Asides

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong | 02-06-2026

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And so we’ve reached that point in the season where the depth of several squads is to be tested in earnest, since for the next two rounds the members of the men’s national team will be otherwise engaged in King City, Canada. Voorburg, Kampong and Hermes-DVS are the clubs most severely affected, while HBS and VRA suffer to a lesser extent. HCC, Rotterdam and VOC get off scot-free, none of their players having made the selection. Apart from the implications for the competition, there is something to celebrate heartily in the fact that the three new call-ups, Cedric de Lange, Olivier Elenbaas and Alex Roy, are all Dutch-produced – hearty congratulations to all three from Tkcricket!

RL: The national selectors have deprived Voorburg of four of their top five batters for their visit to Craeyenhout on Saturday to face HBS, while the home side will be without new-ball bowler Kyle Klein and (on paper at least, since he’s only played one game so far), Roelof van der Merwe. It’s probably not entirely coincidental, therefore, that Voorburg have fielded 19 different players in eight games so far, although it may be a 20th, Nirav Kulkarni, who needs to step up from the Seconds, where he has been the club’s leading run-scorer, to reinforce the top order. With three wins to date, the Crows have moved clear of an immediate relegation threat, and there can be no doubt that they have the bowling strength to trouble a second-string Voorburg batting line-up. Their own batting has been a bit more hit-and-miss, but in Tayo Walbrough, Lehan Botha, Kent Goedeke and Lucas Del Bianco they have the potential to trouble a Voorburg attack whose form has been distinctly variable. Goedeke, though, has settled in well, and is their leading wicket-taker with 15 at 24.27; Botha, on the other hand, has been relatively quite with only four wickets in eight outings, three of them in one match against Kampong in the season’s opening round.

BdJ: It is indeed rather uneven swathe cut by the selectors’ scythe, and once again it’s the tall poppies at VCC that suffer. While the second-team stalwarts that have occasionally turned out in the Topklasse this season have generally done themselves credit, though more often with ball than bat, and Voorburg replace the whole top four. Tom de Leede’s been going well as a pure bat for the twos, Waseem Mohsen’s made runs at the top for the seconds too, and the overlooked Michael Rippon could be perhaps be pushed up the order. It will be a makeshift top order though, and the crucial question will be whether the Crows have the bowling to take advantage.

RL: The schedule could scarcely have been kinder to VOC Rotterdam, who face Kampong Utrecht this week and Voorburg next, while they are without their internationals. The absence of Scott Edwards, Max O’Dowd and skipper Alex Roy will make a big dent in the eleven of the defending champions and current leaders, but they gave a hint of their thinking by including Ajinkya More in last week’s side, and with Vikram Chaturvedi also making runs and taking wickets in the Seconds they should still be able to put out a competitive team. (It would also be an ideal moment for Lorenzo Ingram to return from injury.) Whether that will be enough to overcome VOC at the Hazelaarweg remains to be seen: it’s telling that the Bloodhounds have conceded 300-plus three times this season and only passed 200 three times themselves, and even without their stars Kampong are likely to prove a handful for a Rotterdam side in which Jason van der Meulen has too often received too little support. Roman Harhangi and Asief Hoseinbaks are their most consistent performers with the ball, but an unsettled top order simply hasn’t been producing enough runs, and if Shashank Kumar can get amongst them they may find things little easier on Saturday.

BdJ: Kampong have happily muddled through without Edwards and O’Dowd in the past, though the absence of Lane Berry coupled with Ingram’s sidelining already means the blow will fall a little heavier, and the loss of skipper Alex Roy to Oranje is an entirely new obstacle. The bowling stocks are less of a concern though, especially as Pierre Jacod didn’t make the cut for the Dutch side yet. There will be pressure on the Bloodhounds too, knowing they have a rare chance to knock over the table-toppers while they’re below strength. VOC’s bats have managed only six half-centuries between them so far this season, and one suspects they’ll need to better that average if they’re to take points off the title-holders.

