With just a week to go before the Dutch make their debut in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition, most of the leading batsmen found early form as the Topklasse got under way on Sunday.

Hermes-DVS captain Nick Statham led the way with a century as his side posted a comfortable victory over Quick Haag, while new recruit Tom Cooper hit a splendid not-out 88 to ensure VRA’s eight-wicket win against ACC. He was supported by Eric Szwarczynski (45 not out) in an unbroken stand of 137, while in Haarlem Tom de Grooth made 55 in HCC’s win against Rood en Wit. Overseas player Michael Dighton also had a half-century, making 65 against Excelsior.

On a grey, damp day hardly suited to batting, there were no fewer than three centuries, Excelsior ‘20’s Australian player-coach Ed Cowan and HCC’s South African exchange player Imran Nackerdien joining the ranks of those who have reached three figures on their first appearance in the top-level Dutch competition.

Cowan’s 131 enabled the champions to reach 247 for seven against VOC Rotterdam as the new Thurlede square came into use for the first time. He shared an opening stand of 66 with Tom Heggelman (34) and received subsequent support from Daan van Bunge and Usman Malik (as we must now learn to recognise Malik Hussain), but thereafter he increasingly had to do it on his own as VOC’s exchange player Joe Carroll, who took three for 52, and his team-mates worked their way through the Excelsior middle order.

VOC suffered an early setback when they replied, but with Dighton picking up where he left off last season the visitors looked for a time as if they might mount a successful challenge. But then the Excelsior bowlers slammed the brakes on, and once Dighton went and it was 121 for five in the 31st over that challenge rapidly subsided.

Heggelman took three for 55 and Van Bunge and Cowan picked up two apiece as the Rotterdammers were dismissed for 198 five overs from the end.
Runs were always at a premium on a low and somewhat inconsistent pitch at Het Loopveld West, and ACC, put in by VRA skipper Peter Borren, owed their total of 154 to a dogged knock from player-coach Ryan Maron, who top-scored with 50.

They were on the back foot from the moment Adeel Raja had Mudassar Bukhari caught at point off the first ball he bowled, and although Kamran Shafiq and Zulfiqar Ahmed built a useful second-wicket stand, once they departed it was left to Maron to keep his side in the game.

Sohail Bhatti made full use of the conditions, taking four for 22, and Masood Khan marked his first game for VRA with two wickets.

ACC struck back hard, removing both openers by the time 18 runs were on the board, but then Cooper joined Szwarczynski and the two internationals gradually swung the match in their side’s favour. Cooper was the more aggressive, adapting well to the conditions and demonstrating why he can be such an asset to the Dutch side, while Szwarczynski was content to play the sheet-anchor role.

The ACC bowlers stuck to the task well, but despite a lively spell from the evergreen Zulfiqar and a promising one from young left-armer Michael Rippon they were unable to secure the breakthrough they needed. Cooper finally ended it with a ruthless onslaught on Rippon, and VRA won with fourteen overs to spare.

Hermes-DVS reached 238 for eight against Quick Haag at Craeyenhout, largely thanks to Statham’s 130-ball 107. Player-coach Shanan Stewart was trapped in front first ball by Lesley Stokkers, but fellow-New Zealander Derek de Boorder (42) then put on 118 for the fourth wicket with Statham, ensuring that their side posted a solid total.

Geert Maarten Mol took three for 44 for the home side, and Stokkers and player-coach Jonathan Boult picked up two each.

Mol then completed a fine allround performance with a half-century, opening with Boult, and when these two put on 71 before Boult departed, it seemed as if Quick were well placed to claim the points.

But of the remaining batsmen only the veteran Alex Pototsky reached double figures with an undefeated 20, left-arm seamer Ernst van Giezen taking three for 23 and Pieter Seelaar, Erik Hartong and Nils Lenstra nabbing two each as Quick subsided to 137 all out.

Bernard Loots was the only captain on the day who elected to bat after winning the toss, and his decision was vindicated as his HCC side secured a 74-run victory over Rood en Wit in Haarlem.

It was Tom de Grooth and Imran Nackerdien’s partnership of 130 for the second wicket which laid the foundation of their win, and although wickets fell steadily in the later stages, Rood en Wit’s acquisitions Vishi Sankarasubramaniam (three for 37), Shahbaz Bashir (two for 47) and Andrew Bailey (two for 24) collecting all seven wickets between them, Nackerdien’s 103 made sure that they reached a challenging 229.

Rood en Wit were soon in trouble, only Shahbaz (54) producing steady resistance against the HCC seam attack, but it was the spin of Johan Myburgh which finished things off, the HCC player-coach taking four for 28 as the home side were dismissed for 155.

There will be a further full round of matches on Thursday, the Ascension Day holiday, with Excelsior ‘20’s visit to HCC looking like the most interesting contest of the four.