Despite persistent bands of rain which worked their way across the country on Saturday all five Topklasse matches were able to produce a result, thanks to the operation of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern system.

Only one game was largely unaffected by the weather, and that was due to an incisive opening burst by VRA’s new-ball attack of Quirijn Gunning and Fred Klaassen – the latter back from injury – which rapidly reduced VOC Rotterdam to 32 for five.

Klaassen took three for 22 in a six-over spell, while Gunning claimed the other two and came back later in the innings to finish with three for 25.

Resistence from the lower order came mostly from Jelte Schoonheim with 35, supported by Sebastiaan van Lent (15) and Umar Baker (24), but with former international off-spinner Adeel Raja collecting two for 13, the Rotterdammers were all out for 125.

Tjerk Schoonheim celebrated his return to VOC by removing Mitch Lees and Ben Cooper as VRA replied, and at 37 for four the Amsterdam side were in trouble in their turn. But Eric Szwarczynski and Emile van den Burg brought their team to the brink of victory before Van den Burg fell to Dirk van Baren for 42, and it was left to Szwarczynski to complete the five-wicket victory and finish on an unbeaten 51.

The closest battle of the day came at Het Loopveld West, where HBS survived a disappointing conclusion to their own innings through a determined bowling display which left ACC 25 runs short of a revised DLS target of 173.

Corey Rutgers was again amongst the runs for HBS with a solid 44, but from 116 for two the Crows failed to capitalise, with veteran seamer Usman Malik taking three for 25 for the home side and skipper Saqib Zulfiqar three for 20.

Saqib reinforced his importance for his side with a 99-ball 52, sharing a second-wicket stand of 59 with his brother Asad, but with interruptions for rain making the task more difficult and that revised target after the match was reduced to 45 overs, the middle order was unable to up the tempo successfully, Jaron Morgan and Adil Ahmed working their way through the batting with three for 38 and two for 40 respectively.

Shirase Rasool (15) and Said Ashiqullah (24) kept ACC’s hopes alive in the closing stages, but Farshad Khan came back to pick up two wickets to finish with three for 26 as ACC were dismissed for 148.

Defending champions Excelsior ’20 Schiedam joined HBS as the only undefeated sides with a comprehensive win against last year’s finalists Dosti United at Thurlede.

After the early loss of Tim Etman’s wicket Roel Verhagen and Lorenzo Ingram restored Excelsior’s fortunes with an unbroken stand of 130, and they had reached 53 and 56 respectively when the rain set in.

Corné Dry impressed with an aggressive spell on his first outing for Dosti, but Verhagen and Ingram’s exemplary batting display meant that when the innings was closed and Dosti’s reply restricted to 35 overs, the Amsterdam side were set a demanding target of 220.

From a disastrous run-out in the first over they were never in the hunt as Excelsior’s seam attack of Tom Heggelman, Rens van Troost, James Hilditch, Gijs Kroesen and Sohail Bhatti, supported by spinner Ingram, maintained the pressure and picked up wickets whenever Dosti seemed to be building a decent partnership.

Dry, batting at eight, counter-attacked with a 42-ball 35, his 49-run partnership with Gary Gravesande (17) the best of the innings, but he eventually holed out to Joost Kroesen off Ingram’s bowling and the innings closed on 126.

The wickets were shared among the Excelsior bowlers, with Heggelman, Hilditch and Bhatti picking up two apiece.

It was a fairly similar story at De Diepput, although HCC’s total of 213 for six against Punjab Rotterdam was marked in contrasting ways by a maiden century from opener Tonny Staal (105) and the mankading of Jonathan Vandiar when he had made 18.

Hidde Overdijk contributed 36 and Mark Jonkman an unbeaten 22, while for Punjab Khurram Shahzad took two for 48.

The rain led to Punjab facing a target of 211 from 38 overs, but like Dosti they lost a wicket in the first over and never looked likely to recover.

Opener Yasir Ali top-scored with 27 and Yasir Usman chipped in with 26 towards the end, but with Ali Ahmad Qasim taking four for 21 and Jonkman two for 21, Punjab were all out for 88 in just 28.5 overs.

Quick Haag came back from the first round’s disappointment with a solid victory over Hermes-DVS Schiedam at Sportpark Harga.

Stef Myburgh was bowled by Jean Bredenkamp off the first ball of the match, but Daniel ter Braak (39) and Nick Statham (19) led a partial recovery with a second-wicket partnership of 74, and Hermes had reached 92 for five in 34.3 overs when the rain arrived.

That left Quick needing 113 from 31 overs, and despite a dreadful start with Bob van Gigch run out without facing a ball and Lesley Stokkers soon following, an attacking 47-ball 40 from Wesley Barresi put his side back on track, and then Bredenkamp (40 not out) and Geert Maarten Mol (23 not out) saw Quick home to a seven-wicket win with almost seven overs to spare.