Asides

Season preview 2019 – Part 2

Bertus de Jong 03/05/2019

Logo HCCWith a youthful looking squad and an absent Jonathan Vandiar, HCC were more-or-less targetting a mid-table finish last season, and got it. The side is a year older this time round, and may revise their expectations upwards somewhat, even if rumours of Vandiar’s return proved only half-true (that is to say, he’s back in the country but headed to Punjab Rotterdam).

Bryce Street, the seam all-rounder brought in as Vandiar’s replacement, did an admirable job last season filling those considerable shoes with 649 runs at 41 and 23 wickets, and the addition of 21 year-old left-handed opener Adam Wiffen, who comes across from Worcestershire and has already drawn the attention of national team coach Ryan Campbell, means HCC’s top-order looks a deal stronger than last summer.

With two young overseas signings and the retirement of skipper Mark Jonkman over the winter,HCC will be reliant on the increasing maturity of youth graduates Hidde Overdijk and Tonny Staal, both now 23 and hovering around the fringes of national selection, and u-19s bat Boris Gorlee. Staal, returned from a season at Balcatta CC in Perth Grade Cricket, will be the league’s second-youngest captain, and if rumours that overseas spinner Ryan Ninan’s is in doubt prove accurate, HCC’s leadership group will look very young indeed.

Should Ninan stay away, HCC’s slow-bowling options will also be limited to part-timers or fringe players, though even without Jonkman the seam section of Qasim, Bijloos, Overdijk and Street is an enviable one. Consecutive defeats in their two warm-up matches against VRA and Excelsior do not augur well, however. A slow start last season left them fighting an uphill battle all Summer, and Staal’s side have no more time to settle in. There’s plenty of young talent at de Diepput, but they’ll need to hit the ground running if they are to mount a serious challenge this season.

LogoExcelsiorAfter two championships on the trot in 2016 and 2017, Excelsior ‘20 finished a disappointing 4th last season, 5 wins behind VOC at the top of the table. A comparatively quiet season (by his standards) for star overseas Lorenzo Ingram rather exposed the Schiedammer’s reliance on the Jamaican left-arm spinning all-rounder, especially in terms of batting. Ingram’s tally of 611 runs was more than 200 clear of the next contributor, Tim Etman. The likely absence this season of opening bowler and lower-order trouble-shooter James Hilditch, who has been roped in as Assistant coach for the national team, is also likely to put more pressure on the young core of the side to step up this season.

That said, the signing of former West Indies test bat Brenton Parchment, probably the most eye-catching acquisition of the season will likely do more than a little to shore up the batting. Joost Kroesen’s unbeaten 80 in a warm-up against Hermes also suggest he may have put a disappointing 2018 behind him, and skipper Tom Heggelman also has runs under his belt heading into the season opener against Quick Haag.

Umar Baker arrives from VOC to share in Ingram’s slow-bowling duties, whilst Parchment is also capable of sending down some serviceable off-spin. Heggelman meanwhile leads a sprightly but occasionally expensive pace attack further comprising Sohail Bhatti, Gijs Kroesen and Rens van Troost, and will at least be spoiled for options when cycling through his attack.

With the addition of Parchment and Baker the Schiedammers arguably have a stronger side than they did in either of their championship seasons, but last season it was above all the failure of the promising youngsters in the side to kick on that cost them a shot at defending their title. Good seasons for one or both of their Jamaican overseas will likely be enough to keep them in contention this time round, but the Thurlede faithful will be hoping above all that their maturing youth cohort come into their own this season.

 
LogoHBSHBS-Craeyenhout’s big-hitting top order couldn’t quite carry them into Topklasse title contention last year, despite Sharn Gomes, Wesley Barresi, Toby Visee and Jaron Morgan all crossing 500 runs in the season. Even with the departure of Morgan the top order remains the most intimidating in the league, however, and with Western Province opener Zac Elkin coming in to play foil to the ever explosive Visee at the top of the order the batting may even have gained a degree of stability.

New Zealand under-19s seamer Zak Gibson also joins the Crows, taking some pressure off spearhead Berend Westdijk who will likely be skipping a few games this season owing to work commitments. With Farshad Khan and Wessel Coster coming off the back of solid seasons, the HBS pace attack looks in good shape, whilst the spin attack comprising Wesley Barresi (who has taken to his new role as off-spinning all-rounder with all the zealousness of a convert) paired with the ever more impressive Julian de Mey looks equally sound. With allrounders Navjit Singh and Ferdi Vink also impressing last season, there’s no obvious weak links in this HBS side.

After claiming the national T20 title last season, the Crows were disappointed to discover that qualification for the new European Championship competition hinged on final Topklasse standings. It’s not out of the question that they’ll make doubly sure of their place in the next edition by the simple expedient of winning both this time round.

 
logo VRAAfter two seasons in a row as runners-up, VRA will be looking to end their seven-year title drought this season. They fell short by just one win last time round, and again a slow start to the season was in part to blame as opening losses to Quick and Excelsior left them playing catch-up for much of the season. They’ll be looking for a stronger start this time round, though with only a single serious warm-up against HCC ahead of the season opener against ACC on Sunday they risk again going in under-cooked.

They did bet HCC comfortably however, with rather unheralded overseas signing Brandon Graber bagging four wickets. South African seamer Graber comes in to replace the departing Vivian Kingma (who was largely sidelined by injury last season) and is one of a number of somewhat low-profile additions to the VRA roster that nonetheless look to have shored-up a side that often struggles with player availability, with Englishmen Matt Lake, Graeme Scott and Thomas Long also joining the side.

Headed the other way is opening bat Daan ter Braak, who won’t be returning for another season. His departure leaves a 600+-run gap in the batting and whilst new skipper Emile van den Burg would doubtless be delighted if Lake were to fill it, VRA will likely be looking first to the veteran Eric Szwarczynski to bounce back from a disappointing 2018 and cover the shortfall. Given a batting line-up that also includes Ben Cooper and former captain Peter Borren, VRA need not rue ter Braak’s departure unduly if the senior players deliver.