RL: Untroubled by the call of the national selectors, Rotterdam will be at home to a Hermes-DVS side minus skipper Sebastiaan Braat, recalled to the orange colours, as well as fellow-allrounders Aryan Dutt and Olivier Elenbaas. What would already have been a big ask has therefore become considerably tougher, with the best part of thirty overs eviscerated from the Sky Blues’ attack. Playing in the Tweede Klasse, which is where the Hermes Seconds currently reside, can scarcely be viewed as adequate preparation for a call-up to the Topklasse (I simply do not understand the clubs’ resistance to a return of the Reserve Topklasse), and it may be that the Schiedammers will need to make a further call on their Belgian contingent. Rotterdam, on the other hand, have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to make even full-strength attacks suffer, and they were further strengthened last week by the appearance of left-hander Abdul Rehman Niazi, a youngster with inter-provincial experience at youth level in Pakistan. Barring a quite remarkable turnaround, this looks like one of the easier results to pick this week.

BdJ: The question of whether playing for Karachi Zone II under-19s constitutes “provincial level” (or indeed “representative under 19s”) is perhaps best left to the philosophers – or whoever has the unenviable task of filling out the player points sheet – but with Carl Mumba and the surprisingly-not-in-Canada Saqib Zulfiqar expected to return next week, Rotterdam will have the luxury of a full roster to choose from. Conversely, for Hermes the loss of Braat and Elenbaas will be at least as much a problem on the batting side of things. The pair are currently leading the batting averages for the Sky Blues, with the Hermes top three thus far failing to live up to past performance or early promise. It will likely take at least one (ideally all three) of Ostling, Doyle-Calle or Rushmere to have an old-fashioned day out for Hermes to keep pace with a Rotterdam batting card that has (bar the very occasional misfire) been firing on more than enough cylinders this season.

RL: Cricket, they say, is a team game played by individuals, and in that respect there is a stark contrast between VRA Amsterdam and their opponents in the Bos on Saturday, HCC. The Lions may not currently have any internationals in their ranks, but they have cohered admirably as a team, with the reconstructed four-man seam attack of Josh Brown, Daniel Crowley, Justin Trijzelaar and Thijs Vrolijk, backed up by the spin of Clayton Floyd and Teun Kloppenburg, arguably the most effective bowling unit in the competition. Their hosts, by contrast, will be missing their newly-emerged pace spearhead, Vikramjit Singh, who in addition to his 23 wickets at 12.48 has also moved into third place in the batting aggregates with 368 runs at 46.00. They will sorely miss his all-round input, although their spin department of Teja Nidamanuru, Darsh Abhinay, Udit Nashier and Shariz Ahmad – and as of last Saturday, Sam Cassidy – is a distinct asset, especially given the relatively generous dimensions of VRA’s home ground. The batting has been reinforced with the return of Johan Smal, but Singh’s spot at the top of the order is tough to fill. As against that, the introduction of Lovepreet Padda has added solidity to the top order, but he and the rest of the VRA top six will face a stern test against Brown & Co.

BdJ: VRA may only be providing one player to the Dutch national team this time round, but they’re effectively losing two in Singh, who is both their lead scorer and the league’s lead wicket-taker this season. The runs may be replaceable, Shereyas Potdar has made a case in the twos for the opening slot in Singh’s absence, Jack Cassidy has filled that role in the past, and the existing top order is solid enough on paper. But a ready replacement as seam spearhead is less apparent. Sharad Hake has been more steady than incisive with the new ball, while Ashir Abid has likewise looked a bit off the boil in the seconds – at least when not bowling at Hercules. Singh’s fiver-fer and fifty when the two sides last met pretty much delivered VRA the win single-handed, and it will take a substantial turnaround in form for the Amsterdammers to take the points on Saturday without him.

RL’s picks: HBS, Kampong, Rotterdam, HCC
BdJ’s picks: Voorburg, Kampong, Rotterdam, HCC

Bertus de Jong &Rod Lyall | 28-05-2026
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May it may still be (though one wouldn’t have guessed it given the sweltering temperatures) but the front-loading of the fifty over competition this season means we’re somehow already at the mid-point of the 2026 Topklasse, and fair to say the competition, too, is heating up. Four rounds in a fortnight has seen early frontrunners RCC stumble and sometime stragglers surge up the table, with both title and relegation races wide open at the half-way stage.

BdJ: After a slow start to the season Voorburg currently have their noses in front, but will face a stern test when they take on HCC at De Diepput. With seven points from their last four matches VCC look the form team in the competition at the minute, with league lead-scorer Cedric de Lange and skipper Noah Croes reliably churning out runs, and the totemic Bas de Leede also in good nick with the bat. Voorburg were pushed hard in most of those games however, and the bowling side of things still looks unsettled. Michael Rippon’s comparatively quiet season so far remains something of a concern, and the new frontrunners still don’t look clear on their best attack. Their opponents meanwhile will be coming off the back of a confidence-boosting win at the Zomercomplex, well in touch with the top of the table. That’s thanks in no small part to the understated return to form of Tonny Staal at the top of the order, reliably chipping in 30s and 40s despite the lack of a settled opening partner. Teun Kloppenburg’s promotion to the role last week was a success in that regard, and on that may be worth persisting with. Their middle order wobble against Rotterdam still betrays a certain vulnerability, and all told an HCC win on Saturday would still be an upset, but perhaps not a shock.

