VCC has won the Next Communications T20 Cup. In the unofficial start of the cricket season in the Hague region, the hosts were too strong for HCC in the final. Although VCC played with four internationals, it was the young talents Cedric de Lange, Nirav Kulkarni and Tom de Leede who stole the show.
Traditionally, the four top Hague clubs appeared at the start: HCC, HBS, Quick and VCC. In the pool phase, matches of fifteen overs (90 balls) per team were played. In the morning, VCC proved too strong for HBS. Thanks to the strong bowling of Mees van Vliet (three wickets) and Tom de Leede (two wickets) and a world catch by Noah Croes, HBS reached no further than 92 runs for the loss of eight wickets. That VCC passed this total in just fifty balls was mainly down to Cedric de Lange, who played an unparalleled innings of 74 runs in 37 balls, with five fours and seven sixes.
Final
As HCC easily defeated Quick (75/9 – 79/1) in the other group match, the rivals HCC and VCC, who competed for the national title in 2022 as well as 2023, met in the final. Boris Gorlee (29 runs) and Shirsak Banerjee (32) were able to do something about the strong Voorburg attack, in which internationals Viv Kingma and Michael Levitt (two wickets each) were outclassed by 17-year-old Tom de Leede, who took three wickets.
Michael Levitt was also useful as a batsman with 47 fluent runs. Youngsters Nirav Kulkarni (31 not out) and 20-year-old Australian Henry Melville (32 not out) then finished it off simply with an unbeaten partnership.
The win means a good dress rehearsal for the start of the league. On April 27, VCC travels to Capelle for the match against Sparta.
