Photo: Will Clark scored 75 runs v ACC.©Sander Tholen.
TKcricket.com: …as did Sparta by virtue of their three-wicket win against ACC at the Bermweg.
ACC were again unable to take full advantage of a good start, which saw them reach 103 for two thanks to 36 from Rahil Ahmed and 26 from hius fellow-opener Shreyas Potdar.
But thereafter only Heino Kuhn was able to gain the upper hand against Sparta’s persistent attack, and no-one was able to stay with him for long; he was the ninth man out for exactly 50, and the innings ended on 195.
The Amsterdammers fought hard in the field, reducing Sparta to 73 for four at one stage, but a fifth-wicket partnership of 91 between Will Clark (75) and Joost Kroesen (45) turned the game around, and Sandeep Sardha saw them to victory with two balls to spare.
At Bermweg leaders Voorburg flirted with defeat by Sparta, but were seen home by a dogged ninth-wicket stand of 42 between Philippe Boissevain and Mees van Vliet after Joost-Martijn Snoep and Joost Kroesen appeared to have put the Spartans into a winning position.
They were defending a relatively modest 162, which was dominated by Garnett Tarr’s 93; he received too little support, however, and with Shariz Ahmad taking five for 32, his fourth five-wicket haul of the campaign, and bringing his season’s tally to 43 at an average of 11, Voorburg should have had a relatively easy chase.
But Snoep struck three times to reduce them to 47 for three, and when brothers Musa and Shariz Ahmad appeared to swung the game their side’s way Kroesen chimed in, removing first Musa for 53 and then Shariz for 42.
At 121 for eight Sparta were now on top, but Boissevain and Van Vliet, with plenty of overs in hand, were content to pick off the runs in ones and twos, their partnership not including a single boundary but moving swiftly enough to reach their target with seven and a half overs to spare.
Snoep finished with three for 38 and Kroesen with the day’s most popular figures, three for 29.
Despite this defeat Sparta stayed ahead of HCC on NRR, and will therefore enjoy home advantage in next Saturday’s second semi-final.