It was a crowded Pentecost weekend, and the two rounds of Topklasse matches on Saturday and Monday produced some notable upsets and a radical reshaping of the table.

The principal gainers were Excelsior ’20, HCC and Rood en Wit, all of whom won twice. This means that the defending champions are now four points clear at the top, although HCC, in second position, have a game in hand, while Rood en Wit enter the top four for the first time.

It was, on the other hand, a miserable weekend for VOC Rotterdam, VRA Amsterdam and Quick Haag, who lost both their matches. Quick are now firmly anchored at the bottom of the table, while fancied sides VOC and VRA will need to regroup rapidly if they are to make up the lost ground.

The outstanding contest was at the Spanjaardslaan in Haarlem on Monday, where the home side just held on to beat an unfortunate Quick side despite a magnificent captain’s knock from Henk-Jan Mol. Rood en Wit had collapsed dramatically from 125 without loss to 207 all out, but when a splendid burst of seam bowling from Enoch Nkwe, who took three wickets in four balls, reduced Quick to 62 for six, it seemed as if they were headed for a comfortable win.

Mol, however, stood firm, and was well supported by 16-year-old James Gruijters in an eighth-wicket stand of 65. When Gruijters was finally trapped in front by Andrew Bailey, first Somesh Kohli and then Farshad Khan stayed with their skipper as he got his side to within 12 runs of their target with two overs left.

Seven came from the first four balls of Shahbaz Bashir’s penultimate over, but then Mol, on 81, came forward and was yorked to give Rood en Wit a 4-run victory.

Earlier, Jarrod Englefield (49) and exchange player Malcolm Nofal (69) had given the Haarlemmers a great start, but after Quick coach Jono Boult had removed both of them in successive overs, Jeroen Brand, getting his first bowl of the season, ran through the middle and later order, taking four for 23. Bailey, back from injury, made 37 and Paul van Meekeren weighed in with some lusty blows towards the end, but Rood en Wit’s total of 207 seemed disappointing after that opening partnership.

Stijn Allema (43) and Geert Maarten Mol gave Quick a decent start as well, but then came Nkwe’s onslaught and Henk Mol’s heroics. Although somewhat ill-tempered at times, it was undoubtedly a very good game of cricket.

For Rood en Wit it was the third win on the trot, since they had beaten VOC Rotterdam by five wickets on Saturday, despite a 139-ball innings of 140 for VOC by Michael Dighton. It was another case of a good start wasted, since Dighton and Maarten van Ierschot shared an opening stand of 94, only to see their side dismissed for 229. Nofal with four for 39 and Bashir with four for 26 were the main destroyers for Rood en Wit.

Then Englefield and Nofal replied with an opening partnership of 90, and after Nofal fell (to Dighton) for 47 the Rood en Wit captain went on to make an undefeated 103 as his side won with nine balls to spare.

For VOC things then got markedly worse, as they were shot out for 77 by HCC at De Diepput when they were chasing a modest total of 144. Maurits Jonkman with four wickets and his twin Mark with three were too sharp for the Rotterdammers, who now find themselves just outside the top four.

The win cemented HCC’s second position, to which they had laid claim with a convincing 82-run victory over Hermes-DVS in Schiedam on Saturday. That match was a personal triumph for HCC coach Johan Myburgh, who top-scored with 72 and then took five for 32 as Hermes collapsed to 139 all out.
Myburgh shared an excellent third-wicket stand with left-handed exchange player Imran Nackerdien (44), while Nick Statham made 45 for Hermes. Ruud Nijman bowled with good pace in HCC’s innings, taking three for 30, while Shanan Stewart had the same figures.

Excelsior ’20, meanwhile, march on unimpeded: they overwhelmed VRA in Amstelveen on Saturday, inflicting the heaviest home defeat the Amsterdammers have suffered since they acquired their turf wicket in 1998 as they won by 128 runs.

Adeel Raja picked up two wickets as Excelsior reached 83 for three, but then Daan van Bunge (125 not out) and Usman Malik (79 not out) added 193 in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand which enabled the champions to reach 276 for three.

That always seemed likely to be too many, and despite a fine half-century from Eric Szwarczynski VRA could only manage 148, Ed Cowan taking four for 28.

Monday saw Excelsior at home to ACC, who had recorded their first win of the season by beating Quick Haag on Saturday. The Schiedammers again posted the highest total of the day with 247 for seven, Cowan making 62 and Van Bunge 61, and ACC were soon in desperate trouble on 31 for three when they replied.

Steven de Bruin fought a rearguard action with 43, but his side were eventually dismissed for 174 five overs from the scheduled end.

Meanwhile in Amstelveen, Hermes-DVS completed the wrecking of VRA’s party with a 17-run victory over VRA, their first win in the Amsterdamse Bos since 2004.

The New Zealand pair of Shanan Stewart (62) and Derek de Boorder (46 not out) saw Hermes to a comparatively modest 179 for six, but VRA were unable to mount an effective challenge to this apparently straightforward target.

Wesley Barresi, dropping down to four, made a valuable 58, but he received insufficient support from the rest of the line-up, and the home side were dismissed for 162, Erik Hartong taking three for 27 for Hermes.

In the clash between the two bottom sides at Nieuw Hanenburg on Saturday, ACC reached 225 for eight against Quick, thanks to contributions by Ryan Maron (33), Mudassar Bukhari (57), Michael Rippon (38) and Rizwan Akram (47).

They then reduced their hosts to 77 for five, but they were held up by a fighting sixth-wicket stand of 113 between Henk-Jan Mol (49) and Alex Pototsky (71). That wasn’t enough, however, and with Rizwan Akram eventually finishing things off with three for 27 Quick were dismissed for 175, 50 runs short.

Mol, though, undoubtedly deserved the Stalingrad Award for heroic resistance, although his innings of 49 against ACC and 81 against Rood en Wit weren’t quite enough. But Quick’s season is far from over, and this Topklasse campaign will see a lot more twists and turns – and frustrations for the tipster – before the final shots are fired.