Borren will doubtless have a role to play with the ball too, though with Graber, Quirijn Gunning and Haseeb Gul in the side as front-line seamers and a solid spin section in Adeel Raja and Leon Turmaine he will hope to have more competition for the VRA lead wicket-taker title than he did last season. All told the Amsterdammers head into 2019 with a balanced side and a deeper bench than they have in the past couple of years, and going one better this time round is far from out of the question.

LogoVOC2018 champions VOC Rotterdam will have to mount their title defense without the services of new-ball spearhead Freddy Klaassen, the left arm quick having been picked up by Kent over the winter. The loss of their lead wicket-taker inevitably takes some of the sting out of the VOC seam attack, with more responsibility falling on the shoulders of Dirk van Baren, Bobby Hanif and newcomer Ashiqullah Said, as well as Pierce Fletcher, especially at the death.

VOC have never been over-reliant on pace however, their unbeaten home record at the spin-friendly Hazelaarweg last year largely built around the slow-bowling trio of Umar Baker, Max O’Dowd and skipper Pieter Seelaar. With Baker departing for Thurlede, O’Dowd and Seelaar will be all the more crucial to VOC’s fortunes both with bat and ball.

Together with keeper Scott Edwards, O’Dowd and Seelaar provided the bulk of VOC’s runs last season. VOC will hope that Corey Rutgers (the trio’s former analyst with the national side and VOC’s main overseas player) will be able to contribute more from the top of the order after a shattered finger rather limited his effectiveness last season.

As much as the absence of Klaassen, it is the strengthening competition that poses the biggest obstacle to a successful title defense for VOC – with their nearest rivals bagging some judicious signings and newcomers VCC arriving in the top division with an intimidating roster – but bar Klaassen the principle components of last season’s success remain in place.

Season preview 2019 – Part 1

Rod Lyall 30-04-19

VCCMuch of the initial interest in this year’s Topklasse competition will focus on promoted side Voorburg, returning to the top flight after a nine-year absence.

They lost just one match on their march to the Hoofdklasse title last season, and despite the absence of young international allrounder Bas de Leede, now in England with the MCC Young Cricketers, all the indications are that they will be stronger this year, and that they could even challenge for the Topklasse championship itself.

At the heart of their selection are four South Africans, two of them bearers of a Dutch passport and already members of Ryan Campbell’s national squad.

They are seamer Brandon Glover, who took 17 wickets at an average of 6.06 last year, and slow left-armer Clayton Floyd, whose 28 wickets at 13.61 contributed a good deal of the attack’s cutting edge.

He will share the new ball with Viv Kingma, who returns from injury and from VRA showing every sign of wanting to shake up opposing batsmen. Steffen Mulder, the only surviving member of the 2009 Voorburg side unless Tim de Leede decides to take his bat out of the cupboard one more time, will no doubt bowl his share of seamers as well.

With leg-spinner Philippe Boissevain, another member of the Dutch squad, to match Floyd’s left-arm spin Voorburg look to have a balanced and menacing attack.

And that’s without taking into account the contribution of South African brothers Matt and Nicholas Smith, whose main contribution is likely to be with the bat. Left-hander Matt hit 467 Hoofdklasse runs at an average of 116.75 in just seven matches last season before being forced out with a knee injury, and this year he will be joined by Nicholas; both have plenty of experience of club cricket in England, and can be expected to cause problems for opposing bowlers.

The side will again be captained by former Dutch international Tom de Grooth, and with keeper Mohit Hingorani and Australians Noah Croes and Steve Nottle also on their players’ list, Voorburg will be one of the teams to watch as the competition gets under way.

LogoACCThe South African influence will again also be strong at ACC, who will be hoping to improve on a very disappointing 2018 campaign.

Their new recruits are 26 year-old Boland batsman-wicketkeeper Jean Marais and 30 year-old North-West allrounder Brady Barends, who will bring some maturity to what is still a very young and inexperienced outfit.

The Zulfiqar presence will still be of great importance to the side, although Asad has moved to Punjab Rotterdam; elder brother Rehmat, one of the most improved players in the Topklasse last year, will still have skipper Saqib and the other remaining triplet, Sikander, alongside him in the team, even if it is unclear how regular an appearance will be made by their evergreen father Ahmed.

Above all, it’s consistency that the Amsterdammers will be looking for from their three remaining Zulfiqars: all have proved the ability to make big scores and to take crucial wickets from time to time, but their importance to the side is all the greater because of the club‘s commitment to a youth policy, and means that they need to come off more regularly than they were able to do last year.

There will be hope, too, that the younger brigade of Aryan Kumar – arguably the most successful of the group to date – Areeb Shoaib, Jamieson Mulready, Shirace Rasool, Ammar Zaidi and Shreyas Potdar will make significant progress this season, and that some at least of them will hold their own on the demanding Topklasse stage.

It’s not as if ACC don’t have more experienced players on their books: Bas van der Heyde topped the Second side’s batting averages last year, and with the likes of Rehan Younis and Steven de Bruin also potentially available, the opportunity is there to field a more balanced side.

Half-filling a side with teenagers is a laudable commitment to the future, but it only has real value if they are able to rise to the challenge.

LogoQuickJay Bista, the leading run-scorer in the Topklasse last season with 854 at an average of 47.44, is back at Quick Haag, where he will be joined by his countryman Prathamesh Dake, a seam-bowling allrounder who is something of a T20 specialist in his native Mumbai.

Sean Davey has reportedly moved to Ajax Leiden, and with seamer Imran Khan out through injury the club’s rebuilding phase looks set to continue. But the abandonment of the KNCB’s restriction on overseas players means that Namibian Pieter Groenewald could move up from the Seconds to strengthen the Topklasse side.

