SPRUNDEL – The leader of the top league three-cushion in Holland made a little misstep in a home match this Sunday. The Aartsbouw team drew against Harwig, the last-placed team in the standings. Therefore, Cues&Darts, which did win themselves, could close the gap to one point. The battle for the top spots is heating up further, as is the fight for the four playoff spots. The leading group is shrinking further. It seems that five teams are still in the running, as SIS/Vervoort and Paperclip have fallen further behind. The five teams on top are Aartsbouw, Cues&Darts, Bousema, Team Eekhoorn, and Dallinga.com. The difference between those five teams is six points.
Aartsbouw saw two Belgians, Eddy Merckx and Wesley de Jaeger, win comfortably in today’s round, while Barry van Beers played a poor game. Luca Philipoom, the young 18-year talent, who was happy with his substitute place in the team, secured a hard-fought victory against Ronny Brants with a 40-39 score. That win can certainly be called sensationally, considering Ronny Brants is the player who played for the Belgians at the World Team Championships. "I was a bit nervous in the last three innings," commented Luca Philipoom, who was playing in the Top league for the second time. When Ronny Brants had missed four match points, Philipoom was able to finish.
The other winner in Harwig's team was Rob Lamboo, who managed to beat Barry van Beers by a fairly large margin: 40-28 in 38 innings. That result shows that Barry van Beers's poor performance one day before in the Capelle Grand Prix was no coincidence. Eddy Merckx defeated Andreas Niehaus 40-24 in 25 innings, and Wesley de Jaeger won against Richard Dekker 40-25 in 26.
Aartsbouw's rivals took full advantage. Cues&Darts still had to fight for that win against Burgmans, as Erwin Kivits took the victory against Jef Philipoom 40-36 in 26 innings. Marco Janssen held a lead against Huub Wilkowski for a long time, but that match ultimately ended in a draw in 26 innings. Therefore, Burgmans missed the 4-4 tie, and Cues&Darts seized the win 5-3 thanks to Glenn Hofman and Ruben Legazpi. The Spaniard was the best winner in this round: he defeated Bart Ceulemans 40-16 in 16 innings. Glenn Hofman bested Tom Löwe 40-23 in 24 innings. Jeffrey Jorissen was ultimately able to secure the full victory for Bousema when he faced Dick Jaspers in the final match. Jorissen held a lead for almost the entire match after starting 12-1. Jaspers, after his forced rest, came back from a 36-31 deficit with a run of 6 (37-36), but Jorissen finished it off with 1 and 3, after which Jaspers missed the equalizer. Along with Jorissen, Johan Loncelle also defeated Anno de Kleine 40-31 in 22 innings, and Frans van Schaik bested Dan Breur 40-31 in 27 innings. Cédric Melnytschenko was the only winner for Paperclip against Stefan Galla.
Dallinga moved up to the position that they share with Team Eekhoorn, the team that had a day off. The team from Zeeland has played one more match but made a strong impression in the home game against SIS/Vervoort. The 6-2 victory was crucial in the battle for the playoff positions.
The start was stunning for Dallinga, as Peter De Backer managed to win in his typical tactical style against Raymund Swertz, the winner of the Grand Prix the night before this match. The Belgian allround player got the match under control, completely silenced Swertz, and won 40-16 in 25 innings. "I don't understand what happened," admitted Swertz, after having shone so brightly in the Grand Prix and now managing no higher than a 0.640 average. "We all know Peter De Backer, how he can score and defend at the same time. He did that incredibly well this time, so I didn't get a single chance."
Harrie van de Ven beat Berry Dallinga 40-35 in the first session in 38 innings, but the second round belonged entirely to Dallinga. Jean Paul de Bruijn secured the win against Jean van Erp with 40-24 in 23 innings, and Steven van Acker, after a great start, left Martien van der Spoel far behind with 40-22 in 23.
The Brabant team of Van Baal moved slightly closer to the middle of the pack with a 2-6 victory in the away match against RCN. Dave Christiani was the only winner for the home team against Roland Forthomme (40-22 in 31). Sam van Etten, Sergio Jimenez, and Thorsten Frings secured a 6-2 victory for the Zundert team in a close race: wins in 29, 30, and 28 innings.
Jeffrey Jorissen, winner in the match with Dick Jaspers