Asides

Rod Lyall & Bertus de Jong 28/05/19

With four rounds of matches in the space of twelve days, starting with Thursday’s Ascension Day holiday, the Topklasse moves into its traditional burst of intensity which could have a key role in determining the ultimate shape of the table.

RL: With four wins out of four, HBS Craeyenhout will go into their derby with their neighbours in the Bosjes van Pex, Quick Haag, brimming with a confidence all the greater because of Quick’s indifferent form so far. If their attack made less impact than they might have hoped against a rather tottery VRA batting line-up, their four-man seam attack and pair of spinners have generally been an effective force, and they are likely to cause plenty of problems against a Quick side which, even with the addition of Jean Bredenkamp, has looked to be well short of Topklasse form. But they did manage to ambush VOC, and that may suggest that they have a better chance chasing than they do trying to set a target. That said, the HBS top six are a menacing prospect for any bowlers, and the odds favour the Craeyenhout outfit whoever gets first use of the wicket.

BdJ: The momentum’s certainly with the Crows as they welcome their local rivals to Craeyenhout, boasting a perfect record so far with Quick still looking for their second win. Bredenkamp’s cameo last week is understood to be a one-off, but Quick nonetheless head across the way appreciably strengthened by the arrival of last season’s MVP Jay Bista and fellow Mumbaiker Prathamesh Dake. Bista’s presence as batting linchpin will be a worry for the HBS bowling attack, which has generally been solid but uninspiring thus far, but whether Dake will have any more luck containing or removing the Crow’s explosive top-order than anyone else has so far is probably the crucial question hanging over the game.

RL: Having seen off the ACC challenge on Saturday, Excelsior ‘20 will travel to Hazelaarweg in good spirits for their meeting with VOC. The champions, though, will be greatly heartened by having their first points under their belt, and this game may prove to be as tough a battle as this match-up produced last season. The Schiedammers’ batting was again heavily dependent on their two overseas players against ACC, and Brenton Parchment’s efforts with the new ball were equally crucial in enabling them to seize the initiative in the field. VOC’s batting is, if anything, in somewhat rockier shape, and while the attack has benefited from the acquisition of Noman Kamawa Pieter Seelaar’s side is still some way short of the title-winning form they mustered last season.

BdJ: A tough one to call, this, with both sides looking much diminished since their title-winning days. The loss of Umar baker to their opponents coupled with Max O’Dowd’s as yet unrewarding switch to leg-spin has left VOC looking far more vulnerable at home, where last season their spin attack ensured they didn’t lose a game. Excelsior do indeed look rather dependent on their two Jamaican overseas, but then both Ingram and Parchment have looked entirely dependable so far. The defection of Baker means Excelsior have arguably the stronger slow-bowling attack this season, and though the youth graduates that helped win them two titles in a row seem to be in a collective slump at the moment they will fancy their chances against a VOC side in the midst of a rebuild.

RL: ACC, on the other hand, return to Het Loopveld for a match against Sparta 1888 which should give them an early opportunity to make amends for last Saturday’s defeat. Their surprise win over Excelsior apart, Sparta have been far from impressive so far, and it has been the efforts of Max Hoornweg, with 14 wickets at 12.36, which have been their most significant plus point. Andrew Fletcher’s battle to adapt to Dutch conditions (which has yielded him just 50 runs in four innings) must be a genuine source of concern at the Bermweg, but he is too good a player for this to continue for long. Even while losing to Excelsior the Amsterdammers did enough to confirm that their position at the top was no flash in the pan: they have a varied attack, and although their top order was hustled out in short order, the Zulfiqar brothers and Shirase Rasool (a modified re-formation of last season’s popular folk group) are unlikely to succumb so easily a second time.

BdJ: As some predicted, ACC’s run of wins came to an end at first sight of a turf wicket, and doubtless the Amsterdammers will be happy to feel the familiar mat under their feet again on Thursday. Their new acquisitions in Jean Marais and especially Brady Barends have proven shrewd ones, though it is the marked improvement of youngsters Rasoole and Kumar that has done the most to lift ACC stocks this season. That said, one has the feeling that Sparta’s best cricket is yet to come, and they have looked competitive across most of their games even as their overseas failed to really fire. It is reasonable to assume that at some stage the performance of Fletcher especially is bound to revert to the mean, and there’s no reason Thursday shouldn’t be the day. And given that I’ve called every single ACC match wrong so far, they’ll doubtless be delighted to hear that I’m picking Sparta to spring an upset at het Loopveld.