Otherwise, it looks as if Quick might need to rely on the mixture as before, with Jeroen Brand, Lesley Stokkers, Thijs van Schelven and Geert Maarten Mol, all of whom have played for the national side at some point, among the more familiar names and faces; it remains to be seen whether last season’s successful coup of persuading Edgar Schiferli to return to the colours will be repeated this year.

Keeper Daan Vierling made good progress last season, posting a maiden Topklasse half-century, and Bob van Gigch is another veteran who is always ready to demonstrate that he is still capable of making a contribution in the top flight.

Rogier Rooda and Stefan Ekelmans have yet to establish themselves as fully-fledged members of the side, and they may well find youngsters like Teun Landheer and Tycho de Mooij breathing down their necks.

Visitors to Nieuw Hanenburg will find one major difference this season: the outfield, the butt of more than its fair share of jokes over the years, has gone, as Quick have followed the example of neighbours HBS and laid a brand-new astroturf surface. Whatever one may think about artificial outfields, it seems likely to offer better value for one’s strokeplay than its predecessor sometimes did.

SpartaSparta 1888 made a promising start on their return to the top flight last season, but then fell away and had to be content with seventh position.

There’s been something of a reshuffle at the Bermweg, with Michael Pollard, Warren Bell, Craig Ambrose and Faisal Iqbal all moving on, to be replaced by 25-year-old Wellington batsman Andrew Fletcher and 18-year-old South African wicketkeeper-batsmen Garnett Tarr, as well as by spinner Manminder Singh, batsman Chandan Kumar, and the hard-hitting Ali Raza moving from Hermes-DVS, Excelsior ‘20 and Punjab respectively.

Fletcher will fill the spot vacated by Pollard, and much will depend on his ability to made consistent runs, the core around which Sparta can build significant totals.

That said, with former internationals Mudassar Bukhari and Atse Buurman still on the strength, and Belgium’s Raja Saqlain added to the squad, Sparta will doubtless be a force to contend with, especially at home.

Spearheaded by Bukhari but also featuring solid performances from skipper Joost-Martijn Snoep, Dost Muhammad, young Max Hoornweg, Usman Ishfaq and Usman Saleem, it was the attack which largely kept the Capelle side clear of the relegation zone last season, and apart from the departure of Bell that will be unchanged.

DostiThe least altered of all the squads appears to be Dosti’s. They will sorely miss Mohammad Hafeez, the leading wicket-taker and top of the bowling averages in 2018, who has moved on to Punjab.

But as against that, they have Taruwar Kohli, Anees Davids and Amitoze Singh all on their books again, and this year there is nothing in the rules to prevent all three playing at once; last season Singh proved an invaluable replacement when Kohli returned to India.

Vinoo Tewarie’s side will need more consistency from its local players, not least Tewarie himself. He and Rahil Ahmed have struggled to build major innings, and although they made 378 and 336 runs respectively last year, Kohli needs more support from both of them.

Kohli and Davids are also central to the attack, and will be even more so without Hafeez. Here, however, the pace of Wahid Masood proved useful last season, and the advent of Asief Hoseinbaks to share the spin burden with Mahesh Hans also gave a better-balanced look to the attack.

One of Dosti’s greatest problems, though, is the relative thinness of their squad: they rely heavily on their overseas players and a small number of locals, and they have not been able to find new players to help lift them back to their title-winning form of four years ago.

 

New European Champions League cues immediate controversy

Bertus de Jong 08/12/18

The announcement of a new European “Champions League” competition for clubs from around the continent has precipitated immediate controversy in the Netherlands, with HBS Craeyenhout contesting VOC Rotterdam’s right to represent the Dutch in the tournament.

CaptureThe new initiative will see clubs from the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Romania, Russia and Spain meet at the Desert Springs facility in Almería in southern Spain at the end of July next year to compete for the title of European Champions. The KNCB announced yesterday that they had nominated 2018 Topklasse champions VOC as the Dutch representatives, but HBS maintain that as winners of the T20 Cup last year by rights they should be the ones making the trip. “We will be contesting VOC’s nomination. It makes no sense to send the TK champion to a T20 tournament” incoming HBS cricket Chair Ewout Boendermaker told TKcricket.

As it turns out the first edition of the European Cricket League will in fact be contested in the newly-fashionable T10 format, organisers confirmed today, but the eight clubs participating have qualified through various formats. “Each federation has chosen their top competition champion – some 50 over, some 40 over, some T20.” a spokesman for the ECL clarified. It is hard to argue that the Topklasse is certainly the more prestigious title in the Netherlands, with the T20 competition even suffering from occasional no-shows, yet it’s difficult to deny that the choice of 50-over Champions for a 10-over competition is on the face of it rather surprising.

Dutch cricket, of course, loves nothing better than a spot of controversy and Dutch fans are quick to pounce on the merest hint of competitievervalsing, indeed the ECL would hardly be a proper competition if there wasn’t someone at the ALV decrying it as a stitch-up. Yet while rumours of a berth at a new European club championship for the Topklasse champions have been circulating since at least mid-July, it’s nonetheless concerning that some clubs appear to have been better-informed than others.

Not for the first time Dutch cricket finds itself plunged into a needless controversy that could have been headed off by better communication or consultation, though at least the organisers of the new competition can take comfort from the evident fact that a place at the European Championships is seen as a prize worth fighting over.

The European Cricket League will take place from July 30th to August 1st 2019 at Desert Springs Club, Almería. The following sides have qualified:

SG Findorff Cricket Bremen (Germany)
Svanholm CC (Denmark)
VOC Rotterdam (the Netherlands)
Brescia CC (Italy)
Cluj CC (Romania)
St Petersburg (Russia)
Dreux CC (France)
Catalunya CC (Spain)

Punjab ruling raises questions ahead of ALV

Bertus de Jong 29/11/18

The KNCB’s Commissie van Beroep (appeals committee) ruled in favour of Punjab Rotterdam CC this week in their long-running dispute with the KNCB over questions of player eligibility. The ruling would appear to critically undermine the board’s current rules governing the participation of overseas players in the Dutch domestic competition.

