There were few surprises on the final day of the regular Hoofdklasse season on Sunday, as Voorburg and Quick Haag joined VRA Amsterdam and VOC Rotterdam in the play-offs and ACC returned to the Eerste Klasse with their twelfth defeat of the campaign.

Given their history, even VVV Amsterdam’s victory over Quick Haag did not come as a complete shock, although it meant that Quick slipped to fourth place in the table – by 0.12 of a percentage point – and will therefore meet table-toppers VRA in one of next weekend’s semi-finals.

Mudassar Bukhari struck early after VVV had won the toss and put Quick in, removing Job van Bunge with only 8 on the board. Lesley Stokkers and Sean Clingeleffer then added 61 in the biggest partnership of the innings, and after Stokkers went Clingeleffer went on to complete his third half-century of the season.

Runs did not come easily, however, and with both Darron Reekers and Henk-Jan Mol going cheaply VVV were able to maintain the pressure. Clingeleffer eventually fell to Zamir Sidhu for 58 with the total on 104, and despite a dogged 30 from Geert Maarten Mol Quick were dismissed for 149, Rauf Wain running through the lower order to finish with three for 33.

Edgar Schiferli struck back quickly when VVV replied, but wicketkeeper Narayanamoorthy (37) and Zafar (39) put on 82 for the second wicket to seize the advantage for the home side once more. Quick worked their way back by dismissing both by the time the total had reached 100, and with Reekers taking three wickets, including danger man Mohammed Sadiq, for 26 runs, the game was evenly poised at 138 for seven.

But only twelve more were needed, and Wain and skipper Sajjad Hussain ensured that there were no more catastrophes to secure a three-wicket victory and make sure that whatever happened elsewhere VVV would have another season in the Hoofdklasse.

As it turned out, HBS Den Haag had already settled that issue, bowling ACC out for 99 to win by 45 runs and condemn the Amsterdammers to an immediate return to the Eerste Klasse.

ACC had given themselves a chance by containing HBS to 144 for nine, Robert van Oosterom top-scoring for the Den Haag side with 36. He and Reinhout Scholte had got their side through to 94 for three, but by the time Scholte was dismissed there were only nine overs left, and there was an inevitable flurry of wickets as HBS struggled to set a competitive target. Zulfiqar Ahmed took four for 33 for ACC.

ACC were none for two after Billy Stelling struck twice in the first over, and their innings never recovered from that disaster. Stelling went on to take five for 20, putting an end to any thought of relegation for HBS, currently the club with the longest continuous Hoofdklasse history.

At the other end of the table, VRA and VOC both had comfortable victories to confirm their positions as the strongest sides in the competition.

VRA had the edge over Excelsior ’20 Schiedam from the moment Sohail Bhatti removed Mark Cleary in the seventh over, but it was the spinners who really controlled the game as Excelsior were bowled out for 139.

Mangesh Panchal bowled a mesmeric spell, taking four for 4 in ten overs with six maidens, and with Adeel Raja and Jeroen Oskam giving him great support, the trio bowled 24 overs between them for just 24 runs.

Rifaiz Bakas and Zafar Ahmad had built a solid second-wicket partnership of 41, Bakas making 31 off 82 balls before becoming Panchal’s first victim, but it took a defiant ninth-wicket stand of 48 between Luuk van Troost and Rashid Amin, the latter returning to his old club, to get Excelsior past the hundred.

Bhatti ran through the lower order and finally dismissed both Amin and Van Troost, who top-scored with 33, to finish with five for 35, all of his victims bowled.

The pitch was never easy for batting, producing inconsistent bounce, but Ryan Maron and Tjade Groot again gave VRA a great start, putting on 100 in 20 overs before Maron was stumped off Luuk van Troost’s bowling. That was the start of an extraordinary mini-collapse as three wickets fell in four balls, Amin coming back and immediately collecting two wickets.

Cleary returned at the other end, claiming two more to reduce VRA to 111 for five, and suddenly it seemed that Excelsior might pull off a sensation. Both Amin and Cleary were getting prodigious reverse swing, but Darrin Murray and Adeel Raja fought their way through a difficult spell and took the champions to a five-wicket victory.

The match ended bizarrely, as keeper Marcel Schewe was twice beaten by balls from Amin which kept impossibly low, producing the eight byes which gave VRA the runs they needed.

VOC, meanwhile, ended HCC’s miserable season by defeating them by seven wickets at De Diepput. The home side were bowled out for 127 in 33.3 overs, Nabeel Siddiqie claiming three for 32 in the early stages as HCC slumped to 41 for four, and Xavier Doherty picking up three for 19 to bring his tally for the season to 38.

Andrew Murphy took two quick wickets when VOC replied, but Doherty, with 60 not out, made sure of the win, Daan van Everdingen giving him good support.

But the most important game of the day was in Schiedam, where Hermes-DVS took on Voorburg with the certainty of a place in the play-offs for the winners. Voorburg’s chance of a crack at the championship was earned by a superb innings from Tim de Leede, who made 93 not out in just 96 balls to take his side from 111 for six to 187 for seven in the final ten overs.

John Sist had earlier made 33 as Voorburg battled to build a platform, but was De Leede who took the Hermes bowlers on and, backed up by Wilfried Diepeveen and then Gijs Bins, enabled his side to set Hermes a fairly challenging target. Ruud Nijman had most success for the home attack with three for 41.

Safaraz Gondel then took three for 22, removing Pankaj Joshi with the second ball of the innings as Hermes slumped to 47 for five in reply, and despite 33 from Harro Seelaar they were unable to mount a serious challenge, finally being dismissed for 124 to give Voorburg a 63-run victory and a semi-final date with VOC next weekend.