RL: The third of the teams jockeying for position a game behind the leaders, HCC are at home to Voorburg, a contest which brings Tom de Grooth and Philippe Boissevain back to De Diepput in the unfamiliar role of visitors. With Tonny Staal running into excellent form against Quick on Saturday HCC did not need to turn to Adam Wiffen, and Voorburg might look envyingly at the relatively prolific batting line-up of the home side. One cannot escape the feeling, however, that Voorburg’s travails with the bat are a temporary phenomenon, and that before long an opposing attack will be on the receiving end of their return to form. Their attack, certainly, is strong enough to defend any half-decent total, and they almost succeeded in defending a decidedly indecent one against VOC at the weekend. HCC’s bowlers, though, have disposed of VRA and Quick on their last two outings, and they will start as favourites to repeat the trick on Thursday.

BdJ: There’s no word as yet on whether the finger injury Wiffen sustained last week will keep him out on Thursday, but it will be a major blow to HCC’s hopes if it does. Though Staal, Street and Itagi all have runs under their belt this season, the HCC middle order has looked brittle when it has been tested, and with Kingma and Glover sharing the new ball for VCC early wickets are a safe bet. The question remains whether they will have much to bowl at, as the Voorburg batting line-up has looked equally suspect when the top order has failed. Indeed despite the overseas reinforcements they have called in, VCC have missed Bas de Leede in the middle order more than many had anticipated.

RL: The holiday schedule means that Dosti United, free of competition from Saturday football fixtures, are able to entertain VRA at Sportpark Drieburg. It’s a vital match for both sides: Dosti are two games behind the leaders and need to avoid falling back further, while their visitors have yet to post a win and are much in need of their first points. Vikram Singh’s maiden Topklasse century will have given them a boost, but they need runs from Ben Cooper (9 runs in three innings so far) as well as from Peter Borren and Eric Szwarczynski if they are to set challenging totals. Dosti are still in second gear, but if their four overseas players – who played a decisive role in the win over Sparta on Saturday – all fire at once we can look forward to some spectacular cricket from a side which has the potential to be serious title contenders.

BdJ: Though slow starts are something of a VRA tradition, it’s beginning to look as if the Bos-dwellers have stalled in the blocks this season, if you will pardon the mixed metaphor. One would expect what is on paper a strong batting unit to come good eventually, Szwarczynski, Borren and now Singh all have decent scores this season, as does Cooper if one looks beyond the Topklasse, but the bowling is perhaps more of a worry. VRA’s attack has not come close to bowling a side out, having managed just 8 wickets in total across three matches so far. With newcomers Graber and Long still waiting for their first Topklasse wickets and Gunning and Turmaine both at less than their best, one suspects Thursday will see Taruwar Kohli add to his growing tally of Topklasse centuries. VRA remain too good a side to go winless for long, but they may well manage another few days.

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

Rod Lyall 27/05/19

ACC suffered their first defeat of the season at Thurlede on Saturday, going down to Excelsior ’20 by 47 runs, while HBS hung on against a late challenge by VRA in the Amsterdamse Bos to win by 18 runs and move clear at the top of the table.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Excelsior ‘20 reached 221 for seven, thanks to a third-wicket partnership of 97 between Lorenzo Ingram and Brenton Parchment.

ACC pace man Brady Barends removed Roel Verhagen, restored to an opening slot after returning from injury, in his first over, and then came back to break the Ingram-Parchment stand by trapping Parchment in front after he had compiled an invaluable 45.

Helped by an aggressive cameo by Joost Kroesen, who made a rapid 22, Ingram went on to post his sixth Topklasse century. He faced 136 deliveries for his 102, including eight fours and three sixes, and when he departed just before the close he had seen his side safely past the 200 mark.

Skipper Saqib Zulfiqar cashed in in the final overs and took four for 46, but it was Barends who bowled with hostility throughout for figures of two for 47 and the spinners Devanchu Arya and Anis Raza, who conceded 29 and 30 respectively in their 10-over spells, who were the most impressive of the ACC attack.

ACC were soon in trouble when they replied, slumping to 47 for four, and when Sikander Zulfiqar, having made 27, was run out with the total on 88 their cause was effectively lost.

Raza held the innings together as best he could and reached his first Topklasse half-century to finish with an unbeaten 67, but he eventually ran out of partners, the innings closing on 174 in the 48th over. Parchment and Tom Heggelman claimed three wickets apiece for the Schiedammers.