The dispute originially arose early last season, precipitated by Punjab’s selection of Belgian nationals Mamoon Latif and Ali Raza, who were deemed overseas players under Article 12 of the Competitiereglement, to represent the club’s first XI in the Topklasse.

Ali Raza
Ali Raza in action for Punjab

The KNCB initially imposed a number of sanctions on the club, including awarding their match against ACC to the Amsterdam club by default, imposing a 6-point penalty as well as threatening fines. Punjab contended that as EU nationals Latif and Raza were entitled to equal treatment under EU law, and that they could not be counted toward the quota of 2 overseas players in the side, and continued to field the pair throughout the season.

The matter was first referred to the Tuchtcommissie, who in June nominally ruled in the KNCB’s favour, but scrapped the board’s competitive penalties and imposed a fine of a mere € 126 on Punjab -the lightest possible penalty – hinting that the rules themselves might not accord with Dutch or European law.

The KNCB duly appealed the decision, but last week the Commissie van Beroep sided decisively with Punjab. The CvB ruled that Article 12 of the Competitiereglemen amounted to discrimination on the basis of nationality and was consequently unlawful. Crucially, they based their ruling not on EU law but on the Dutch Algemene wet gelijke behandeling (general equal treatmenet act) thus seeming to preclude not only discrimination against EU passport-holders but any direct restriction on the basis of nationality whatsoever.

The current two-player limit for overseas players in the Topklasse applies to any non-Netherlands passport-holder with the exception of those players who have participated in a domestic league in the Netherlands in three of the preceding four years and played a minimum of 8 matches in the immediately preceding season. Lifting that restriction for EU citizens might not have caused undue disruption given that the Dutch season naturally coincides with the domestic seasons of its European neighbours, and there are moreover comparatively few cricketers in the rest of continental Europe likely to have a significant impact at Topklasse level.

This week’s ruling, however, would seem to open the door to an unlimited number of players from further afield turning out in the Dutch competition, threatening to crowd out local talent, a prospect provoking dismay on social media.

The KNCB do not appear to have been caught entirely unawares by the ruling however, and were already planning to amend the rules for the coming season; “we’ll be looking at moving to a system more in line with the approach they take in Scotland and Ireland for 2019” KNCB secretary Robert Vermeulen told TKcricket earlier this year. The board is understood to have consulted with clubs regarding potential changes to the overseas player rules even before the ruling was published last week, and is expected to present its proposals at the KNCB’s Algemene Ledenvergadering (general members meeting) scheduled for the 15th of this month.

Topklasse Team of the Year 2018

Rod Lyall and Bertus de Jong 09/09/18

As the dust settles on another Topklasse campaign, Bertus de Jong and Rod Lyall discuss their Team of the Year.

Overseas players

Jay Bista
Jay Bista

RL: In my view four players stand out: Taruwar Kohli (Dosti United), Jay Bista (Quick Haag), Lorenzo Ingram (Excelsior), and Sharn Gomes (HBS Craeyenhout). Kohli’s form early in the season shot Dosti up the table, and in addition to his three centuries and two fifties in his first seven innings he took valuable wickets as well. He was less dominant as the campaign progressed, but even so, only his early departure prevented him from topping the batting aggregates. That honour went instead to Bista, whose contribution to a struggling Quick side was enormous, and he was more responsible than anyone for his team staying in the top flight.

Gomes, too, was at his most consistent in the first half, with six half-centuries and a hundred in his first ten innings, but thereafter he fell away, while Ingram, after hitting back-to-back centuries at the end of May, was less influential as Excelsior’s title defence foundered. Kohli and Bista are therefore my pick for the two overseas player spots.

BdJ: Yep, Kohli and Bista are probably the easiest picks in this little exercise. Without them it would be hard to see Dosti or Quick surviving the season. Kohli’s efforts saw Dosti top the table early and ensured they were never in any real danger of relegation, with four centuries and leading the run aggregates when he departed with 722 runs at an average of 60+ he faces no real competition for his spot. Bista meanwhile would be my pick for season MVP, holding Quick above water all-but single-handedly, making 800+ runs largely from the opening spot and stepping up to take the captaincy in Jeroen Brand’s absence.

Were we permitted a third overseas player my pick would be Bryce Street ahead of Gomes or Ingram though. In trying to fill the shoes of Jonathan Vandiar, Street probably had the toughest assignment of any of the league’s overseas coaches, and he delivered admirably for HCC. With 650 runs at a shade over 40, as well as chipping in a valuable 23 wickets over the season the young Queenslander has had an excellent debut season and is pretty unlucky to miss out on a team of the year spot in my book.

Opening batsmen

BdJ: With Bista having scored heavily from the top of the order I’d say that one of the slots here has already been filled, and indeed it’s not easy to say anyone’s made a convincing case to take the second. ACC’s Richardt Frenz is ruled out as the overseas slots are full, though his contribution to the Amsterdammers’ fortunes after being promoted to open should not be underrated, with 657 runs at 40 he is statistically the most successful opener behind Bista. A case might also be made for his opening partner Rehmat Zulfiqar, who has rather outshone his siblings in domestic cricket this season and memorably smashing the season’s top-score of 188 against Quick from the top of the order.

Tobias Visée
Tobias Visée

A more conservative option might be VRA’s Dan ter Braak, who has accumulated an unshowy 620 runs at 38 over the season, but my preference would be for aggression at the top. With 523 runs at a strike rate over 150, I’d be tempted to have HBS skipper Toby Visée as a specialist batsman even were he not also top of the dismissals table with the gloves. In a season where “decent but unspectacular” could be applied to most of the league’s openers, I’m picking the one who can win a game in the first few overs.