RL: Extraordinarily, Voorburg have fielded twenty players in seven matches, and this might suggesr some uncertainty about the best combination. The core is stable enough, although Mees van Vliet’s nightmare against Kampong (especially in combination with the absence of Jaynul Islam) will be a cause of concern, And with the departure of the national team for Canada looming, Voorburg will suffer a good deal more than most: much of that core will be unavailable for a couple of vital rounds. All the more important, then, that they make sure of the points against HCC, who are clearly emerging as challengers to the top three. The Lions, on the other hand, will be extremely keen to further close the gap on the leaders, and even without the injured Hidde Overdijk and the ill Teun Leijer they have assembled an impressive attack, into which Justin Trijzelaar and Thijs Vrolijk have slotted well. They are certainly capable of unsettling Voorburg’s top order, and they will need to do so if HCC are to take the points.

BdJ: Defending champions Kampong will be poised to take advantage should VCC slip up, but their own fixture against HBS Craeyenhout at Maarschalkerweerd hardly looks the foregone conclusion one might have imagined at the start of the season. While Kampong have stayed within shouting distance of the top spot thanks in large part to a steady bowling unit and the form of Pierre Jacod and Dutch skipper Scott Edwards, they don’t look quite the force they were last season. Meanwhile the Crows have won three from three in their last four games (eliding the incomplete and unresolved unpleasantness at the Zomercomplex) buoyed last week by the return of Heino Kuhn and Roelof van der Merwe to Topklasse competition. While Kuhn didn’t have quite the impact he might have hoped with the bat, van der Merwe certainly did, and if the pair can be called upon more regularly HBS’ prospects look a good deal better, especially given Lehan Botha’s form and the hints that Tayo Walbrugh’s horror early season may be behind him.

RL: With one notable exception neither Damien van den Berg nor Max O’Dowd has been able to give the Kampong innings a decent start, and without last year’s Lane Berry or, at present, the injured Lorenzo Ingram, the top and middle order has looked vulnerable, despite useful contributions from Karel Vieler at three and the dependability of Jacod and Edwards. The bowlers have, as m’colleague says, saved their blushes somewhat, but they will need to get rid of Walbrugh and Botha early if they are to contain an HBS line-up which successfully chased down 282 on Monday. The Crows’ middle-order, with Kent Goedeke and Lucas del Bianco, has been firing well, though, and although their bowling unit was able to make no impression on Ash Ostling and Daniel Doyle in that game, they have the potential to trouble Kampong,

BdJ: Meanwhile at the bottom of the table, where Hermes DVS unexpectedly find themselves, the Sky Blues welcome VOC Rotterdam to the Loopuyt Oval. Hermes’ 136-run opening win over the Bloodhounds remains their only victory of the season, though their three-point tally probably isn’t a fair reflection of the quality of the cricket they’ve played. The return to form of the prolific opening pairing of Ostling and Doyle last week just happened to coincide with a sub-par outing for the rest of the order, and that’s arguably been pretty typical of their season so far. VOC meanwhile have been battling commendably throughout and finally found some reward last week with a win over VRA, with young Roman Harhangi and the veteran Ahsan Malik again the stand-outs. Hermes remain much the stronger side on paper, but VOC have been playing closer to potential of late, despite an unsteady early season.

RL: To be fair, the Hermes middle order sacrificed itself on Monday in the search for quick runs, but it’s not the first time the Sky Blues have collapsed after an outstanding start, and with David Rushmere struggling to reproduce his brilliant debut the batting has generally been less than overwhelming. The attack, too, has lacked bite in a season where the batters have generally been in charge, its best effort probably dismissing Voorburg for 228 in a match that was eventually tied. Sahil Kothari and Sebastiaan Braat have been their most successful bowlers, and skipper Braat has made valuable runs as well, but the side will haave to lift itself in the back-half of the season, starting with this must-win game against fellow relegation-candidates VOC. The Bloodhounds pulled off a remarkable last-minute win against VRA, and they will know that a win here would greatly ease those pressures.