HBS Craeyenhout again posted the highest total of the day, their 273 for two dominated by a stand of 160 for the second wicket by Zac Elkin and Sharn Gomes.

Gomes contributed 68, while Elkin batted throughout the innings for an unbeaten 116, made from 157 deliveries with six fours and three sixes.

Elkin’s knock was matched by that of VRA’s Vikram Singh, who at the age of 16 years 136 days became the youngest-ever centurion in the Dutch top flight, eclipsing the two-week old record set by ACC’s Shirase Rasool, who had been 22 days older when he performed the feat.

Unlike Elkin, however, Singh was unable to find someone to share a really decisive partnership: Peter Borren made 32 and skipper Emile van den Burg 21, but when Singh was eventually bowled by Wesley Barresi for 102, made from 147 balls with ten fours, VRA were still well adrift at 183 for six.

But keeper Mitch Lees was still there, and with some support from the tail he made a hard-hitting 51, hitting four sixes and bringing his team frustratingly close to what had been an extremely imposing target.

Barresi was the most successful of the HBS bowlers with three for 56, and the new-ball pairing of Berend Westdijk and Zak Gibson collected two wickets each.

HCC kept pace with the leading group by cruising to an eight-wicket victory over Quick Haag at Nieuw Hanenburg, with skipper Tonny Staal hitting an unbeaten 86 to enable his side to chase down a modest Quick total of 169.

Quick were strengthened by the advent of Namibian international Jean Bredenkamp, who played for them in 2017 and who anchored their innings with 55.

He did not receive much support, however, Quick’s top scorers otherwise being once again Geert Maarten Mol with 29 and Thijs van Schelven with 26, while for HCC Bryce Street took three for 44 and Ali Ahmed Qasim, Hidde Overdijk and Bharat Itagi claimed two wickets each.

Itagi and Staal then got HCC off to a lightning start, putting on 82 in just over twelve overs, and Street helped Staal maintain the momentum with a 37-ball 40 which took the visitors to the brink of victory.

Finishing the job in just 26.2 overs HCC did their net run rate a power of good in a season when that might just be important in sorting out the table at the end of August.

While still playing some way below what they are almost certainly capable of, Dosti United were decidedly too strong forSparta 1888 at Sportpark Bermweg.

Taruwar Kohli (36) and Amitoze Singh (54) contributed over half of the visitors’ total of 174, with Max Hoornweg again the principal wicket-taker for Sparta with four for 41. Andrew Fletcher backed him up well with three for 35.

Then Kuldeep Diwan (three for 19), Kohli (two for 12) and Anees Davids (two for 18) claimed seven Sparta wickets as Dosti ran through the home side’s batting, dismissing them for 113.

Atse Buurman again provided much of the resistance, top-scoring with 29, and it took a late rally by Joost Martijn Snoep and Manminder Singh to get Sparta’s total into three figures.

Defending champions VOC Rotterdam recorded their first win of the season at Westvliet, where Voorburg again performed poorly with the bat and collapsed to 135 all out.

It would have been even worse without a spirited knock of 44 from Viv Kingma, who came in with his team on 75 for six and almost immediately lost Noah Croes, who had made 31.

Kingma got Voorburg to 135 almost single-handedly, dominating a last-wicket stand of 47 with Stef Mulder.

VOC’s attack was reinforced by the inclusion of Belgian international Noman Kamawi, who took three for 12.

The Rotterdammers made heavy weather of their chase, with Kingma grabbing three quick wickets to reduce them to 48 for four, and it took some dogged batting from Pieter Seelaar (26) and Dirk van Baren (22) to get them over the line.

After an impressive opening-day victory promoted side Voorburg have now lost three on the trot, and unless their batsmen can reverse their current slump the Voorburgers could find themselves in a battle to avoid a speedy return to the Hoofdklasse.

Rod Lyall 20/05/19

The bowlers were back in control in Saturday’s third-round matches with only one side managing to get past 200, and Sparta 1888 and Quick Haag, previously winless, sprung surprises by beating Excelsior ’20 and defending champions VOC Rotterdam respectively.

The biggest upset came at Thurlede, where Sparta successfully defended a meagre total of 189, bowling the previously unbeaten home side out for 146.

Star of the show for Sparta was young Max Hoornweg – incidentally the grandson of former international pace man Ruud Onstein – who finished with career-best figures of seven for 36.