RL: No disagreement from this quarter about opening with Visée: his ability to knock new-ball bowlers off their stride makes him an obvious choice. But given his methods you have to allow for the possibility that he won’t come off, and for that reason I’d be inclined to have Jay Bista at three rather than as an opener. That creates room for Rehmat Zulfiqar who, as m’ colleague notes, has been the most consistently successful of the four brothers this time round. A top four of Rehmat, Visée, Bista and Kohli should be enough to daunt any opening attack.

Top and middle order

RL: My proposal would then leave us with two, or at most three, specialist batting places to fill – three if, as is often the case, one or more of the batsmen is also a useful bowler. (Bista and Kohli, indeed, would also be likely to feature in the attack, as perhaps would Rehmat, so maybe we could go all the way down to No. 8 with the batsmen . . . )

The leading contenders on my list would be Ben Cooper and Peter Borren (both VRA), VOC captain Pieter Seelaar, Mohammad Hafeez (Dosti), and Wesley Barresi (HBS). These are all, of course, well established names, and it’s a little worrying that there are so few young guns forcing their way into consideration. Tonny Staal (HCC) played some valuable innings, and despite injury Sikander Zulfiqar (ACC) did so as well. But in a crowded field, it’s hard to go past the left-handed Cooper (third in the aggregates with 661 runs at 47.21), Seelaar, Borren and Hafeez, with Barresi possibly just edging out Borren.

BdJ: Indeed going purely on stats it would seem churlish to exclude Cooper, but then I am nothing if not churlish. Aside from being reluctant to disturb Kohli from his position at first drop, where he’s scored four centuries, I feel it should be pointed out that of his five fifties in the season, only Cooper’s 69 against HBS won VRA a match that mattered.

Pieter Seelaar
Pieter Seelaar

I’d also be hesitant to chance Bista as a front-line bowler given his mixed results with the ball for Quick, though obviously I’d not say the same of Hafeez, who is the only player this season who would likely make the team on the strength of both his batting and bowling. Peter Borren probably comes closest on that front, despite having what he himself described as a “pretty ordinary” season (though having averaged over 100 last year perhaps his expectations of himself have become somewhat unreasonable). The former Dutch skipper picked up 29 scalps to finish joint 5th in the wicket-taking tables, as well as scoring 565 runs from number 5. His successor at the helm of the national team, Pieter Seelaar, has had an equally successful season, with 555 runs and 50.5 and 21 wickets at 13.7 not to mention captaining his side to the title, the VOC skipper is surely a must-pick.

Wicketkeeper

BdJ: Having settled on Visée at the top of the order our hands are rather tied here, though with 34 dismissals behind the stumps HBS’ skipper’s glove-work is hardly in question. One might otherwise make a strong case for VOC’s Scott Edwards, who despite trailing Visée by eleven dismissals has arguably shown himself the tidier keeper, conceding just 9 byes in 16 matches as well as racking up 576 runs at an average of 52.36 – one of only four players to average over fifty over the season.

RL: Indeed, including both Visée and Edwards, one of them as a specialist batsman, would not be a daft move. That’s probably worth looking at when we review the overall balance of the team. And we’re agreed that they are the two outstanding keepers of the season.

Seamers

RL: This is an interesting one. If we assume seam from both ends initially, there are several contenders for the new ball: Sparta’s Mudassar Bukhari, who was pipped by Hafeez as leading wicket-taker but who claimed 34 wickets at 13.82; Ali Ahmed Qasim and Hidde Overdijk, both of HCC and both with 32 wickets; and Fred Klaassen (VOC), who took 29. There are pros and cons in all four cases: Bukhari played half his games at bowler-friendly Bermweg; Ali Ahmed took 14 of his wickets in just two devastating performances; Overdijk mostly bowled first change for HCC, who preferred pairing Ali Ahmed with spinner Ryan Ninan; and Klaassen surely benefited from having Pierce Fletcher at the other end. But the VOC man was outstanding in claiming early wickets, and his left-arm pace could be genuinely threatening.

Hidde Overdijk
Hidde Overdijk

A few other seamers are certainly worthy of consideration, even if their statistics are less impressive than those of this foursome: the HBS new-ball pairing of Wessel Coster and Berend Westdijk, the latter plagued by injury, as well as their team-mate Farshad Khan; VRA’s Quirijn Gunning, and Sikander Zulfiqar, who despite also being injured has a reasonable claim as an all-rounder.

But my pick would be Klaassen and Ali Ahmed, with Overdijk as first change.

BdJ: Klaassen is a sure pick for me, consistently finding early wickets and outstanding at the death, though the question of who he shares the new ball with is a little trickier. Bukhari’s duties with Belgium took precedence over his bid to best Hafeez at the top of the wickets table in the final round, but sheer weight of wickets is hard to argue with regardless of where he took them, and as it happens he took more than half of them away from home. He would just edge Ahmed in my book, though reasonable minds may differ on that. We agree on Overdijk though, if anything, his ability to take wickets with an older ball is a plus, as first-change is a somewhat less hotly-contested spot and a creditable average just shy of 20 with the bat only strengthens his case.

Rather overlooked in the role of seam-bowling all-rounder, however, is the veteran Doc Mol, who has quietly played an absolute blinder for Quick, and is arguably as much responsible for their survival in the top flight as was Jay Bista. In the midst of what might charitably called a transitional phase for the club (less charitably as a shambles of a season) Mol’s 480 runs (including a maiden century) and 26 wickets make him their lead wicket-taker and second behind Bista in the runs. Mol’s numbers may still be modest in the scheme of things, but given the context and the pressure Quick were under from the start, it’s hard to think of a player who’s been more crucial to his side this year.

Spinners

BdJ: With Seelaar and Hafeez sure of their spots the slow-bowling question more or less takes care of itself, but there’s certainly some honourable mentions to be made. First among them is Seelaar’s spinning partner at VOC, Max O’Dowd. He had the help of traditionally spin-friendly conditions at Hazelaarweg of course, but nonetheless 21 wickets at a shade over ten apiece is a remarkable effort. Leon Turmaine (VRA) also bowled better than his (still perfectly decent) figures suggest, whilst Lorenzo Ingram would be a tempting option had we another overseas slot.