BdJ: Finally VRA Amsterdam welcome Rotterdam CC to the Bos, with both sides coming off the back of a tough run of results. Rotterdam’s scarcely believable collective early form with the bat was not enough against Voorburg, and then seemingly deserted them entirely when they were skittled for 120 by HCC on Monday. That said, the fact that their average score batting 50 remains north of 300 will be playing on the minds of a VRA side that gave up 338 against them in the season opener and who themselves have gone winless for four rounds. The Amsterdammers have suffered a series of close defeats despite getting into winning positions, and despite flashes of form from all of the top order it’s been rare for all or even most to fire at once. The bowling also remains a concern, as while league lead wicket-taker Vikram Singh is having a revelatory season with the ball the rest of the attack has looked rather innocuous, leaving a tricky forty overs to fill.

RL: It would be stretching credibility to the limit to suggest that Rotterdam might collapse in a heap two matches in a row, especially since their opposition this week lacks the incisiveness of HCC’s bowling unit. For Musa Ahmad, Shoaib Minhas and Mohsin Riaz to assemble ten runs between them is close to unheard of, and it’s a lot to ask of VRA’s new-found spearhead Vikram Singh to repeat that blitz. But VRA are something of an enigma: with the introduction of Lovepreet Padda and the return of Johan Smal the batting looks a lot more solid, but the side has displayed a notable ability to conjure defeats from winning situations, and they will really need to cast off that tendency if they are to get their campaign back on track. With only two partnerships of 75+ in seven matches, their batting has been as vulnerable as their bowling; Rotterdam, at the other end of the scale, have had seven, in six completed innings.

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BdJ’s picks: Voorburg, Kampong, Hermes, Rotterdam
RL’s picks: Voorburg, HBS, Hermes, Rotterdam.

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong | 20-05-2026

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Slowly but surely, this eight-team competition seems to be resolving itself into a top-three and a bottom-three, with HCC and VRA caught somewhere in the middle, but perhaps more likely to be clinging to the coat tails of the leaders than to be sinking into relegation territory. Their fortunes have contrasted sharply in recent games, with HCC posting relatively comfortable victories while VRA have twice fallen just short. Hard to believe there are only two rounds left before we reach the halfway mark!

RL: One game which will play a part in deciding HCC’s direction is their meeting with Kampong at De Diepput on Saturday. The Lions have slipped quietly into the top four (not that that means anything these days – remember when being on the lefthand-side of the Teletekst page was a thing?) by virtue of their three straight victories and VRA’s two recent defeats. Kampong aren’t quite the side they were last year, but Scott Edwards’ imperious form, coupled with Max O’Dowd’s first big innings of the season last week and a varied, hard-working attack, have kept them in the hunt. The injury Lorenzo Ingram sustained against Hermes will be a concern, as will the way in which they allowed the Sky Blues to get themselves off the hook. HCC, on the other hand, will be boosted by the successful return after a 16-year gap of Bob Entrop, who certainly strengthened a sometimes-indifferent middle order against VOC. But the Lions’ real trump card is their bowling unit, even without its leader Hidde Overdijk. Hard to pick this one, but the momentum seems to be with the home side.

BdJ: While the defending champions have not quite recaptured their form from the back end of last season, they’ve done enough to keep mostly winning, in no small part thanks to the unfaltering form of the Dutch captain. If Edwards can renew his productive partnership Max O’Dowd at club level the defending champions will begin looking something like the sum of their enviable parts. Yet while the celebrated HCC seam attack has looked a little light without Overdijk, the spin section have been impressive and the success of the likes of Entrop and Trijzelaar stepping up to the ones demonstrates an enviable depth at de Diepput. Kampong will take some containing though, especially with Damien van den Berg now also finding some form in the pro-series. While HCC should never be counted out at home, I’d still make the title-holder marginal favourites in this one.

RL: Just ahead of Kampong on net run rate, Voorburg entertain a Hermes-DVS side which put up a spirited fight against Alex Roy’s outfit before eventually succumbing. One of the problems at Westvliet seems to be sorting out the best eleven from their wide range of choices: they’ve used 17 players already in five games, more than any other team, but on the positive side that’s partly due to the return from injury of Bas de Leede, who proved his value to the side with his 85 against VRA. Young seamer Farhaad Khawaja made a promising debut in that game, but this week much will doubtless depend on Voorburg’s ability to claim early wickets, Ash Ostling and Daniel Doyle-Calle having been somewhat less consistent this year than they have been in the past. David Rushmere remains an enigma: having hit a record 169 in the opening match, he has managed just 17 runs in four innings since, and Hermes will be hoping he can find something of that initial form a.s.a.p., and help them escape the lower reaches of the table they currently inhabit.