Hoornweg reduced Excelsior to 43 for three, including the key wickets of Lorenzo Ingram and Brenton Parchment, and then returned to clean up the tail.

Tim Etman again top-scored for Excelsior with a patient 45, but of the later batsmen only skipper Tom Heggelman with 31 showed any real sign of resistance.

Earlier, opener Garnett Tarr had led the way for Sparta with an 81-ball 61, the highest score of the match, while Andrew Fletcher showed the first signs of what he is capable of in making 32. Sohail Bhatti was the most successful of the Excelsior bowlers with three for 22, and there were two apiece for Heggelman and Ingram.

If VOC might have counted themselves a little unlucky to have been narrowly beaten by Dosti on the season’s opening day, there could be no doubts about their defeat by Quick Haag at Hazelaarweg on Saturday.

Their batting was unable to get going against a Quick attack still awaiting the arrival of its Indian reinforcements, and collapsed to 168 all out in just 38.3 overs.

Namibian Pieter Groenewald took three for 41, debutant Daniel Mason two for 34 and Thijs van Schelven two for 16 as VOC’s batsmen, despite mostly getting a start, were unable to build a competitive score.

Lesley Stokkers began the chase aggressively, making a 52-ball 45, and although they lost four wickets along the way Quick, judging the tempo perfectly, completed the win with more than five overs to spare, Rupert Young following up his century last week with a measured 34.

The old adage that there’s a big difference between an outstanding team on paper and an outstanding side on the field was vindicated twice this week.

At Het Loopveld Voorburg demonstrated, to their own chagrin, that last Saturday’s collapse against Excelsior was not an isolated event by falling apart even more comprehensively against a rampant ACC.

Put in to bat, the visitors lost skipper Tom de Grooth – one of four victims for ACC keeper Jean Marais – in the opening over before they had a run on the board, and Brady Barends went on to claim four more wickets to finish with five for 19 as Voorburg subsided to 84 all out.

Only Noah Croes (18) and Philippe Boissevain (20) reached double figures, while for ACC Devanshu Arya was also among the wickets with three for 15.

The Voorburg attack did their best to stage a spirited fightback, picking up six wickets as ACC chased down their modest target, but with Shirase Rasool compiling a mature 30 the home side made it within 25 overs, further improving their net run rate in the process.

In what was in many ways the most absorbing match of the day, HBS defeated Dosti United in a game of fluctuating fortunes, but it was the failure of Dosti’s threatening batting line-up to master the home side’s attack which produced a 66-run HBS victory.

Dosti’s bowlers, especially the spinners, had done well to hold the Crows to a total of 220 after they had been well placed on 119 for two after 27 overs, with Asief Hoseinbaks, Mahesh Hans and Kuldeep Diwan picking up seven wickets between them.

Although Diwan collected three wickets it was Hoseinbaks’ eight-over spell for figures of two for 25 which prevented the powerful HBS batting line-up from getting into top gear after Tobias Visée had given his side its usual rollicking start with a 21-ball 33.

Zac Elkin top-scored with 45 before hitting a return catch to Hoseinbaks, while Sharn Gomes contributed 39.

Backed up by outstanding fielding the HBS spinners, Wesley Barresi and Julian de Mey, also built the pressure when Dosti replied, and with five wickets down for 57 and Taruwar Kohli and Amitoze Singh among those who had come and gone, the Dosti cause was effectively lost.

Diwan played a defiant hand for his 37, but as he began to run out of partners he became one of several Dosti batsmen to hole out at deep midwicket, and the innings eventually closed on 154.

De Mey took three for 34, and there were two wickets apiece for Zak Gibson, Farshad Khan and debutant Benno Boddendijk.

VRA’s unhappy start to the season continued at De Diepput, where they lost to HCC by seven wickets after having been dismissed for 189.

The match was a personal triumph for HCC’s Bharat Itagi, who took three for 30 in the VRA innings and then guided his side to the brink of victory with 90.

Itagi shared a 103-run partnership for the third wicket with Bryce Street, who went on to complete the task and finish with an unbeaten 59.

The VRA total owed much to the contribution of former international Eric Szwarczynski, who made 61 before being run out, while Peter Borren, who had earlier become VRA’s all-time leading run-scorer, claimed two of the three HCC wickets to fall.

After an initial defeat by HBS HCC are beginning to look like a well-balanced outfit, and with Hidde Overdijk and Olivier Klaus also picking up key wickets on Saturday they can look forward with some confidence.