RL: Turmaine’s team-mate at VRA, the evergreen Adeel Raja again demonstrated that he is, when available, still able to winkle out opposing batsmen, while Wesley Barresi would no doubt also wish to be seen as a spinning option, having claimed 16 wickets in his limited opportunities with the ball, at a strike rate of 26.06. But only O’Dowd (with a strike rate of 19.33, the best in the competition) is a real contender to balance off-spin against the very different left-armers in Seelaar and Hafeez.

So, with all the above in mind, we have:

Our Topklasse Team of the Year:

Jay Bista (Quick Haag), Tobias Visée (HBS, wk), Taruwar Kohli, Mohammad Hafeez (both Dosti United), Wesley Barresi (HBS), Peter Borren (VRA), Pieter Seelaar (VOC, captain), Geert Maarten Mol (Quick Haag), Hidde Overdijk (HCC), Mudassar Bukhari (Sparta 1888), and Fred Klaassen (VOC).
12th man: Ali Ahmed

Scorecard | Punjab vs Quick | 26.08.18

Punjab I Vs Quick Haag I
1-Innings Match Played At Zomercomplex, Rotterdam, 26-Aug-2018, Topklasse
Quick Haag I Win by 58 runs
Round 18
Toss won by Quick Haag I
Umpires HM Butt – R Kaulingfreks
Scorers N Mohammed – S van der Vlekken
Home Side Punjab I
Points Awarded Quick Haag I 2, Punjab I 0
Quick Haag I 1st Innings 233/10 All Out (Overs 49.4)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s
JG Bista* c M Bajwa b Mubashar Hussain 1 4 0 0
SB Davey b AK Bamunusinghe 83 88 11 1
TJB Landheer c A Raza b S Tariq 1 10 0 0
GMC Mol c AK Bamunusinghe b R Faiz 41 56 5 1
GN Trappenburg lbw b R Faiz 11 25 1 1
S Ekelmans+ b S Tariq 8 31 0 0
D Vierling lbw b Mubashar Hussain 44 50 8 0
E Schiferli c SJ Myburgh b S Tariq 3 9 0 0
LW Stokkers c Mubashar Hussain b M Latif 11 22 0 0
MB van Schelven not out 2 2 0 0
TC de Mooij run out 0 1 0 0
extras (b0 lb10 w15 nb3) 28
TOTAL 10 wickets for 233
FOW
1-7(JG Bista) 2-12(TJB Landheer) 3-132(GMC Mol) 4-154(SB Davey) 5-154(GN Trappenburg) 6-187(S Ekelmans) 7-191(E Schiferli) 8-230(D Vierling) 9-232(LW Stokkers) 10-233(TC de Mooij)
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
S Tariq 10 0 41 3 – –
Mubashar Hussain 10 0 43 2 1 –
JRR Farid 3 0 30 0 2 1
AK Bamunusinghe 10 2 33 1 2 –
R Faiz 10 2 45 2 3 –
M Latif 3.4 0 21 1 2 2
M Bajwa 3 0 10 0 – –
Punjab I 1st Innings 175/10 All Out (Overs 34)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s
SJ Myburgh c LW Stokkers b SB Davey 0 1 0 0
AK Bamunusinghe c D Vierling b E Schiferli 16 32 2 1
Mudassar Hussain c S Ekelmans b JG Bista 8 30 1 0
Y Usman c GN Trappenburg b GMC Mol 27 19 3 2
A Raza+ c SB Davey b TC de Mooij 35 33 3 2
M Latif b E Schiferli 31 35 2 1
R Faiz c S Ekelmans b E Schiferli 19 9 3 1
JRR Farid run out 27 22 1 2
M Bajwa c SB Davey b TC de Mooij 5 11 0 0
Mubashar Hussain c JG Bista b MB van Schelven 1 8 0 0
S Tariq* not out 1 4 0 0
extras (b0 lb1 w4 nb0) 5
TOTAL 10 wickets for 175
FOW
1-0(SJ Myburgh) 2-24(AK Bamunusinghe) 3-37(Mudassar Hussain) 4-60(Y Usman) 5-100(A Raza) 6-130(R Faiz) 7-143(M Latif) 8-159(M Bajwa) 9-160(Mubashar Hussain) 10-175(JRR Farid)
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
SB Davey 8 2 32 1 1 –
E Schiferli 7 2 22 3 1 –
JG Bista 5 0 28 1 – –
GMC Mol 4 0 35 1 2 –
TC de Mooij 8 0 36 2 – –
MB van Schelven 2 1 21 1 – –

