The penultimate round of Hoodfklasse matches on Sunday resolved very little, with all the key issues remaining unresolved with one week before the play-offs.

The top two sides, VRA Amsterdam and VOC Rotterdam, both lost, to Quick Haag and Hermes-DVS Schiedam respectively, but with Excelsior ’20 Schiedam and Voorburg winning as well there are still four teams in with a chance of making last two semi-final places.

At the other end of the table, HBS Den Haag, VVV Amsterdam and ACC all lost, meaning that all three will go into their final match uncertain of a place in next year’s top division.

Quick Haag consolidated their third place with a 26-run victory over VRA, bowling the defending champions out for 161 with Darron Reekers taking five for 28. The Amsterdam side had done well to contain Quick to 187 for nine, while after finding themselves on 80 for five at one stage Quick could be pleased to have achieved a defendable total.

Jeroen Brand’s innings of 33 was crucial to this recovery, and he shared a valuable 55-run stand for the sixth wicket with Henk-Jan Mol (29). Once they had both gone with the total on 135, moreover, the tail added another 52.

VRA began steadily despite losing Ryan Maron early on, and when they were on 111 for three with almost twenty overs left they appeared to be in the driving seat. But then four wickets fell for just two runs, Reekers bowling Darrin Murray, Schiferli having Peter Borren caught behind by Sean Clingeleffer – one of six catches for the Quick keeper – without addition to the score, and Reekers quickly claiming two more.

113 for seven became 127 for nine, and despite a stubborn 34-run stand for the last wicket between Joost Leemhuis and Sohail Bhatti it was not enough for the leader to avoid their fourth defeat of the season.

In Rotterdam, Hermes-DVS disposed of VOC with astonishing ease, Pankaj Joshi at last running into top form with 107 not out. He shared a match-winning second-wicket partnership with Nicky Statham, who made 42 not out, as Hermes passed VOC’s total of 160 for the loss of just one wicket.

Maarten van Ierschot and Xavier Doherty each made 41 for VOC, while Pieter Seelaar was the most successful of the Hermes bowlers with four for 25.

Voorburg made sure that their match against Hermes-DVS next week will determine one of the semi-final spots with a 105-run win over VVV. Their batsmen made the highest total of the day with 208, Atse Buurman top-scoring with 62. Mohammed Rafi made 50 and John Sist 36, while for VVV Mudassar Bukhari took five for 32.

Bukhari also did best with the bat, making 27, but he received little support from his team-mates as the side was bowled out for 103 in 32.4 overs.

Excelsior ’20 maintained their outside chance of reaching the play-offs in a low-scoring game at Thurlede, bowling ACC out for 62 after having been themselves dismissed for 102.

Mark Cleary began aggressively as always, making 27 out of an opening stand of 35 with Rif Bakas, but once he became the first of Xander Udo’s four wickets the Excelsior innings fell apart. Only Marcel Schewe and tailender Ali Haider reached double figures as Udo, Jan Balk and Zulfiqar Ahmed ran through the side.

ACC were in trouble from the moment Cleary removed Steven de Bruin with only 2 on the board, and he and Rashid Amin soon had the visitors reduced to 44 for seven. Amin finished with four for 14 and Haider had three for 10 as the Amsterdam side batted for only 38.3 overs.

HCC completed a comfortable win over HBS Den Haag, ensuring that the latter’s match against ACC next week will be of vital importance in the relegation battle.

HBS battled their way to 124 for nine in their 50 overs, Taco Risselada and Reinout Scholte both making 34. For HCC, Thijs Smits celebrated his Hoofdklasse debut with four for 25.

HCC began their reply at a gallop, and despite the loss of two early wickets Shane Deitz (53 not out) and Derk Rijkens (34 not out) saw them through to an eight-wicket victory in just 26 overs.