The first round of the Topklasse almost comes to an end this Saturday – ‘almost’ because the match between HCC and VRA Amsterdam won’t be played until 5 June – and it’s beginning to look as if the battle for top four places has resolved itself into a six-horse race.

Or, to put it another way, five teams are contesting the remaining three slots if, as seems equally clear, defending champions Excelsior ’20 have already staked their claim to a place in the play-offs. Still unbeaten after six matches, and indeed the only undefeated side in any of the top three divisions, Excelsior have so far carried all before them, and it would take an earthquake to knock them out of the top four.

They finish off the first half of the first phase with a derby against Hermes-DVS, who are currently two games behind. The Schiedam derbies are traditionally among the high points of the Dutch season, and with both sides in the top half of the table this one is certain to be no exception.

With Ed Cowan, Daan van Bunge and Usman Malik all in great form with the bat, Excelsior have been piling on the runs, and this has perhaps protected an attack which is not quite of the same high standard. But the bowling does not lack variety, and it was effective enough to dismiss VRA for 148 last Saturday.

Hermes, on the other hand, have a very effective group of seamers, strengthened by the return to full fitness of coach Shanan Stewart, and at Sportpark Harga they probably have as good a chance as anyone of taming the Excelsior top order. With Hermes it’s the other way round: although Nick Statham, Stewart and Derek de Boorder have been making runs, there are questions about the reliability of the rest of the order. It should be a great contest.

Having both lost twice last weekend, VOC Rotterdam and VRA Amsterdam will go into their game at Hazelaarweg knowing that every match – and not least this one – is now absolutely vital. VOC were without Bas Zuiderent for both games, but that doesn’t explain their dramatic collapse against HCC, ignited by the dismissal of Michael Dighton from the first ball of the innings.

Nor does it account for the home defeat by Rood en Wit, in which the Rotterdammers were unable to defend a total of 229 and lost by five wickets. The fact that Dighton contributed 140 of those runs confirms just how important his batting is for his side’s success, and his bowling can be pretty crucial as well.

VRA’s big guns also failed to fire for the most part over the Pentecost weekend, and the side lost twice in a row at home for the first time since most people can remember. Although Adeel Raja continues to bowl well with the new ball, the attack appears to lack penetration as well, and the side will need to raise their game considerably if they are to maintain contact with the leaders.

It’s currently HCC who are doing the best job of breathing down Excelsior’s necks, and their bowlers’ demolition of Hermes and VOC at the weekend kept them firmly in second position. Johan Myburgh was the main weapon on Saturday, but on Monday it was the seamers, the Jonkman twins and Philip van den Brandeler, who did the damage. This week they travel across Den Haag to take on Quick, who came agonisingly close to posting their first win against Rood en Wit on Monday.

HCC’s batting, Imran Nackerdien apart, has lacked a certain degree of conviction so far, but their bowlers have more than made up for it. They will be keen to exploit the brittleness of the Quick batting line-up, but it may be that skipper Henk-Jan Mol’s heroics, especially in Haarlem, will inspire his side to bat with more application. Stijn Allema, too, batted with more assurance against Rood en Wit, and Quick’s home crowd can be relied upon to give their side plenty of support.

The other big gainers of the Pentecost weekend were Rood en Wit, whose two victories took them into the top four. Captain Jarrod Englefield and exchange player Malcolm Nofal have developed into a fine opening partnership, and with Shahbaz Bashir, Enoch Nkwe and Andrew Bailey to follow the Haarlem side have the capacity to make big scores.

But their collapse from a great start on Monday suggested a soft underbelly, and the bowlers, after a superb blast from Nkwe, were disturbingly slow to finish things off.

This week they visit ACC, for whom Bas van der Heijde is set to return from self-imposed exile in the Seconds and strengthen a batting line-up which has found runs hard to come by. Having proved too strong for Quick last Saturday, ACC will hope to move further clear of the danger zone by stopping Rood en Wit’s winning streak, and there’s little doubt that they have the bowlers to do it.

But they will need coach Ryan Maron, Van der Heijde and the rest of the batsmen to tame the Haarlemmers’ attack on a pitch which often makes life difficult for batting.

A final note: all four matches will begin at 10:00, to enable the national squad players to hit the road for the English Midlands and their CB40 engagements.

Oh, and the tips (although after last weekend a pin and the fixture list might be as promising an approach as the old crystal ball):
HCC, VOC, Rood en Wit and . . . Hermes!