BdJ: Fair to say that “spoilt for choice” or “an embarrassment of riches” are among the more surmountable problems a Topklasse side may face, but so long as Bas de Leede isn’t bowling the ideal make-up of the attack does seem to be vexing the villagers. Khawaja is, somewhat absurdly, the 12th bowler used by VCC in five games, and his return of 1-69 in 10 thus far is unlikely to cement his place. The batting side looks a bit more settled, and young Cedric de Lange’s form at the top of the Voorburg card has surely been the story of the comp to date, if only as the most prominent example of a general trend of home-grown talent coming into their own this season. Hermes’ own top order, expected to be a strength ahead of the season, has (eliding what looks increasingly like a flash-in-the-pan innings from Rushmere) been outscored by seam all-rounders Elenbaas and Braat. While we’ve probably not seen the best of either side this season, Voorburg’s conundrums look the more solvable.

RL: Part of the reason for the elevated position of the two leaders, of course, is the unfortunate ludus interruptus at the Zomercomplex last Saturday, which means that pending a decision by the KNCB Rotterdam have played a game fewer as they head to Hazelaarweg to take on VOC in the first Rotterdam derby of the season. This looks on paper to be the easiest result to pick: the Bloodhounds are at the foot of the table on NRR, while Rotterdam’s only defeat so far has been in that rain-reduced, run-soaked encounter with Voorburg on Ascension Day. But runs were hard to come by when HCC visited Schiebroek last week, and that could conceivably put a brake on the run-scoring capacity of the Rotterdam top order. The VOC attack, worthy as it is, will need to take full advantage, though, if they are to keep their visitors down to a chaseable total, or defend whatever their own less-than-rampant batting line-up is able to assemble.

BdJ: It’s often hard to gauge the extent to which off-field issues are likely to affect a side, but while VOC’s seemingly quiet disposal of two skippers this season doesn’t seem to have unduly hampered their performance, the apparent – and recurrent – crowd (self)control problems at the Zomercomplex do look likely to cost Rotterdam points. Yet while conditions at Hazelaarweg are unlikely to play to Rotterdam’s strengths, the top-order are hardly strangers to the place and have looked cpapable of running up big scores anywhere, anytime. A VOC victory, even at home, woulkd be the upset of the round for sure, though loyal readers will of course rememeber what happened the last time I said that…

RL:HBS will need to be at their very best to overcome VRA Amsterdam when they take them on at Craeyenhout. Although Tayo Walbrugh’s return to form against Rotterdam and the continued success of Lucas del Bianco are welcome signs, their 226 last Saturday was probably short of what they needed against Sikander Zulfiqar’s side at the Zomercomplex, and this week they face in-form new new-ball bowler, the season’s leading wicket-taker, Vikram Singh. Nor will they have forgotten what he can do with the bat: three years ago he smashed a 71-ball 155 as VRA posted 455 for eight on this ground before collecting four for 81 as HBS replied with 398. We shouldn’t anticipate such record-breaking excesses this time, but Craeyenhout is a good place to bat, and whoever bats first will need to set a substantial total. Neither side has yet found much consistency with the bat – VRA admittedly hampered by the absence of Johan Smal – but in different ways both badly need to take the points here.

BdJ: Twenty-three years old does seem a little young for a career renaissance, but then Vikram Singh is nothing if not precocious. Bouncing back after being dropped from the national side last year, Singh is currently in pole position for League MVP, and in the face of stiff competition at that. Yet VRA, too, have looked unsure of their best 11 though, unsure as to where the raft of newcomers ought to be playing. Singh’s form with the ball has partially covered what remains the glaring gap in the seam section left by Fletcher and Ruffel, while the top order would look unsettled even without the loss of Smal to injury. HBS have had their own issues this season of course, though it’s remarkable how many of them would look at least half-solved if Kyle Klein can stay fit and Tayo Walbrugh’s form returns for good.

RL’s tips: HCC, Voorburg, Rotterdam, VRA
BdJ’s tips: Kampong, Voorburg, Rotterdam, VRA