Scorecard | Sparta vs ACC | 26.08.18

Sparta I Vs ACC I
1-Innings Match Played At Sportpark Bermweg, Capelle a/d IJssel, 26-Aug-2018, Topklasse
ACC I Win by 91 runs
Round 18
Toss won by ACC I
Umpires MA Din – M Prabhudesai
Home Side Sparta I
Points Awarded ACC I 2, Sparta I 0
ACC I 1st Innings 211/8 Closed (Overs 51)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s
RH Frenz c S Yaqub b MB Hoornweg 3 10 0 0
R Zulfiqar st AF Buurman b F Iqbal 77 117 4 3
AA Zulfiqar+ run out TIM de Kok 14 41 0 0
SM Zulfiqar* b U Saleem 0 4 0 0
SA Zulfiqar c JM Snoep b TIM de Kok 35 71 3 0
SR Rasool c TIM de Kok b F Iqbal 30 36 2 0
MA Raza c MA Pollard b F Iqbal 14 9 2 0
CM Knoll c U Saleem b F Iqbal 21 17 0 1
A Zaidi not out 1 1 0 0
S Potdar dnb
A Kumar dnb
extras (b0 lb0 w14 nb2) 16
TOTAL 8 wickets for 211
FOW
1-8(RH Frenz) 2-38(AA Zulfiqar) 3-46(SM Zulfiqar) 4-140(R Zulfiqar) 5-148(SA Zulfiqar) 6-171(MA Raza) 7-208(SR Rasool) 8-211(CM Knoll)
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
D Muhammed 6 1 18 0 2 –
MB Hoornweg 6 0 9 1 2 1
U Saleem 10 2 27 1 1 –
S Yaqub 5 0 22 0 1 –
S Sardha 2 0 19 0 – 1
JM Snoep 2 0 14 0 – –
TIM de Kok 10 0 52 1 2 –
F Iqbal 10 0 50 4 – –
Sparta I 1st Innings 120/10 All Out (Overs 31.4)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s
F Iqbal c A Kumar b SA Zulfiqar 11 17 2 0
JM Snoep* c AA Zulfiqar b A Kumar 1 8 0 0
TIM de Kok lbw b SA Zulfiqar 6 25 0 0
MA Pollard c CM Knoll b A Kumar 2 9 0 0
AF Buurman+ c A Zaidi b CM Knoll 74 71 8 3
CP Ambrose b A Zaidi 0 12 0 0
S Sardha lbw b S Potdar 0 6 0 0
D Muhammed b CM Knoll 6 22 0 0
S Yaqub c&b CM Knoll 6 14 0 0
U Saleem lbw b CM Knoll 0 2 0 0
MB Hoornweg not out 1 4 0 0
extras (b1 lb2 w10 nb0) 13
TOTAL 10 wickets for 120
FOW
1-8(JM Snoep) 2-14(F Iqbal) 3-18(MA Pollard) 4-36(TIM de Kok) 5-46(CP Ambrose) 6-61(S Sardha) 7-110(D Muhammed) 8-113(AF Buurman) 9-113(U Saleem) 10-120(S Yaqub)
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
SA Zulfiqar 8 1 20 2 – –
A Kumar 5 1 13 2 3 –
CM Knoll 7.4 1 23 4 3 –
A Zaidi 2 0 11 1 – –
S Potdar 3 0 15 1 – –
SM Zulfiqar 6 0 35 0 1 –

Scorecard | HBS vs Excelsior | 26.08.18

HBS I Vs Excelsior 20 I
1-Innings Match Played At Craeyenhout, Den Haag, 26-Aug-2018, Topklasse
HBS I Win by 175 runs
Round 18
Toss won by HBS I
Umpires Z Hussain – P Muthucumaru
Scorers MAP Wiegers – EM Heggelman
Home Side HBS I
Points Awarded HBS I 2, Excelsior 20 I 0
HBS I 1st Innings 244/10 All Out (Overs 37.4)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s
SP Gomes lbw b JR Hilditch 17 12 4 0
WT Coster lbw b JR Hilditch 6 17 1 0
A Ahmed c&b TJ Heggelman 11 15 2 0
Navjit Singh b TJ Heggelman 1 8 0 0
TP Visée*+ c GG Kroesen b LT Ingram 69 31 7 5
J Morgan c RWA van Troost b S Bhatti 35 28 5 1
FJ Vink c TC Etman b LT Ingram 13 33 1 1
W Barresi c TC Etman b LT Ingram 65 46 7 3
J de Mey not out 10 25 1 0
BA Westdijk b TJ Heggelman 1 7 0 0
F Khan b TJ Heggelman 2 5 0 0
extras (b0 lb1 w12 nb1) 14
TOTAL 10 wickets for 244
FOW
1-22(SP Gomes) 2-27(WT Coster) 3-38(A Ahmed) 4-53(Navjit Singh) 5-120(TP Visée) 6-146(J Morgan) 7-207(FJ Vink) 8-239(W Barresi) 9-240(BA Westdijk) 10-244(F Khan)
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
GG Kroesen 1 0 16 0 – –
RWA van Troost 6 0 38 0 2 1
JR Hilditch 8 0 47 2 – –
TJ Heggelman 5.4 0 37 4 – –
LT Ingram 9 0 56 3 2 –
S Bhatti 6 0 30 1 4 –
J Kroesen 2 0 19 0 – –
Excelsior 20 I 1st Innings 69/10 All Out (Overs 17.3)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s
TC Etman c TP Visée b WT Coster 12 14 2 0
RTF Verhagen+ b WT Coster 1 4 0 0
J Kroesen b BA Westdijk 1 4 0 0
LT Ingram c TP Visée b Navjit Singh 8 18 1 0
SG Shankar c W Barresi b Navjit Singh 22 16 5 0
DA Woutersen lbw b Navjit Singh 13 19 2 0
JR Hilditch c TP Visée b Navjit Singh 0 1 0 0
TJ Heggelman* c TP Visée b F Khan 1 14 0 0
GG Kroesen not out 3 9 0 0
RWA van Troost b Navjit Singh 5 5 1 0
S Bhatti c J de Mey b Navjit Singh 0 1 0 0
extras (b0 lb0 w3 nb0) 3
TOTAL 10 wickets for 69
FOW
1-2(RTF Verhagen) 2-16(TC Etman) 3-16(J Kroesen) 4-47(LT Ingram) 5-48(SG Shankar) 6-48(JR Hilditch) 7-61(TJ Heggelman) 8-61(DA Woutersen) 9-69(RWA van Troost) 10-69(S Bhatti)
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
BA Westdijk 5 0 31 1 – –
WT Coster 4 0 15 2 1 –
Navjit Singh 4.3 1 17 6 1 –
F Khan 4 2 6 1 – –

