Despite the menacing forecasts for the Netherlands all eight Twenty20 Cup matches were completed on Sunday and only one, the encounter between ACC and VRA Amsterdam, was curtailed because of the weather.

ACC’s home double-header was, however, moved twice: from ACC to VRA after Het Loopveld West was declared unplayable late on Saturday afternoon, and then to VRA’s second ground when the square on the main ground was found to be too wet to allow play on the adjacent artificial pitch.

This meant, rather ironically, that ACC were playing on what had been their home ground until they moved across Amstelveen to Het Loopveld but it proved no happy return as, without their South African stars François le Clus and Graeme van Buuren, they lost not only to their old rivals VRA, but also to Hoofdklasse side Rood en Wit Haarlem.

Rood en Wit were able to field five players with first-class experience: new player-coach Peter Fulton, fellow-New Zealanders Jarrod Englefield and Tim Weston, former coach Enoch Nkwe (who happens to be back in the Netherlands on holiday), and Shahbaz Bashir.

Mudassar Bukhari got his side off to a great start against the Haarlemmers with a 30-ball 50, but the rest of the team could only manage 47 between them, and they were all out for 97 in 18.3 overs. Rood en Wit then took one delivery less to knock off the runs for the loss of six wickets, the decisive innings coming from skipper Sverre Loggers with an aggressive undefeated 30.

Three interruptions for rain in the first half of the ACC innings against VRA eventually led to the match being cut to 15 overs a side, and the ACC total of 92 for four, Olly Lodder top-scoring with 22, was adjusted to 97 on the Duckworth/Lewis calculation.

VRA’s player-coach Barry Rhodes took the game away from the theoretically home side with a rapid-fire 49 not out, Wesley Barresi hitting the winning six with 16 deliveries to spare.

The outstanding individual performance of the day came in Group B, where former HBS player-coach Shane Deitz celebrated his return to the Craeyenhout club by taking a hat-trick as part of his five-wicket haul against Punjab Rotterdam at the Zomercomplex.

Deitz’s feat ensured that HBS took the points as Punjab, chasing an HBS total of 126 for seven to which opener Dennis Coster had contributed 30, were all out for 112.

Earlier, Punjab had beaten Hoofdklasse rivals FC Amsterdam United, posting the highest total of the day as they successfully chased a target of 142. Irfan ul Haq took four for 20 in an Amsterdam United innings in which no-one made more than 30, while Mohammed Aslam claimed three for 38 in the Punjab reply.

Hermes-DVS Falcons seized an early advantage in Group B, as they were the only one of the four home sides to win twice, and did so in style.

First they made short work of Sparta 1888, chasing down a modest target of 84 in just 13.1 overs. Sebastiaan Braat took three for 15 as Sparta battled their way to 83 for eight, with Luqman Tariq top-scoring with 30, and then Greg Todd hit an undefeated 39 to see Hermes home.

And then the Falcons took one ball less to make the 86 they needed to beat Quick Haag and secure their second seven-wicket victory of the day.

Pieter Seelaar took three for 19 in the Quick innings, in which Amol Muzumdar and Henk-Jan Mol top-scored with 22 and 20 respectively. This time it was Mark Craig whose hard-hitting 39 was the difference between the sides, while Todd anchored the Hermes innings with 26 not out.

The shortest match of the day was in Bloemendaal, where Voorburg needed just 8.5 overs to knock off the runs after they dismissed the home side for 47, Stef Mulder claiming five for 11 in his four overs.

But Bloemendaal fought back in their second game as they held Kampong Utrecht to 81 for eight. In an extraordinary innings, Kampong got off to a promising start with an opening stand of 40 between Petrus van Biljon and Ross Harmer, but then they lost eight wickets for just five runs as former international Mangesh Panchal took four for 6 in four overs and Aldroy Powell and Masood Khan claimed two wickets apiece.

At 45 for eight the Utrecht side seemed to be in danger of a humiliating defeat, but Francesco Valdini and Jimmie Wikkerink added 36 in a vital, unbroken ninth-wicket stand.

Valdini then took three for 19 when Bloemendaal replied, but Douwe Walhain’s 30 ensured that the home side achieved a five-wicket victory in 17.5 overs.