On a day when the four matches that beat the weather all went pretty much according to form, the show was stolen by some remarkable individual performances, including the equalling of the Hoofdklasse catching record by a wicketkeeper, a bowler taking four wickets in four balls, and another century for the league’s leading run-scorer.

Leaders VRA had to combat the elements as well as a determined VVV side before running out winners in Amstelveen. Put in to bat, they were once again in early trouble at 57 for four, and were again rescued by a fine captain’s innings from Darrin Murray, with the assistance of Peter Borren (34), Wesley Barresi (24) and coach Ryan Maron.

Murray and Maron added 93 for the seventh wicket, taking the total from 160 for six with thirteen overs left to 247 as the last began. Murray belted Aqeel Awan’s first ball for a straight six to move onto 89, and was then caught at long on by Mohammad Sadiq off the next, trying to repeat the shot. The batsmen having crossed, Maron also holed out to Sadiq next ball, and Awan then bowled Garth Brown to complete his hat-trick. And not content with this, he proceeded to bowl Joost Leemhuis to give himself four from four and finish off the innings.

VVV clearly regarded 254 as a perfectly gettable target, despite losing early wickets, mainly to a terrific spell from Rashid Amin, who took three for 7 in his first six overs. This left the home side on 49 for four, but with Atiq Bhutta and Mohammad Sadiq going along comfortably they had reached 72 in the eighteenth over when the rain arrived.

After a break of almost two hours the players got back onto the field with the target revised to 228 off 45 overs, Leemhuis removing Bhutta with the last ball of his interrupted over. Sadiq and Rizwan Akram put together a sixth-wicket partnership of 83 and the balance swung towards VVV, but when Amin came back to remove Akram for 32 and Sadiq was caught at long on off Leemhuis three overs later VRA tightened their grip, eventually bowling their opponents out for 203. Amin finished with four for 11 from eight overs, and Mike Smith with three for 54.

VOC’s game at Voorburg was much more one-sided, with the Rotterdam side pulling off their third nine-wicket victory of the season. VCC again collapsed from a promising position, having reached 138 for three despite the early loss of Ryan Le Loux and Tim de Leede, thanks to a fourth-wicket stand of 82 between Mohammad Rafi (33) and Atse Buurman.

Buurman went on to made 76, but he received little support from the rest of the side and they were all out for 213, Chris Smith taking three for 29 to take his season’s tally to 29 wickets, and Reinhout van Ierschot three for 40.

VOC had barely started their response when rain stopped play, and came back to a revised target of 154 from 36 overs. Maarten van Ierschot fell in the twelfth over, but thereafter Michael Dighton and Bas Zuiderent again took over, reaching their target comfortably within the distance but then needing to keep going until the 36th over had been bowled or they had passed 213. They didn’t quite manage the latter task, but there was time for Dighton to complete his third century of the season and to bring his aggregate to 792, while Zuiderent finished with 71.

With five matches left, Dighton now has a good chance of becoming the first batsman to reach 1000 runs in a season since the Hoofdklasse was reduced to ten teams in 1998.

HBS also completed a comfortable win, making 258 for two against bottom club Rood en Wit and then dismissing their opponents for 94 in 25.3 overs in a rain-interrupted conclusion. Robert van Oosterom set the Den Haag side on the right track with 43, but the decisive factor was an unbroken third-wicket stand of 180 between skipper Billy Stelling, who pushed himself up the order in the absence of Alexei Kervezee and celebrated with 102 not out, and Reinhout Scholte, who made 83.

Rood en Wit had no answer to this, and were 71 for five after fifteen overs when the rain took a hand. It was only a temporary respite for the home side, however, and spinner Mustapha Faqiri led with way with four for 14, Sjoerd Weurman again being among the wickets with three for 34.

Bowlers had the upper hand at Nieuw Hanenburg, Quick Haag being dismissed for 178 and then taking the points by bowling Excelsior out for 102. Henk-Jan Mol was the cornerstone of the Quick innings with a patient 56, while Mark Cleary had the remarkable figures of three for 8 from 9.2 overs for Excelsior. Luuk van Troost took three for 35.

When Excelsior batted they were soon reduced to 30 for four by a fine spell from seamer Somesh Kohli, who took four for 22 (including the wickets of Cleary, Daan van Bunge and van Troost) from his ten overs, either side of a break for rain. They had got to 43 before the rain returned, and came back chasing a revised target of 147 from 41 overs.

This proved well beyond them, however, with Geert-Maarten Mol taking three for 32 and brother Henk-Jan two for 21, but the star of the show was wicketkeeper Bobby van Gigch, who celebrated getting the gloves back after three games in the outfield by taking seven catches, equalling Mike Vroom’s Hoofdklasse record. Excelsior were all out for 102 in the fortieth over.

The worst of the weather was clearly in Schiedam, where Hermes-DVS and HCC were unable to get a finish. Hermes made 204 for six before the rain came, mainly thanks to an opening stand of 122 between Renzo Borrani (48) and Pankaj Joshi (71), and HCC had reached 37 for two after six overs when the players were driven from the field.