Asides

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 23/08/19

So we arrive at the denouement of this season’s Topklasse, the championship decided last week with Excelsior reclaiming the title with a convincing win over an understrength Dosti side, and all that remains to be resolved is which of Quick and Sparta will be replaced by Punjab Rotterdam next season.

BdJ: Sparta 1888 still need a win, a tie or a washout against HCC at Bermweg on Sunday to be sure of their Topklasse survival, having failed to put the question to bed when they sank to a 64-run loss against relegation rivals Quick Haag last week. Though Andrew Fletcher has finally found some form after a disappointing season, Max Hoornweg’s progress has proved sufficient to catch the eye of national selectors and Mudassar Bukhari is bowling as well as ever, going up against the second-placed HCC is an unenviable final fixture for a side in Sparta’s position. The Cappelle side has won just one match in the second half of the season, whilst HCC are six from eight. The form of Bryce Street has been a major factor in HCC’s success thus far, currently leading the batting averages as well as boasting 20 wickets and 15 catches so far this season. Adam Wiffen has had a fine season with the bat, and comes off a couple of solid performances for Netherlands A against Jersey in the past week. It’s been an all-round effort from HCC to keep in the title hunt for as long as they did however, and Sparta will have to hope that they arrive at Bermweg somewhat deflated after falling short in the quest for the championship.

RL: No question that HCC have the edge over Sparta, who were distinctly the weaker party in their match against Quick Haag last week. They do have a potential match-winner in Mudassar Bukhari, who shares the season’s leading wicket-taker spot with Dosti’s Kuldeep Diwaan at 32, and who remains a threatening presence in the batting line-up. Sparta are, of course, a tougher proposition at home, where their bowlers are a more imposing unit than elsewhere, but HCC’s batting is both strong and relatively deep; although Hidde Overdijk didn’t come off last Sunday he is also capable of scoring quickly should circumstances demand it. Sparta will want to ensure that events at Westvliet are irrelevant to their survival, but it will take a much improved effort if they are end their season with a win.

BdJ: Also in contention for the wooden spoon are Quick Haag, currently languishing at the bottom of the table on 9 points from 17 games. They will need both HCC to best Sparta on Sunday as well as taking two points home themselves when they face VCC at Westvliet. Their win over Sparta last week kept their hopes alive one more week, though it again rather underscored the importance of Jay Bista to the side. Though Bob van Gigch and Jeroen Brand came through with half-centuries in support, it was Bista’s six wickets in the second innings that sealed the win. That said, VCC will not have forgotten the 194 that the Mumbaiker racked up against them in their previous encounter. Though one might hope Quick will be the more motivated of the two sides come Sunday, VCC bounced back from a string of poor results to find an unlikely last ball win away at VRA last week, perhaps enjoying some cricket with the pressure off.

RL: One of the season’s great enigmas is Voorburg’s failure to have a more significant impact on their return to the Topklasse: they have undoubtedly missed the contribution of Bas de Leede, but their batting has consistently been unable to fulfil its promise and they have only intermittently shown what they ought to be capable of. Quick, on the other hand, demonstrated last week that even without Geert Maarten Mol they can produce a convincing effort when it is needed, and it will never be more acutely needed than it is this week at Westvliet. They could turn on another winning performance only to find that Sparta have squeezed them out; but they know that without such a performance it won’t matter what happens in Capelle. Voorburg have the bowlers to cut through Quick’s batting, but if the latter show the resilience they did against Sparta this is a relegation battle which could go all the way to the wire.

BdJ: Meanwhile VRA have the chance to put a bit of a downer on the party at Thurlede when they take on the newly-crowned <b.Excelsior ‘20. Despite a rather sloppy performance against VCC that saw them concede some 29 extras and eventually the game, they remain entirely capable of bringing the champions down to earth. The loss of Quirijn Gunning to injury takes some of the sting from the attack, but on the batting side of things the Amsterdammers are beginning to live up to their paper strength. Vikram Singh continues to mature, crossing 500 runs for the season last week and looking in good nick for Netherlands A, and together with Peter Borren and Ben Cooper VRA now have three players with 500 runs to their name, whilst Excelsior, quite remarkably, have none. That stat is of course something of a testament to Excelsior’s strength in the field, and indeed the Schiedam side has looked more than the sum of its parts throughout the season.

RL: Brenton Parchment and Lorenzo Ingram may have had relatively quiet seasons for Excelsior with the bat, but they are massive presences in the side, and their efforts in the field far outweigh their mere statistics. With skipper Tom Heggelman and Rens van Troost in great form with the ball the Schiedammers’ demolition of Dosti last week was a fitting climax to their pursuit of the title, but the whole team will be keen to ensure that the season doesn’t end in anti-climax at home to VRA. The Amsterdam side are, of course, extremely dependent on a few outstanding players, including the rapidly-emerging Singh, and their batting will provide a stiff test for Excelsior’s attack.