Scorecard | VRA vs VOC | 26.08.18

VRA I Vs VOC I
1-Innings Match Played At Amstelveen (VRA), 26-Aug-2018, Topklasse
VRA I Win by 122 runs
Round 18
Toss won by VRA I
Umpires HKG Jansen – WPM van Liemt
Scorers T Jansen Schoonhov – M van Everdingen
Home Side VRA I
Points Awarded VRA I 2, VOC I 0
VRA I 1st Innings 273/5 Closed (Overs 50)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s
V Singh b UF Baker 74 103 7 0
DJ ter Braak c MP O'Dowd b UF Baker 41 73 4 0
BN Cooper lbw b SA Edwards 75 64 5 2
E van den Burg* c UF Baker b R Upadhyaya 2 4 0 0
PW Borren lbw b SA Edwards 3 4 0 0
ES Szwarczynski not out 49 42 5 0
MB Lees+ not out 12 11 0 0
QWM Gunning dnb
HG Mia dnb
MG Dunlop dnb
MAK Raja dnb
extras (b0 lb0 w16 nb1) 17
TOTAL 5 wickets for 273
FOW
1-97(DJ ter Braak) 2-158(V Singh) 3-168(E van den Burg) 4-169(PW Borren) 5-238(BN Cooper)
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
PJ Fletcher 5 0 14 0 1 –
R Upadhyaya 10 1 33 1 1 1
ZDA van Baren 6 0 53 0 4 –
UF Baker 10 0 55 2 – –
T Moorman 5 0 19 0 2 –
SA Edwards 10 0 60 2 – –
BW Hanif 4 0 39 0 1 –
VOC I 1st Innings 151/8 All Out (Overs 32.2)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s
MP O'Dowd lbw b QWM Gunning 2 6 0 0
SP van Lent+ b QWM Gunning 0 11 0 0
ZDA van Baren c ES Szwarczynski b MAK Raja 41 53 2 0
SA Edwards c HG Mia b MAK Raja 78 79 8 0
PM Seelaar* c PW Borren b MG Dunlop 13 17 1 0
R Upadhyaya c PW Borren b DJ ter Braak 6 16 0 0
UF Baker c&b DJ ter Braak 4 8 0 0
PJ Fletcher lbw b MAK Raja 1 3 0 0
BW Hanif not out 0 1 0 0
CL Rutgers Absent Hurt
T Moorman Absent Hurt
extras (b0 lb2 w4 nb0) 6
TOTAL 8 wickets for 151
FOW
1-2(MP O'Dowd) 2-4(SP van Lent) 3-111(ZDA van Baren) 4-138(SA Edwards) 5-142(PM Seelaar) 6-148(UF Baker) 7-151(R Upadhyaya) 8-151(PJ Fletcher)
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
QWM Gunning 5 0 24 2 – –
HG Mia 4 1 19 0 2 –
PW Borren 6 0 25 0 1 –
BN Cooper 4 0 20 0 1 –
MG Dunlop 6 0 29 1 – –
MAK Raja 6.2 1 29 3 – –
DJ ter Braak 1 0 3 2 – –

Scorecard | HCC vs Dosti | 26.08.18

HCC I Vs Dosti United I
1-Innings Match Played At De Diepput, Den Haag, 26-Aug-2018, Topklasse
HCC I Win by 142 runs
Round 18
Toss won by HCC I
Umpires D Das – JPAW Molenaar
Home Side HCC I
Points Awarded HCC I 2, Dosti United I 0
HCC I 1st Innings 272/6 Closed (Overs 50)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s
R Ninan st RI Ahmed b M Hafeez 73 98 4 3
DA Trijzelaar c A Davids b M Hans 0 3 0 0
AJ Staal* b AV Atwarie 68 83 1 4
BE Street b M Hafeez 45 57 3 2
LJF Lagas+ c W Masood b M Hafeez 2 12 0 0
DL Walhain c A Davids b M Hafeez 23 13 0 3
HC Overdijk not out 32 24 1 2
MBS Jonkman not out 6 11 0 0
DJ Hennop dnb
AA Qasim dnb
RR Bijloos dnb
extras (b0 lb1 w19 nb3) 23
TOTAL 6 wickets for 272
FOW
1-7(DA Trijzelaar) 2-136(AJ Staal) 3-189(R Ninan) 4-193(LJF Lagas) 5-230(BE Street) 6-237(DL Walhain)
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
A Davids 10 0 40 0 2 –
M Hans 7 0 43 1 2 –
M Hafeez 10 2 41 4 1 2
K Diwan 8 1 47 0 4 –
AV Atwarie 2 0 23 1 1 –
W Masood 9 0 58 0 1 –
Asief Hoseinbaks 4 0 19 0 1 1
Dosti United I 1st Innings 130/10 All Out (Overs 26.4)
Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s
RI Ahmed+ c RR Bijloos b HC Overdijk 48 47 3 3
VAB Tewarie* c DJ Hennop b AA Qasim 2 14 0 0
S Ghori c HC Overdijk b R Ninan 2 3 0 0
M Hafeez c R Ninan b RR Bijloos 32 42 4 1
K Diwan c DJ Hennop b RR Bijloos 1 3 0 0
A Davids b R Ninan 7 11 0 0
M Hans c LJF Lagas b RR Bijloos 6 10 0 0
Arief Hoseinbaks b DJ Hennop 7 10 0 0
W Masood b RR Bijloos 8 7 0 0
Asief Hoseinbaks b RR Bijloos 9 11 0 0
AV Atwarie not out 1 2 0 0
extras (b0 lb2 w5 nb0) 7
TOTAL 10 wickets for 130
FOW
1-7(VAB Tewarie) 2-13(S Ghori) 3-56(RI Ahmed) 4-68(K Diwan) 5-96(A Davids) 6-99(M Hafeez) 7-107(M Hans) 8-117(Arief Hoseinbaks) 9-118(W Masood) 10-130(Asief Hoseinbaks)
Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb
R Ninan 6 0 13 2 – –
AA Qasim 6 0 29 1 1 –
RR Bijloos 7.4 0 35 5 2 –
HC Overdijk 5 0 35 1 – –
DJ Hennop 2 0 16 1 2 –