Dosti-United and Quick Haag will both take a five-from-five record to Drieburg on Saturday, but Dosti remain clear favourites to leave with their perfect record intact. With South African pair Colin Ackermann and Stiaan van Zyl both averaging in three figures with the bat, and new-ball pair Robbie Frylinck and Mudassar Bukhari under 10 with the ball, the title holders' look as in-form as they do formidable.
Nonetheless Quick look the most likely candidates to upset Dosti, if overseas quicks Ryan Cartwright and Stephen Kriel fire, the Haagenaars have a chance of knocking over the Dosti top order for something manageable, and Quick's own batting line up has looked in near-universally fine touch thus far.
Conversely HCC and VOC both head into Saturday's match at de Diepput looking to break a losing streak, skipper Mark Jonkman' five wicket haul last week not being enough to take two points off ACC, and Stephan Myburgh's unbeaten 85 denying VOC their second victory of the season at Hazelaarweg. VOC's Dirk van Baren and Jelte Schoonheim have been in the runs recently, but the rest of the batting order still looks fragile, and there's still no word on the status of overseas coach Jeandre Jumat's ongoing visa problems. Add to this the fact that Umar Baker will be sidelined with a broken finger and VOC look to be heading into the match rather under-strength.
HCC have yet to record a win since besting VRA in their season opener, but nonetheless enter the game as favourites. Overseas players Jonathan Vandiar and Werner Coetsee are both in the top 10 run-scorers this season, a list which doesn't feature a single VOC player as yet. Coetsee is also leading the wicket-taking table, with Jonkman right behind him. A good game for any one of the three of them should be enough to take the two points.
Sunday sees VRA welcome Amsterdam rivals ACC to the Bos, a prospect likely relished by Titans and ACC paceman JP de Villiers, who has cumulative figures of 5 for 40 in 14.1 on turf wickets so far in the Topklasse. VRA have yet to bag a single point so far, and have looked a bowler light throughout, and have looked alarmingly dependent on seniors Eric Szwarczynski and Peter Borren for runs.
ACC's own batting has looked equally brittle at times, however, having passed 170 only once this season. Regardless of the conditions, the visitors will likely be worried chasing much more than that, and if Eric Szwarczynski's form continues and he finds some support from the currently undercooked VRA top order the hosts have a fair shot at breaking their duck.
The weekend's most anticipated match however will be the other derby scheduled for Sunday, between Excelsior '20 and Hermes-DVS at Thurlede. Excelsior won two of the three Schiedam derbies last year and will be confident of coming out on top again come Sunday, with the weather and Stephan Myburgh the most likely candidates to spoil the party. Myburgh has looked in imperious form so far this season, a pair of lucky run-out escapes aside, and leads the scoring in the Topklasse so far. Hermes have not looked competitive without him performing, despite some fine individual performances their young squad has seemed rather out of their depth.
Conversely, Excelsior's youngsters have had a few seasons to find their feet at Topklasse level, with Roel Verhagen, Rens van Troost and Joost Kroesen all having solid starts to the season. With pros Lorenzo Ingram and Matt-Kai McGillivray both looking in fine form, Excelsior will feel they start the match one wicket away from victory.
Topklasse Round 6 Predictions:
Dosti-United v Quick Haag : Dosti
HCC v VOC Rotterdam : HCC
VRA v ACC : ACC
Excelsior '20 v Hermes DVS : Excelsior
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