Cricket continued in several leagues in Europe, though it was the hard work of Miranda Veringmeier who stole headlines.
In the Netherlands, unbeaten Voorburg consolidated their position at the top of the Women’s Hoofdklasse with a five-wicket victory over Ajax Leiden at Westvliet.
Chasing the visitors’ 121 for eight from 40 overs, 49 of which had come from an opening stand between Jolien van Vliet (20) and Juliët Post (25), Voorburg cruised to the win in just 20.5 overs, captain Julia Corder top-scoring with 32 not out.
At Sportpark Eindenhout, Veringmeier was in dominant form for VRA Amsterdam, smashing a 78-ball 142 against Rood en Wit Haarlem, which included 18 fours and four sixes.
That enabled VRA to reach 299 for six, and Rood en Wit could only manage 147 in reply, VRA’s new-ball attack of Gwen Bloemen and Nathalie Hennis taking four for 40 and three for 35 respectively.
The win takes VRA into second place behind Voorburg, just ahead of Quick Haag, who with the bye on Saturday have a game in hand.
With unbeaten Ishøj not in action this weekend, there was an opportunity for their main rivals in Denmark’s Elite Division to gain some ground. This was particularly true of Skanderborg, who visited the capital for a double weekend.
They were only able to make limited use of their chance, for after inflicting a nine-wicket defeat on winless Albertslund on Saturday they were themselves comfortably beaten by Svanholm the following day.
Oliver Hald was the architect of Skanderborg’s win over Albertslund, taking six for 13 as the home side, after electing to bat first, were bundled out for 116, Raja Ali the only significant contributor with 31.
Skanderborg were then set firmly on the path to victory with an opening stand of 57 between Nicolaj Damgaard, who made 36 of those runs from just 31 deliveries, and Michael Pedersen. Pedersen and Shangeev Thanikaithasan then rounded off the chase, finishing with 41 and 27 respectively.
The shoe was very much on the other foot on Sunday, as Hamid Shah led Svanholm to a total of 213 for eight with a valuable 74, interrupted by an injury when he had already made 71, and sharing a half-century partnership with Mads Henriksen (42).
Saud Munir made 35 in the later stages, while Damgaard was Skanderborg’s most effective bowler with three for 32.
The visitors were soon in trouble when they replied, Munir, Abdullah Mahmood and Jonas Henriksen reducing them to 30 for five within a dozen overs, and it took a dogged 45 not out from Anders Bülow to get them up to 120 all out.
Mahmood finished with four for 21, and there were two wickets apiece for Munir and Jonas Henriksen.
At Soraner, meanwhile, KB were marching to an equally comfortable 109-run victory over the home side.
The Copenhageners were set up from the outset with an opening stand of 87 between Zameer Khan (38) and Saif Ahmed, who went on to make a 114-ball 84.
With smaller contributions from Anique Uddin, Keith Dabengwa and Lucky Ali Malik, KB finished with 243 for six, Venugopal Nagaraj taking four for 43 for Soraner.
The home side could only manage 134 in reply, opener Rajesh Ayyappan making 30 and Pankaj Singh 35 in the middle order, Anique Uddin the pick of KB’s bowlers with three for 18.
There was no Premier Division cricket in Jersey this week, as clubs prepared for the start of the 40-over league next weekend.
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