BdJ: What remains for the rest is mid-table positional play, though for last year’s champions VOC Rotterdam even a top-five finish is more than they can now hope for. They welcome fourth-placed HBS Craeyenhout to Hazelaarweg on Sunday, though one expects both sides will be more concerned with events the preceding day when they contest the final round of the T20 competition along with ACC and HCC. One suspects if one side or other can carry some momentum in from Saturday’s contest at VCC it may prove decisive for the final 50-over contest of the season for these two underperforming sides.

RL: Every game of cricket matters, or ought to, and there will at least be pride at stake when HBS take on VOC on Sunday. Some of the individual battles, too, are intriguing: HBS’s battery of seamers against O’Dowd, Seelaar and Edwards, for example, and Seelaar’s spin against that powerful HBS batting line-up. If that suggests that HBS have the edge in both departments that’s because they do, but if VOC’s international trio perform as they are capable of doing, or other key team-members like Dirk van Baren and Bobby Hanif play their part, then this could be a closer match than form indicates.

BdJ: And finally ACC, who rather fell away after making the early running in the Topklasse, will take on the wildly erratic Dosti-United at Het Loopveld, again largely for bragging rights. ACC staged something of a resurgence after their late season slump, besting HBS at De Diepput last week to ensure they’d finish top of the Amsterdam clubs this season, whilst Dosti collapsed to 61 all-out against Excelsior to hand the Schiedammers the title on a platter. Dosti were rather understrength last week, with Kohli long gone and Bali and Davids also absent, but there is little indication they will field a substantially stronger outfit come Saturday. Though both Vinoo Tewarie and Rahil Ahmed have stepped up on occasion to produce some fine innings over the season, Dosti will need both to fire and the rest of the regulars to offer some support if they’re to finish on a high this season.

RL: It’s been a difficult season for Dosti, and not only in the Topklasse, and this was underlined very firmly by last week’s disappointing effort against Excelsior. With Amitoze Singh also missing from the teamsheet and Waheed Masood forced out of the attack after bowling just ten deliveries, the attrition of resources is reaching critical levels, while ACC’s roller-coaster season has at last seen the emergence of some of their younger talents, especially Aryan Kumar and, to a degree, Shirase Rasool. But Brady Barends has been the star of their show, and with the Zulfiqar brothers making runs last week they look a much more impressive outfit than they did a month or so ago.

Bertus de Jong’s tips: HCC, VCC, VRA, HBS, ACC

Rod Lyall’s tips: HCC, Quick, Excelsior, HBS, ACC.

With just two rounds left to play, both the ultimate destination of the trophy and who will play in the Hoofdklasse next season remain in doubt, although both questions could be resolved this Sunday. There will be time once the dust has settled to debate whether this reflects positively on the current competition structure and the eligibility rules, but for the moment attention will be centred on Sportpark Drieburg, De Diepput and Nieuw Hanenburg, where crucial battles are scheduled to be fought.

RL: Needing just one more win to make sure of the title, Excelsior ‘20 travel to Amsterdam to take on Dosti United, whose convincing victory over Voorburg last Sunday demonstrated that they are still a force to be reckoned with. With Kuldeep Diwan not only the competition’s leading wicket-taker but also adding great destructive power to the lower order, the Amsterdammers are more capable than most of testing the nerve of Tom Heggelman’s side, and once again a great deal may depend on the toss. Both teams are more effective batting first, though for different reasons: Dosti can set challenging targets, while Excelsior have proved outstanding at defending modest ones. Excelsior haven’t lost since the end of May, but if Dosti win the toss they might just find themselves needing to win their final match at Thurlede to clinch the championship.
BdJ: Excelsior still have two shots at reclaiming the title, but nice as it would be to bag it in front of a home crowd they’ll be keen to put the competition to bed come Sunday rather than letting it come down to the last-round with a resurgent VRA headed to Thurlede. It’s worth noting though that Excelsior’s recent successes in defence of modest totals has come against sides that still had skin in the game, so to speak. It may be a tougher ask to apply that same pressure to a Dosti side with nothing in particular on the line. Even without Taruwar Kohli Dosti’s batting line up has proved capable of running up serious scores, though if Excelsior can maintain the expemplary disciplinethat’s got them this far they’re still odds-on to take home the silverware on Sunday.

RL: For second-placed HCC it is no longer enough to see off VOC Rotterdam; they must hope that Dosti do them a favour as well. Perhaps thrown off their stride somewhat by the collapse of Dirk van Baren, the Rotterdammers fell apart against Sparta last Sunday despite another half-century from Pieter Seelaar, and there must be serious doubts about their attack’s ability to contain an HCC line-up in which Tonny Staal, Adam Wiffen, Bryce Street and now Hidde Overdijk are all among the runs, the latter ending the season with a flourish with the bat, as he began it with the ball. VOC’s chances will depend, again, on whether Max O’Dowd, Seelaar and Scott Edwards are able to match HCC’s growing confidence with the bat, but De Diepput’s tight square boundaries will offer both sides plenty of incentive for some hard hitting.
BdJ: HCC’s championship hopes have indeed slipped out of their hands now, but VOC’s title defence never really got started. The focus of the European Champions, one suspects, has turned to the T20 competition through which they’ll be looking to book a ticket back to La Manga. Nonetheless they remain a formidable 50-over side when their trio of internationals fire, and will of course be the less nervy of the two sides on Sunday. The return of Bobby Hanif has gone some way toward shoring up VOC’s attack after the departure of Fletcher, but despite a creditable first season at Rotterdam for Ashiqullah Said the absence of Fred Klaassen is still keenly felt. If Excelsior are to take the title this weekend, one suspects they’ll have to win it themselves.

