VCC won the match against frontrunner VRA in spectacular fashion. Although the Amstelveners set a monster score of 306 runs, they still proved achievable for the Voorburgers, thanks in part to fantastic innings from Michael Levitt (90) and Gavin Kaplan (106 not out).
VRA chose to bat on the excellent pitch. Viv Kingma quickly bowled Shirase Rasool. His departure brought Johan Smal to the crease, who went for 24 LBW on Gavin Kaplan.
Vikram Singh gave a difficult catch at 21. With Teja Nidamanuru, he brought the score to 148. Stijn de Leede appeared to throw Nidamanuru run out from the boundary, but the margin was too small for the umpire to give the batsman out. De Leede gained his ground by catching Nidamanuru (51) out at the boundary moments later.
Vikram Singh got to 63; Michael Molenaar provided the breakthrough. Noah Croes caught the lefthander behind the wicket, and moments later, so did Clayton Floyd with a fantastic catch.
Those who thought that at 182/6 the tail had begun to turn, were deceived. Substitute Luke Scully (64 as number eight) and Udit Nashier (59 not out) forged – aided by a barrage of short balls – a partnership of more than a hundred runs for the seventh wicket.
VCC’s bowling was very poor and even with 23 (!) wides, VCC will not have been happy. It allowed VRA to run out to 306/7 in fifty overs with 79 (!) runs off the last five overs. Gavin Kaplan kept it simple and took 2-32 in ten overs.
Innings VCC
Without going crazy, VCC strolled to 36/1. Michael Levitt and Gavin Kaplan then made a productive and smooth partnership of 113 runs for the second wicket.
Also given the good scoring pace and depth of the batting lineup, VCC was anything but hopeless in this phase. Midway through the innings, VCC was even ahead of schedule.
After Levitt’s departure (a nail-biting 90 with 6×6 and 6×4), Kaplan and Noah Croes (60) took over with a fantastic partnership of 136 runs for the third wicket. Croes still went out, but victory could not really escape VCC already. Kaplan remained unbeaten with 106 majestic runs and VCC inflicted its first defeat on title contender VRA.


Top Class standings: Punjab 6-8, VRA 4-6, Excelsior and VCC 5-6, HCC 4-5, HBS 5-5, VOC 4-4, Sparta 5-4, Hermes DVS 4-2, ACC 4-0.