[door de redactie] Vorige week waren ze het eens en kregen gelijk, die twee van TKcricket: ACC zou thuis verliezen van Excelsior. Jammer, onnodig ook. Nu zijn Rod Lyall en Bertus de Jong het wéér roerend eens, geen kunst, na Sparta's 22 ao bij Dosti: ACC gaat winnen uit tegen Sparta. Dat de Capellenaren, zondag j.l. even Capellenarren, winst hard nodig hebben om uit de gevarenzone te komen is evident, en dat ze thuis vaker beter spelen dan uit ook. Maar ook ACC moet node punten halen, zeggen ze. Om aansluiting te houden met de top, simpel. Volgt R&B's analyse van de komende uitwedstrijd in hun Round 14-preview. En al hun voorspellingen voor zondag.
Bertus de Jong: After missing their chance to leapfrog Excelsior last week, ACC will want to avoid slipping further behind on Sunday when they head to Bermweg to take on the beleaguered Sparta 1888, who are now just a single point clear of the relegation spot after an abject performance at Drieburg. Boasting the league’s two leading wicket-takers in Brady Barends and Saqib Zulfiqar, ACC will likely feel confident of rolling Sparta for a total even their misfiring batting will have little trouble with. On that front the Amsterdammers have looked increasingly dependent on Jean Marais at the top of the order however, with the rest of the batting card struggling to maintain early form. If there is a one-on-one battle likely to prove decisive it is doubtless that of Marais and the evergreen Mudassar Bukhari, who has looked his old self and then some this season.
Rod Lyall: Having collapsed twice in succession ACC’s batting must now be a subject of serious concern in Amstelveen, though not nearly as much as Sparta’s after last week’s debacle against Dosti. Another defeat might well put ACC out of the running for the title altogether – depending on results elsewhere – while Sparta’s slide towards the bottom of the table means they also have to start conjuring victories from somewhere. Their attack always looks a shade more effective at the Bermweg, but it’s hard to believe that a batting line-up which includes Marais and the Zulfiqar brothers will fail again, even if the middle and lower order seem currently unable to contribute a great deal. The imponderable, of course, is what events at Drieburg last Sunday have done to Sparta’s morale: they will have to regroup very quickly if they are to have any chance against the Amsterdam side.
BdJ’s tips: VRA, Excelsior, Dosti, ACC, HBS, HCC.
RL’s tips: VOC, Excelsior, VRA, ACC, HBS, HCC.
