With three rounds of matches played, the Hoofdklasse table is beginning to sort itself out, but there has already been enough drama to suggest that the battle for play-off places will make this an unusually interesting season.

The pick of this Sunday's games will perhaps be in Rotterdam, where a VOC team which was bowled out by Quick Haag for 73 on Thursday will be at home to a resurgent Excelsior. The Schiedam side had the better of a high-scoring game during the week, and with Daan van Bunge back among the runs and Mark Cleary in good form they will be a handful for VOC.

But the wicket at Hazelaarweg will have plenty to offer two strong batting sides, while it seems that VOC's attack may have rather more penetration than Excelsior's, Cleary apart. This should be a great contest, with the odds slightly in VOC's favour.

Leaders VRA Amsterdam face a tricky visit to Hermes-DVS in Schiedam, where they suffered one of their two defeats last season. Like Excelsior, Hermes registered their first win of the season on Thursday, and they will certainly be out to repeat last year's effort and spring another surprise.

Their problem is making runs: they just managed to get past 200 in their first match, but with coach Pankaj Joshi yet to hit form they lack firepower with the bat, and the question is whether they can at present compete with a VRA batting line-up in which Eric Szwarczynski and Darrin Murray have already recorded centuries.

On the other hand, it was Harro Seelaar who shocked the champions at the start of last year's game, and with him, brother Pieter and Robin ter Plegt all among the wickets so far this season, they cannot be taken lightly. VRA will travel to Schiedam knowing that they were a little lucky to escape defeat against Voorburg on Thursday, and that they will need to improve their out-cricket if they are to retain their unbeaten record.

HCC, one point behind the leaders, are again at home, this time to ACC, and with both their matches at De Diepput so far having been settled on the final ball they will be hoping for something a lot more decisive this time.

Again, form suggests that the Hagenaars should be too strong for ACC: with the Jonkman twins and veteran spinners Jacob-Jan Esmeijer and Ed Sleijffers they have the core of one of the best attacks in the Hoofdklasse, while allrounder Bernard Loots has proved an enormously valuable acquisition and coach Shane Deitz is displaying unexpected talent with the ball.

They will also have been heartened to see Bob Entrop play his first major Hoofdklasse innings to save the match against VVV on Thursday, and with Deitz yet to weigh in with the bat they clearly have another gear or two.

ACC's chances depend heavily on coach Chris Slattery, although they, too, will have been encouraged by the fact that Steven de Bruin, like Entrop a member of the Dutch under-19 squad, made runs in Thursday's defeat by Hermes. If HCC can capture the wickets of Slattery, Scott Fraser and the always-dangerous Zulfiqar Ahmed relatively cheaply, they should manage to avoid another of those nail-biters.

If Quick Haag were a racehorse, you can't help feeling, there would by now have been a stewards' enquiry. Dodgy wickets may have had a lot to do with it, but their form with the bat has been somewhere between enigmatic and disastrous, and they have twice been rescued by great performances from their seam attack of Schiferli, Reekers and Kohli.

On Sunday they will be at Westvliet to take on Voorburg, bottom of the table but encouraged by a spirited effort against VRA. ACC made 220 on Voorburg's new ground in the only match played there so far, so there is reason to hope that the batsmen will have things a little more their way.

Quick's batting line-up is theoretically strong with coach Sean Clingeleffer, the brothers Mol, Darron Reekers, Lesley Stokkers and Job van Bunge, and they will need to produce if the side is to vindicate predictions that it would be among the leading title contenders.

Voorburg don't look nearly as strong on paper, but Tim de Leede, Ryan Le Loux and Atse Buurman are all potential match-winners, and they were a couple of catches away from springing one of the shocks of the season on Thursday. This should be another good tussle, but Quick look the stronger side.

VVV Amsterdam will again be at VRA's second ground, where they take on HBS, returning to the scene of Thursday's high-scoring defeat by Excelsior. These two are emerging as two of the most competitive clubs in the Hoofdklasse, and VVV will be smarting from that defeat by HCC, a match they seemed to have in the bag with their opponents on 70 for seven.

Zamir Sidhu's five-wicket haul was a great effort, and that they came so close in a game in which Mudassar Bukhari was relatively quiet suggests that they have a lot more strength in depth than last year. Nolan Clarke's good form with the bat is also a positive sign.

For HBS, Gareth Hopkins' arrival has added solidity to the batting, and with youngsters like Ollie de Geus increasingly finding their feet they are looking more like mid-table contenders than candidates for relegation.

Another close match is in prospect, with the greater experience of HBS perhaps just giving them the edge.

My tips for the week: HCC, VRA, Quick Haag, VOC, HBS.