Quick Haag, without a Topklasse win until last week, confirmed that their season was far from over by beating leaders Excelsior ’20 on Sunday, although some of the gloss was taken off their achievement by the fact that the side immediately above them, ACC, also won.

With second-placed HCC also losing, there are now just two points separating six teams in the mid-table battle which actually involves almost the whole competition. Quick may have left their surge too late to challenge for the top four, but a further string of victories in their remaining four games would at least give them the prospect of avoiding the relegation play-offs.

The tightest game of the day on Sunday was at Hazelaarweg, where VOC Rotterdam fell just five runs short chasing ACC’s total of 208 for nine. On the hottest day of the summer so far, the ACC batsmen were unable to capitalise fully on a great start by openers Steven de Bruin and Ryan Maron, who put on 71 for the first wicket. After De Bruin departed for a well-made 41 Maron continued in partnership with Zulfiqar Ahmed, adding 53 for the third, but once they were out for 58 and 34 respectively the innings fell away.

Michael Rippon contributed a not-out 24, but no-one else managed double figures, and with Ben Goedegebuur, Michael Dighton, Bobby Hanif and Andrew Hoogstraten chipping in with two wickets apiece and the youngster Dirk van Baren bowling a tidy six-over spell the Amsterdammers had to battle to get their total over 200.

Michael Dighton and Jelte Schoonheim then got their side off to an equally good start, putting on 66 before Dighton, on 29, edged Zishan Akram to keeper De Bruin. Schoonheim went on to 54 before he was stumped off Rippon, and thereafter VOC gradually fell behind the asking rate despite a solid 43 from Koen van Everdingen.

When he became another of Zishan Akram’s four victims the writing was on the wall for the home side, and the final over began with ten still needed and the last pair together. They got four of them, but then a dreadful mix-up in mid-pitch led to a run-out and ACC had squeezed home. Akram took four for 39 and Rippon three for 30.

Excelsior ’20 were again without player-coach Ed Cowan for their clash with Quick at Nieuw Hanenburg, but his stand-in David Sandmann proved his worth by taking six for 34 as Quick were dismissed for 218.

That they made that many was very largely due to Stijn Allema, who made an excellent 95 before he was sixth out with the total on 201. Geert Maarten Mol and Luke Phillips-Page were the only other Quick batsmen to make significant contributions.

But it is in the batting that Cowan is most obviously missed, and with Quick coach Jono Boult grabbling two early wickets Excelsior were soon in serious trouble. Then skipper Henk-Jan Mol weighed in, and although Maarten van Gelderen made a steady 23 the defending champions found themselves on 63 for six.

Adam Woutersen’s 26 took Excelsior to a somewhat more respectable total, but with Boult coming back to claim two more victims and finish with four for 11 the innings closed on 120. Henk-Jan Mol had three for 17.

Despite their defeat Excelsior maintained their six-point lead at the top of the table, thanks to HCC’s defeat at the hands of VRA in Amstelveen.
Without player-coach Johan Myburgh, HCC were always likely to struggle once VRA won the toss, chose to bat, and saw Eric Szwarczynski and Tom Cooper put on 151 for the second wicket. Szwarczynski eventually fell to Imran Nackerdien for 62 – the first of three catches for the evergreen Jacob-Jan Esmeijer – but Cooper carried on in partnership with Wesley Barresi, adding another 86 before the latter fell for 40.

Cooper went on to make 137, his first Topklasse century, and VRA reached a massive 291 for five, with Mark Jonkman the most successful of the HCC bowlers with three for 52.

Adeel Raja and Sohail Bhatti soon accounted for the visitors’ openers, but useful contributions from Nackerdien andTom de Grooth (who top scored with 42) enabled them to reach a promising 102 for three at one stage. But when young leg-spinner Vinoo Tewarie removed De Grooth it set off a mid-order collapse, and with Tewarie achieving his best return of six for 49, and despite a lively last-wicket stand between Jeroen Smits and Bernard Loots HCC were eventually dismissed for 179.

Hermes-DVS player-coach Shanan Stewart had a mixed farewell to this season’s Topklasse, playing his last game before joining the New Zealand Emerging Players squad in Australia. Bowled without scoring by an Andrew Bailey delivery he didn’t attempt to play, Stewart came back with five for 22 in Rood en Wit’s innings, helping his side to a 31-run victory.

And the match also saw a triumphant return from injury by Hermes skipper Nick Statham, who hit 100 not out, his second century of the season, as his side posted 205 for nine. Bailey claimed two other wickets as well as Stewart’s at a cost of 39 runs.

It was a reasonable total but a far from imposing one, and at 111 for two Rood en Wit were well placed to take the points. But then Erik Hartong took four for 23, and with Stewart’s five-wicket haul the Haarlem side were all out for 174. Shahbaz Bashir made 33, but the lower order, Paul van Meekeren apart, were unable to contribute much in the face of Hartong and Stewart’s seam bowling.

The win consolidated Hermes’ position in the top four, but with so little separating six teams no-one can afford to ease up for a moment.