RL: Sparta 1888’s defeat of VOC last week relieved the pressure on them a little, but Quick Haag could still overhaul them – by 0.02 of a point – by winning their last two matches, including the clash between the two sides on Sunday, if the Capelle side also lost to HCC the following week. Sparta again owed a lot to Mudassar Bukhari, whose 71 and four for 36 was a fine all-round effort, and they will need him to be at his best again this week to neutralise the danger of Jay Bista, whose importance for Quick’s hopes of survival is even greater. There are plenty of reasons why these two sides are at the foot of the table, but one must hope that the immediate prospect of relegation will inspire them to raise their game at Nieuw Hanenburg on Sunday and produce a match worthy of the top flight.
BdJ: The weight of carrying Quick’s survival hopes on his shoulders seems to be finally taking its toll on Bista, whose run-a-ball fifty against VRA last week looked streakier than usual and again proved insufficient to set up a win. Though Geert-Maarten Mol has again been offering Bista steady support over the season the Hanen nonetheless find themselves in a worst position even than last year, Sparta having stolen a march on them last round and now needing two wins and a little luck if they are to avoid relegation. Neutral fans may be hoping for a Quick win for the sake of the competition, setting up a potential championship/relegation decider at Bermweg in the final round, whilst keeping fully three of the final five fixtures relevant to the title or relegation, but the most likely outcome on form at least is that both will be settled this Sunday.

RL: Despite their rather hollow defeat by Excelsior last week, HBS Craeyenhout could still finish as runners-up if results go their way in the final two rounds, and they will welcome Tobias Visée back from his Canadian exploits for their match against ACC — again scheduled for the second ground at De Diepput. Both these sides have fallen upon hard times in recent weeks after a storming start to the campaign, but they include some of the undoubted stars of the season: Brady Barends for ACC, for example, and Sharn Gomes and Wesley Barresi, as well as Visée, for HBS. The HBS seam attack, Farshad Khan excepted, underperformed against Excelsior, and ACC’s inexplicably fragile top order will be hoping that the same applies this week. If not, it may take more heroics from Barends and Sikander Zulfiqar with the bat to keep the Amsterdammers in the hunt.
BdJ: Both HBS and ACC have looked rather deflated after falling out of contention for the top spot, though it’s difficult to guage how much that has been due to the absence of Toby Visée and Jean Marais at the top of their respective batting orders.The return of the HBS captain after a typically enterprising display at the GT20 will be a boost for HBS, though with three of the top four scorers in the league also to be found in the Crows’ line up one would think a big innings from the skipper looks like a sufficient but not necessary condition for victory.

RL: Quick’s defeat by VRA saved Voorburg from any remaining threat of a quick return to the Hoofdklasse, and they will travel to the Amsterdamse Bos on Sunday knowing that this is a game on which relatively little is riding. For their hosts, however, there is a real possibility that despite their appalling start to the season they could still finish in the top half of the table, having won six of their nine games since Peter Borren resumed the captaincy. On paper it’s a lopsided contest: Voorburg’s tottering batting against a limited VRA attack, VRA’s potentially powerful line-up of Singh, Szwarczynski, Cooper and Borren against a more than useful Voorburg bowling unit. The momentum is decidedly with the home side, and despite Voorburg’s win at Westvliet back in June it would come as something of a surprise if they were to take the points this time.
BdJ: It’s perhaps a surprise that there’s nothing but bragging rights on the line at this game in the end, with both sides starting the season widely regarded as potential title contenders and then both looking like relegation candidates by five games in. VCC did the hard work to put distance between themselves and the wooden spoon in the mid-season, whilst VRA left it a little later. Both sides are now safe, but whilst VRA’s recent form has seen them win five of their last six games, VCC’s last victory came five rounds ago. That said, VRA’s already rickety attack will be further weakened by the loss of a lately in-form Quirijn Gunning, who is out for the rest of the season with a broken hand. An opportunity perhaps for an underperforming VCC line-up to repair their season averages, though given how Dosti dealt with the more celebrated VCC attack last week VRA’s batsmen may well be thinking the same thing.

Rod Lyall’s tips: Excelsior, HCC, Quick, HBS, VCC.
Bertus de Jong’s tips: Excelsior, HCC, Sparta, HBS, VCC.