The headline ‘VRA champions, Rood en Wit relegated’ would have caused few eyebrows to shoot upwards had it appeared, through some manipulation of a time warp, before a ball had been bowled in this season’s Hoofdklasse campaign.

And yet it gives no hint of what really happened this year, and of the way in which the battles at both ends of the table went down to the final round of matches – and beyond. Owing to terrible weather and some poor planning, it was only in the first weekend of September that VRA were confirmed as champions for the second year in a row and the sixth time in nine years, and Rood en Wit’s hopes of staying up lasted a day longer still.

The delay in what many people had seen as the inevitable outcome at the top of the table was due to the consistency of VOC’s performance in pursuit of their first championship since 1987, and VRA’s inability to hit top form and maintain it.

Two defeats in three games at the start of June saw the defending champions pushed from the top slot for the only time during the season, but there were several other games where only the extraordinary depth of their batting saw them through. VOC, on the other hand, had the most productive top order in the competition, while a rather ordinary seam attack – although Chris Smith was the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 32 – was compensated for by excellent spin bowling from Muhammad Kashif and Robbie de Widt.

Some statistics tell the story: VOC’s average opening stand (at 57) was more than double that of VRA (20), while the average score at the fall of the third wicket was 202 in the case of VOC and 103 for VRA. The consistency of Michael Dighton (980 runs at 70.00), Baz Zuiderent (702), Maarten van Ierschot (490) and Chris Smith (351) gave VOC a solid platform; for VRA middle-order batsmen Mike Smith (638) and Darrin Murray (581) were the leading run-scorers, but no fewer than ten players made at least one half-century in the course of the season.

The fact that VRA won both matches between the two sides means that the Amsterdam side were worthy champions, and at times they did demonstrate just how strong they could be: they hit their peak at the end of July, when in one weekend they beat VCC by nine wickets and Quick Haag by 176 runs, but other high points included their successful chases of 260 against Excelsior ’20 in May and 266 against HCC at the end of August, when they pulled off a remarkable last-ball, one-wicket victory.

VOC took up where they had left off in 2005, and they soon emerged as VRA’s main rivals. Strengthened by the arrival of Chris Smith and with Dighton’s remarkable consistency their trump card, they began by overwhelming Rood en Wit and then bowled HCC out for 89, and that loss at home to the champions was the only defeat in the first half of the season. In retrospect, losing to HBS in late July cost them the chance of a play-off, but overall skipper Zuiderent can be happy with his side’s progress.

HCC, who finished third, had a strong, well-balanced side, as they demonstrated when they beat VRA by six wickets at De Diepput, but they lost twice to VOC and also dropped points against neighbours HBS and Quick Haag. HBS played a key role in the competition, beating VOC as well on their way to finishing fourth, but their batting let them down at important moments.

None of the other sides could put together a consistent enough run, although Quick Haag, despite a run of injuries, challenged briefly in the second half of the season. HBS, Quick, Excelsior ’20, Hermes-DVS and VCC were all prone to batting collapses, mostly depending on two or three key players to make the runs. VCC had a particularly frustrating time, suffering no fewer than five defeats in the last couple of overs of desperately close matches.

At the bottom of the competition VVV and Rood en Wit were soon identified as candidates for relegation, neither side registering a win until VVV defeated their rivals at the beginning of July (VVV had won their opening match, but the game was annulled and the club was docked a further two points for fielding an ineligible player).

The Haarlem side won the return match a week later, and although they went on to beat Hermes-DVS and gain a crucial advantage, VVV managed to win three more games, against Quick Haag twice and VCC, to make sure of another year in the top flight.

Among the coaches, Dighton’s 980 runs represent an exceptional performance, but with 720 runs and 30 wickets for Excelsior Mark Cleary turned in the best all-round performance. Hermes’ Pankaj Joshi was the outstanding batsman, apart from Dighton, in the first half of the season, while Enoch Nkwe, despite missing several games through injury, also compiled more than 600 runs.

Ryan Le Loux (VCC), Mohammad Shabaz (VVV) and Grant Elliott (HBS) all made important contributions with both bat and ball, while VRA’s Ryan Maron, generally batting down the order, played several crucial innings. HCC’s Johannes Myburgh had a difficult start to the season and then had to go home injured; he was replaced by Stephanus, who had been coaching the Second XI and who had rather more success than his unfortunate elder brother. Faiek Davids’ arrival at Quick, on the other hand, was delayed by visa difficulties: when he did join the side he had an immediate impact, and helped to lift them into the top half of the table.

It was a good season, too, for some of the old hands: Feiko Kloppenburg (640 runs) and Dirk Rijkens (600) performed consistently for HCC, for whom Jacob-Jan Esmeijer and Ed Selijffers took 29 and 28 wickets respectively. And Farhad Sardha’s 31 wickets for Rood en Wit, second only to Chris Smith’s 32, was a great effort for a side which struggled all year.

And at the same time, several young talents made an impression in their first full Hoofdklasse season, none more so than Quick’s Lesley Stokkers, who made 465 runs in the season, narrowly missing out on a maiden century in his final innings. With players like Stokkers coming through, and ACC joining the battle, the 2007 season should be just as fascinating as the one just ended.