With the threatened rain staying away it was no change at the top of the Hoofdklasse on Sunday, all three leading sides recording wins. But HBS Den Haag lost at home to Voorburg, and effectively dropped out of the championship race.

Neither leaders VRA Amsterdam nor VOC Rotterdam, their closest pursuers, had things all their own way. Chasing moderate totals, both had the odd uncomfortable moment before ultimately making sure of the points.

In the absence of coach Pankaj Joshi, whose visa has expired, Hermes did well to reach 202 for six from their fifty overs, youngster Nils Lenstra top-scoring with 56 – his first Hoofdklasse half-century – and Ruud Nijman (45 not out) and Pieter Seelaar (22 not out) seeing the total past 200 with an unbroken partnership of 71 for the seventh wicket.

This never seemed likely to be enough, but after a lively second-wicket stand of 60 between Tjade Groot (37) and Eric Szwarczynski (33) the VRA middle order again showed signs of vulnerability, and at 149 for seven the leaders seemed to be in danger of defeat. But they survived this test of the depth of their batting, Jeroen Westermann and Ryan Maron putting on 57 to see them home with two overs to spare.

A delayed start in Rotterdam because of the state of the ground led to VOC’s match against Quick Haag being reduced to 47 overs. Quick’s total of 192 for four was mainly thanks to a 95-run partnership for the third wicket between Lesley Stokkers (81) and Henk-Jan Mol (54 not out), but again the home side’s strength in batting suggested that they should overhaul this target fairly comfortably.

Michael Dighton completed another half-century, but when he was run out to make the total 121 for three, and Chris Smith was then dismissed with the score on 145, Quick could see a chink of light. Darron Reekers was absent through injury, however, and with Geert Maarten Mol forced to leave the field after bowling only three overs, the attack was significantly weakened.

Bas Zuiderent was still at the wicket, and his 43 not out was enough to ensure that VOC reached their target off the second ball of the final over.

HCC had a somewhat more comfortable win against Rood en Wit, bowling their opponents out for 138, and then knocking off the runs in 28.1 overs for the loss of five wickets. Enoch Nkwe made 37 for the Haarlem side, while Maarten Barnhoorn and Farhad Sardha both made 35. It was the HCC spinners who did the damage, Edgar Sleijffers taking five for 21 and Jacob-Jan Esmeijer three for 22. Opener Dirk Rijkens led the HCC reply with an unbeaten 48.

VCC pulled off a remarkable recovery at Craeyenhout to defeat HBS and record their second victory of the weekend: they were 94 for seven at one point, but reached 194 for nine, thanks to Atse Buurman’s 112, made off 125 balls with six fours and seven sixes. Grant Elliott took four for 29 for HBS, and Mustapha Faqiri three for 25.

HBS made a good start, with young New Zealander Ash Russell hitting 48, but VCC coach Ryan Le Loux’s leg spin was too much for them as they crumbled to 126 all out, Le Loux finishing with six for 24.

The condition of the ground delayed the start of Excelsior’s match against VVV Amsterdam until 1 o’clock, and the game was reduced to 40 overs a side. VVV’s batsmen did well to reach 201 for seven, with Rizwan Akram top-scoring with 60 and captain Hussain remaining on 47 not out.

But Excelsior began their response at a tremendous pace, Mark Cleary smashing 81 as they reached 83 without loss in the first ten overs and 135 for two after 20. Fellow-opener Zafar Ahmad made 59, and with Daan van Bunge weighing in at the end the home side reached their target with six overs left.