After a week in which the then bottom four all won at the expense of the sides above them, the Topklasse table has closed up markedly, and with five rounds of matches left the battle for three of the play-off places promises to be an extremely tense one. And this week’s fixtures pit each of those sides that lost against one of last Sunday’s winners.

Excelsior ’20, who beat VRA Amsterdam on Saturday only to lose to Hermes-DVS the following day, still have a healthy lead at the top, and it would take something of a revolution in form for them to be knocked out of first place, let alone out of the four.

Even so, they will want to return to winning ways without delay, and they could face easier tasks than a visit to Nieuw Hanenburg to take on a Quick Haag side which secured its first win of the season even as Excelsior was suffering its first defeat.

There’s no doubt that the leaders miss player-coach Ed Cowan, although David Sandmann bowled well in his stead, especially against VRA. But Marcel Schewe will be back after his two-match suspension, and his experience will doubtless be invaluable in the middle order.

Even after Quick had shot HCC out for 123 last week they had to battle to knock off the runs, and it was only the all-round performance of Jeroen Brand which proved the difference between the two teams.

HCC’s season threatens to become a repeat of 2007, when they began in rampant mood only to crumble in the latter part of the campaign and miss out on a place in the four. It’s hard to see that happening again, but defeats at the hands of ACC and Quick don’t bode well, and this week sees them taking on VRA in the Amsterdamse Bos.

HCC piled on 319 for four when the sides met at De Diepput three weeks ago, but Amstelveen is a different proposition, and whatever the limitations of VRA’s attack they will take comfort in having bowled VOC out cheaply last Sunday. Adeel Raja continues to bowl as well as at any point in his career, and Tom Cooper is proving almost as valuable with the ball in his hand as he is for his batting.

It’s the encounter between HCC’s pace attack and VRA’s batting which really whets the appetite, however, and it seems likely that whoever wins that battle will also take the points.

Back in the four on net run rate, Hermes-DVS will be without Derek de Boorder for their home game against Rood en Wit, although they will be hoping to welcome back skipper Nick Statham. They showed great determination in beating Excelsior last Sunday, and a somewhat inconsistent Haarlem side will need to be at their best to win in Schiedam.

Their big guns, Jarrod Englefield, Malcolm Nofal, Shahbaz Bashir and Enoch Nkwe, all failed to fire last week, and Hermes’ seam attack is likely to be at least as testing as ACC’s. The home side’s batting, though, is not quite so imposing, and they will certainly miss De Boorder’s solidity.

ACC, just one game behind the main pack, will travel to Hazelaarweg to take on VOC Rotterdam, and they will no doubt have a Janus-like quality, looking over their shoulders to see what Quick are doing while at the same time trying to concentrate on their challenge for a place in the top four.

They would move level with VOC were they to beat them this week, and their bowlers have the potential to upset their hosts as much as VRA’s did last week. But the ACC batting relies heavily on its two South Africans, player-coach Ryan Maron and exchange player Michael Rippon, and with VOC’s new seamer Andrew Hoogstraten having finally made a successful Topklasse debut last Sunday the Rotterdammers should pose plenty of problems for the visitors.

Having thought about it one and off during the week, I’ve decided that my considered defence is that there’s nothing wrong with my tipping – it’s that the teams are failing to produce the right results!

So the crystal ball has been retrieved from the rubbish, and here’s this week’s: VOC, Hermes-DVS, Excelsior, VRA.