in some cases, very experienced – individuals cohere as a team. There was some evidence pointing in both directions in the abortive game against Excelsior, but we should get a clearer idea from their visit to Craeyenhout to take on an HBS side which seems – again, on paper – to be heading in the opposite direction. Batting at ‘t Loopveld is admittedly never a straightforward proposition, especially on a damp early-season morning, and the Crows can be expected to give a much better account of themselves on their own astroturf in front of their own support. Failures by both Walbrugh and Barresi don’t come along very often, and Sparta will want to see the back of both of them to give themselves a decent chance of two very significant points.

BdJ: Despite the rain precluding a result, VOC Rotterdam will also have been reasonably pleased with their efforts last Saturday, even if only three players were called upon to do anything. Max O’Dowd looked to be cruising toward another Topklasse century when the rain came, and new opening partner Arnav Jain supported him ably to see of the threat of the new ball. Lane Berry’s Topklasse debut was also more than encouraging, a brisk unbeaten 59 off 45 balls suggesting plenty more runs to come. The re-jigged top order allows skipper Scott Edwards to assume the floating role he plays so well for the Dutch, and may serve well in countering HCC’s spin threat (that is to say, Clayton Floyd) when they welcome the Lions to Hazelaarweg. VOC’s chief concern on Saturday (and likely through the season) will be their bowling, specifically how to deal with the threat of Jonathan Vandiar, who alone of HCC’s line-up looked in good nick against VCC.

RJL: Having faced five Dutch internationals at Voorburg last week, the defending champions will have to take on two more in O’Dowd and Scott Edwards on Saturday, along with the already-menacing Berry, and they are entitled to feel that the draw has done them few initial favours. Their own international batters, Tonny Staal and Boris Gorlee barely got a start and Hidde Overdijk, although he gave Vandiar some support, was also unable to impose himself on Voorburg’s outstanding attack. Their own bowling looked steady rather than incisive, albeit with the odds atacked against them, but Daniel Crowley bowled an encouraging spell, enough to suggest that he could be a useful new-ball partner for Overdijk. Whether VOC’s bowling unit will measure up to the power of their top order remains uncertain, but they will face a genuine test against an HCC line-up which has a lot more to offer than it was able to show against Voorburg.

BdJ: Finally ACC head down to the Zomercomplex to take on a Punjab side that looked rather stuck for ideas against VOC last week. In the absence of Salarazai and Said the Punjab attack rather lacks for firepower this season, and though Sulaiman Tariq remains a canny operator both with the ball and as skipper, the problem of how to deal with Thomas Hobson and Heino Kuhn in the ACC middle order remains a thorny one. The simplest option may simply be to out-hit them of course, and Punjab have shown in pre-season that even without the likes of Myburgh and Vandiar they are more than capable of racking up big scores. The early running suggests ACC’s chief bowling threat looks to be their slow-bowling section, and how well the ACC spinners can contain Punjab in spite of the grounds dimensions may prove decisive on Saturday.

RJL: ACC are another outfit which seems to have dealt itself an improved hand over the winter, with Heino Kuhn in a key leadership role and the arrival of Rahil Ahmed and Mahesh Hans from Dosti. They will, of course, miss Mees van Vliet, their leading wicket-taker last season, but Joseph Reddy looked like a useful new-ball partner for Aryan Kumar; the test will be whether they are able to make early inroads into a Zulfiqar-heavy Punjab top order which also now includes the undoubted skills of the returning Shoaib Minhas. We don’t yet know what the ACC batting line-up will actually look like, but even in the reduced state of the Punjab attack they are likely to face a stern test at ‘t Zomercomplex. Again, not easy to pick this one, but in the end home advantage and greater experience as a unit may tell in Punjab’s favour.

BdJ’s picks: Voorburg, VRA, Sparta, VOC, Punjab

RL’s picks: Voorburg, Excelsior, Sparta, VOC, Punjab.