There are five Topklasse matches scheduled for this weekend, with HCC playing their postponed match against VRA Amsterdam on Saturday and then the first round games of the second half of the round robin programme taking place on Sunday.

With their seam attack in full cry and their opponents’ batting performing well below par, HCC will be keen to finish off the first half of the schedule with the win which would confirm their second position, just two points behind leaders Excelsior ’20. For VRA, by contrast, victory is clearly vital, not only to keep them in touch with the chasing pack, but to give them some momentum for the rest of the competition.

Just why a batting line-up which includes internationals Eric Szwarczynski, Tom Cooper, Wesley Barresi, Peter Borren and Atse Buurman has performed so dismally is a mystery: perhaps their minds have been elsewhere as the national side has pursued three weekends of matches against the counties.

HCC’s batting is a lot less imposing on paper, but backed up by the best seam attack in the Topklasse it has done enough to secure a succession of three straight wins, the last of them by the narrowest of margins against Quick Haag last Saturday. Opener Thijs Fischer got their innings off to a great start in that game by smashing 74 out of the first 86 runs scored, taking just 59 deliveries to do it, but even so it was left to last-wicket pair Jeroen Smits and Maurits Jonkman to score the winning runs.

So Saturday’s game is evenly balanced, although the form book certainly suggests that HCC should have the edge.

The first day of the season having been totally rained off, Sunday’s return matches will in fact be the first meetings of these teams this year.

The biggest game of the day will be at Thurlede where Rood en Wit Haarlem, currently third, will become the latest side to try to end Excelsior’s unbeaten League run, which now extends to twelve matches.

The Haarlemmers’ rapidly-developing challenge has largely depended so far on the batting of Jarrod Englefield, Malcolm Nofal, Shahbaz Bashir and Enoch Nkwe, and the bowling of Shahbaz, Nkwe, Nofal and Vishi Sankarasubramaniam, but there’s little doubt that beating Excelsior will be their most imposing task to date.

Rood en Wit are a well-balanced side if a little over-dependent on those five players, but I have to admit that Excelsior have turned out to be better balanced than I expected at the start of the season. It was, in fact, the bowlers who were decisive in last Saturday’s Schiedam derby, bowling Hermes-DVS out for 179 after the batting had subsided from 165 for one to 215 all out.

Tom Heggelman opened with a fine spell, Seb Gokke, Haider Khan and Ed Cowan did well in the middle overs, and then Usman Malik came back to finish things off. It was a great team effort, and the contest between the Excelsior attack and Rood en Wit’s top order may be one of the most absorbing of the season.

Another crucial game will be at Hazelaarweg, where VOC Rotterdam are at home to Hermes-DVS.

Level on points at present in fourth and fifth place, these sides are very evenly matched, and this too should be a great contest. With Ben Goedegebuur showing great form with the ball the VOC attack looks sharper than many expected, while in Michael Dighton and Bas Zuiderent they have two undoubted match-winners with the bat.

But Hermes have – at least for the present – their own batting stars in Shanan Stewart and Derek de Boorder, and an attack which is as effective and varied as any in the competition. They did well to haul Excelsior back last week, with the unsung Erik Hartong once again showing what a valuable member of the side he is.

HCC will undertake the trip to Amstelveen to play ACC on Sunday in second position, regardless of the outcome of their game the previous day, and their bowlers can expect to find the Loopveld West pitch to their liking.

With just one win in six matches ACC are firmly in the danger zone, and they will need to pull something remarkable out of the hat if they are to upset HCC. Coach Ryan Maron has largely carried the batting on his own so far, although Bas van der Heijde showed encouraging form last week on his return to the first team and Mudassar Bukhari is always capable of unleashing a match-deciding effort.

The ACC attack is relatively strong, and the side’s chances may depend on their ability to get through a HCC top order which includes international Tom de Grooth, the impressive left-handed exchange player Imran Nackerdien, and coach Johan Myburgh.

For bottom side Quick Haag, who have come so close in their last two matches without securing their first win, Sunday’s home game against old rivals VRA Amsterdam represents a chance to get their season back on track.

In last week’s match against HCC Quick introduced a new batsman in Luke Phillips-Page, and he responded by top-scoring with a not-out 60. With skipper Henk-Jan Mol batting consistently and players like Stijn Allema, Jonathan Boult, Geert Maarten Mol, Alex Pototsky and Jeroen Brand all capable of making runs, Quick ought to be much more competitive than they have been so far, and that elusive first victory surely can’t be far off.

Equally, VRA can be expected to return to winning ways before long, and if they don’t manage to beat HCC on Saturday they will surely arrive at Nieuw Hanenburg on Sunday determined to make amends.

After a four-wicket haul in VRA’s opening game, Sohail Bhatti has managed just one wicket in his next four matches, and it is spinner Adeel Raja who is the side’s leading wicket-taker. With the batting struggling for form the attack is left with little room for manoeuvre, and it is the batsmen who will need to up their game if the Amsterdam side is not to come away from Den Haag empty-handed on two days in succession.

This week’s tips:
Saturday: HCC
Sunday: HCC, VOC, Excelsior, Quick Haag.