2 September 2026
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NEWS
Dockers and Rockers lead in ETPL
The first edition of the European T20 Premier League continues to captivate with wonderful cricket. On Thursday, the Rotterdam Dockers briefly took the top spot after a win over the Dublin Guardians, but in the evening they were overtaken again by the Edinburgh Castle Rockers, who left little intact of the Belfast Wolves.
The Dublin Guardians must have started the break in confidence after making 178/4 thanks to Englishman James Vince, who made 95 not out from just 54 balls. Roelof van der Merwe (2-35) was on the money once again.
For the Dockers, Michael Levitt (35) opened strongly, but the real craftsmanship came from Faf du Plessis (79 off 51 balls) who laid down a gem of an innings on the Voorburg turf. Heinrich Klaasen finished the job and led the Rotterdammers to 179/3 in 18.4 overs.
Rockers well ahead of Wolves
Wolves – the animals - may have a reputation on the Dutch heath, but their family from Belfast offered hardly any resistance to the Edinburgh Castle Rockers. J.J. Smuts (98 from sixty balls) led the charge and showed the Rockers the way to 189/5. Dutch international Fred Klaassen had excellent figures with 2-22.
The Wolves were on course for a while, but simply lost too many wickets to maintain that pace. Many catches in the outfield prove that the Irish did try, but fell short against some excellent Scottish bowling. Mitch Santner remained wicketless this time, but Tom Curran (4-20) and Trent Boult (3-16) pulled the proverbial chestnuts out of the fire.
These results mean that the Dockers and the Rockers take the lead in the ETPL with seven points each from four matches. On Thursday, Amsterdam takes on Glasgow.