VCC men and women champions of the Netherlands

After two unsuccessful runchases in the 2021 and 2022 finals, VCC now opted for batting first. After the early departure of Nehaan Gigani, Michael Levitt (102) and Musa Ahmad (78) forged a huge partnership of 183 runs for the second wicket. The innings of Ahmad and Levitt (who – including warm-up games – recorded his sixth century of the season) were of a high standard. Noah Croes (36) and Ryan Klein (24) made their runs very quickly, allowing VCC to make 295 runs. For HCC, Hidde Overdijk took 3-78.

Still, the game was anything but played. HCC has a tough team and a deep batting line-up. However, danger man Jonathan Vandiar soon fell victim to a beautiful catch by Sybrand Engelbrecht. Ton Staal (36) and Boris Gorlee (39) played excellent knocks, but other batsmen were unable to copy their efforts on the strong Voorburg attack. Especially when Ryan Klein took the ball, things went fast. The international is in the interest of an English professional club and more than lived up to that. Batsmen 2, 3, 4, 8, 10 and 11 were dismissed by Klein, who came off the field with 6-15.

This confirmed what had already been shown in the previous rounds when VCC was ten points ahead of the runner-up. According to friend and foe, VCC was the strongest and most consistent team this year, with an excellent attack, at least four top batsmen, a good keeper and no weak spots.

Women's title

The women's title came about in a slightly different way. Because VCC and Quick had no field available, the final was played on the beautiful field of HCC. Due to the wet grass, few fours were hit and VCC did not get further than 87 all out (Babette de Leede 27 runs, Hannah Landheer three wickets).

Game, set and match for Quick, it seemed, but VCC felt it had a chance. At 24, four Quick batters were already gone. Sarah Asmussen (3-13) and especially Eva Lynch (5-9) proved unplayable. Isabel van der Woning and Caroline de Lange made a valiant effort, but the curtain fell thirteen runs short of the target.

On September 2, the VCC women can also win the T20 title. That match will be at 16:00 at Excelsior '20 in Schiedam against Quick or Rood en Wit.

Photo women's team: Sportsnap.nl/Frank van der Leer. Back row left to right.: Marloes Braat, Babette de Leede, Sarah Asmussen, Iris Zwilling, Eva Lynch, Julia Corder.

Front row left to right: Grace Clayton-Ward, Carlijn van Koolwijk, Annemijn van Beuge, Donna Polet, Rosalie Lawrence.

Photo men's team: Mark Steffelaar fotografie

Team photo men: Mark Steffelaar

Standing left to right.: Emile Bam (coach), Chris Schinkel (scorer), Jack Kingma (manager), Karl Nieuwoudt, Mees van Vliet, Philippe Boissevain, Ryan Klein, Michael Levitt, Kobus Nel (voorzitter), Tom de Grooth (coach).

Sitting left to right: Viv Kingma, Noah Croes, Nehaan Gigani, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Musa Ahmad, Shariz Ahmad.

Hoofdklasse final between Hermes DVS and Quick

The HK final will take place on Saturday 2 September between Hermes DVS and Quick. The team from The Hague defeated Kampong 392-246 in the Qualifying Final. Cameron Jackson excelled for Quick with 223 runs.

A won toss meant batting first for the home team at De Savornin Lohmanlaan in The Hague. Quick got off to a fantastic start with overseas Cameron Jackson, who has already made almost 1,500 (!) runs this season, and Daan Vierling (41), whose wicket only fell at 113.

Beckham Wheeler Greenall (87 for 56) and Jackson, who finished with a big double century, made another 213 for the third wicket to take Quick to 392/3.

At Kampong, veteran Usman Malik (82) made his best season score. After a partnership of 71 with Alexander Roy (38), Kampong may still have had illusions, but the last five Utrecht wickets fell for 32 runs. Bob van Gigch took 4-16 for Quick.

Hermes DVS – Quick will be played on September 2 at 11 a.m. in Schiedam (Harga / Loopuyt Oval, Trimpad). The reward for winning is a place in the Topklasse of 2024.