It was another day for bowlers at Thurlede on Saturday, and a disciplined performance by VRA Amsterdam’s attack proved just enough to take the side to its eighth national title in thirteen years despite a spirited response by defending champions Excelsior ’20 Schiedam.

It was also a day for youth, with two VRA 18-year-olds playing a key role in the Amsterdam club’s victory. First Vinoo Tewarie took three for 19 in a fine ten-over spell of leg-spin, and then Emile van den Burg, in his first season in the top flight, repeated his match-winning innings in the Twenty20 Cup final a month ago, hitting a 26-ball 35 which decisively turned the match in his side’s favour.

Van den Burg came to the crease with VRA tottering on 62 for six, chasing a modest Excelsior total of 128. The top order had imploded, the three internationals Eric Szwarczynski, Wesley Barresi and Peter Borren managing just 27 between them, and the teenager might have been forgiven for finding the occasion, with the bowlers roared on by a fiercely partisan section of the home crowd, somewhat intimidating.

If he did he showed no sign of it, crashing eight boundaries, five of them in the space of eight balls, as he took the attack to the opposition before clipping a Seb Gokke delivery straight to Usman Malik at midwicket.

Perhaps recalling the VRA collapse when chasing 137 in last week’s semi-final, Excelsior skipper Daan van Bunge elected to bat first on a soft and sparsely-grassed surface, from which the ball at times came through with all the urgency of an advancing glacier.

Despite the early loss of Tom Heggelman, bowled by a superb delivery from Sohail Bhatti, the home side initially prospered against the VRA seamers, Carl Schewe and Rifaiz Bakas putting on 50 for the second wicket in what turned out to be the highest partnership of the match.

But it was VRA’s trio of spinners who engineered the demise of the Excelsior batting. Adeel Raja broke through by bowling Bakas with the total on 53, and nine runs later player-coach Tim Muir struck two crucial blows by removing Van Bunge and Schewe - the latter the first of three stumping victims for Atse Buurman - in the space of three deliveries. Schewe had made a patient 34, adding to the 46 he had made last week and demonstrating that at the age of 43 he can still flourish at this level.

Borren soon brought Tewarie into the attack, and he, Muir and Raja maintained almost complete control, with the home side’s batsmen fighting hard for survival. Luuk van Troost held things together, taking 80 deliveries over his 27, and with support from Malik, Marcel Schewe and Adam Woutersen he managed to get the total past the hundred.

By the time he and Woutersen took the batting powerplay the total was 104 with seven overs left, but when Van Troost fell to Borren in the third powerplay over it was the beginning of the end, and Muir eventually came back to claim the final wicket, finishing with three for 13.

The three VRA spinners had bowled 27.2 overs between them, taking seven wickets for 47 runs.

Usman Malik had destroyed the VRA top order in the semi-final, and he started the same way this time, bowling Darrin Murray in the third over of the innings. At the other end Heggelman produced a magnificent spell, repeatedly beating the bat as the VRA batsmen found the conditions no more congenial than their opponents had.

The pressure eventually told, as Eric Szwarczynski, after smashing Malik for six over midwicket, took a suicidal run to mid-off and was beaten by Haider Khan’s throw. 18 for two became 22 for three when Heggelman bowled Tewarie in his next over.

Worse was to follow: Wesley Barresi played on to a Seb Gokke long-hop which might have reached the batsman quicker if he had posted it, and then Borren, after playing a somewhat strange innings the highlight of which was three magnificent boundaries in one over from Heggelman, fell to Haider Khan without addition to the score.

VRA were 44 for five, with Buurman and Muir at the crease. Buurman, too, opted for aggression, hitting four boundaries in 22 deliveries before departing, and Van den Burg joined Muir.

The Excelsior bowlers continued to put the batsmen under pressure much of the time, but they were not as consistent as the Amsterdam side’s attack had been, and anything loose was put away. Oddly, Van Bunge, Woutersen and Joost Kroesen, the three spinners, bowled only six overs, as the Excelsior skipper continued to put his trust in his seamers.

Woutersen had bowled Buurman, and it was Kroesen who accounted for Muir, leaving VRA needing 38 with three wickets in hand.

The tyro Van den Burg was now joined by Raja, with nearly 200 matches in the top flight behind him, and with the former hitting his succession of boundaries and Raja working the ball around they gradually reduced the deficit.

Gokke returned, conceding three fours before claiming Van den Burg’s wicket, and by now only nine runs were required. Out came Anthony Lynch, a social cricketer in only his fifth Topklasse game, and he and Raja took their side home without further loss.

It was hard on Excelsior, who had been top of the table for almost the whole season and who now fell at the final hurdle. But the play-off system is about withstanding the pressure on the big occasion, and in Emile van den Burg VRA have found a young player who has that ability in abundance.