BdJ:
VRA don't have a lot of great memories at Drieburg (lunches presumably excepted) but will be hopeful of making some tomorrow. The new ball partnership of Gunning and Klaassen has been the most destructive of the league so far, and veteran middle-order pair Szwarczynski and Borren are averaging 65 and 160 respectively. With fine support from newcomer Haseeb Gul with the ball and Emile van der Burg with the bat, the core of the side is in solid form. The top-order continues to look fragile though, and injury and availability issues have left VRA unduly reliant on their senior players. Their hosts have a similar issue however, in that aside from overseas players Dry and Kohli only Hafeez and Hans have proved reliable performers thus far. An equally rickety top order has left Dry and Kohli to dig them out of a hole on several occasions, and lacks the lurking menace of Cooper and Lees. One feels if VRA are at full strength, this game is theirs to lose.

RL:
As m’colleague points out, Sportpark Drieburg has not historically been a happy hunting-ground for VRA. But Dosti are not the force they have been for the past few seasons, and the visitors may justifiably regard this as their best chance for some time to take the points back across the city. Neither side has established a solid start to their innings: the first three partnerships for Dosti average 16 apiece, while those for VRA are only a little better at 23. But Ben Cooper’s first substantial innings last week may be a hint of better to come, and there’s no doubt about the incisiveness of VRA’s attack.

HBS Den Haag vs Hermes-DVS Schiedam (Craeyenhout)

BdJ:
Even with a question mark hanging over Toby Visée's fitness, hosts HBS will be eying a comfortable two points here. Overseas players Morgan and Rutgers have paid off handsomely thus far, though if the former is called upon to take over keeping duties again the HBS attack still looks at least one bowler short. There's always a good chance that Myburgh will cash in on short boundaries and an understrength attack, and Dan ter Braak showed last week that Myburgh is not the only one Hermes' opponents need to worry about. Nonetheless Hermes attack has yet to successfully defend a target or restrict a team batting first to under 200. If Hermes are to break their losing streak, it will likely take more than a single individual performance.

RL:
Much will hinge on the HBS new-ball combination of Ferdi Vink and Farshad Khan: if they can cut through the Hermes top order then this should be a comfortable win for the home side. Their opposite numbers, Olivier Elenbaas and Lokendra Bohra had Dosti in trouble last week before the limitations of the Schiedammers’ attack were ruthlessly exposed; if they fail to remove Rutgers and Morgan the Hermes fielders may be in for a torrid time on the Craeyenhout astroturf.

Excelsior ’20 Schiedam vs Punjab Rotterdam (Thurlede)

BdJ:
Punjab's debut in the Topklasse has certainly exceeded all expectation, and last week's display against HBS showed not just what belligerent batting and a never-say-die attitude can achieve, but also that this is a stronger side than contested last season's Hoofdklasse. Nonetheless breaking the defending champion's streak will take more than a dash of derring-do. Questions remain around Punjab's bowling attack, especially in the pace department, and though Excelsior have not been quite firing on all cylinders, they are unlikely now to underestimate the debutants, and still less likely to concede a home defeat.

RL:
Some of the spice in this fixture comes from the fact that Punjab captain Suleiman Tariq and middle-order batsman Zaffar Chaudhary used to play for Excelsior, and they will have every motivation to end the Thurlede side’s ten-match winning streak. Their remarkable chase against HBS will have boosted Punjab’s confidence, but Thurlede is a different proposition from the Zomercomplex, and if the Excelsior groundsmen again produce a seamers’ wicket the champions have the bowling to exploit it. They will, however, be worried by Rens van Troost’s withdrawal from Wednesday’s Pro Series match with back trouble, and if he is unable to play Gijs Kroesen may need to make a bigger contribution than he has been required to do so far.

HCC vs Quick Haag (De Diepput)

BdJ:
Probably the toughest call this week, with little to separate the sides on form so far this season, but even with home advantage HCC are probably marginal underdogs. Their chief weakness is the reliance on Jonathan Vandiar with the bat (though there are obviously worse batsmen too rely on). Though Tonny Staal has had a fine season to date, the rest of the HCC line-up has been inconsistent at best. With front-line bowlers Bijloos and Jonkman failing to fire thus far, it has been Oli Klaus' remarkable performances that have saved their blushes. Quick, conversely, seem to be recovering from a dreadful start to the season. Jean Bredenkamp seems to have adapted to Dutch conditions admirably, and Jeroen Brand looks untroubled by the burdens of captaincy. Though the batting remains rather dependent on the mercurial Wesley Barresi or Bredenkamp performing - as exposed at Excelsior last week. Neither side has looked wholly convincing thus far, and this is very much a tie that could go either way, but depth and experience probably give quick a slight edge.

RL:
Yep, this is a toughie. I do, however, take a dissenting view here; although I agree with my esteemed colleague’s analysis, I draw a different conclusion. While De Diepput’s diminutive proportions undoubtedly favour attacking, hard-hitting batsmen, that’s a factor which works in Vandiar’s favour as much as – or even more than – it does Barresi, Bredenkamp and Brand. It’s true that you can’t expect the South African to make a century every week, but with Ryan Ninan’s all-round skills still latent and HCC’s youngsters gaining in experience with every game, I think they may come back from last Saturday’s disappointing performance in Rotterdam and take the points here. On the other hand, one should never underestimate the capacity of Henk-Jan Mol to turn a match his side’s way!

ACC vs VOC Rotterdam (Het Loopveld West)

BdJ:
Having started as popular favourites for the championship, VOC's season has gone from bad to worse. Despite reversing a run of defeats, their remarkable win against HCC last week proved somewhat Pyrrhic, coming at the cost of a broken finger for Pieter Seelaar. With none of the VOC top-order having more than 100 runs to their name after five matches, the Rotterdammers are worryingly reliant on former skipper Ahsan Malik for runs as well as wickets – especially in the absence of Seelaar. It will take quite a turnaround for them to see off ACC at Het Loopveld, especially with all four of the Zulfiqars in good nick. The obduracy and occasional exemplary luck-surfing of Rehmat Zulfiqar saw the eldest of the four to a maiden Topklasse century and a win away at VRA last week, but skipper Saqib has been the stand-out performer for them this season – sitting in the top-ten of both run and wicket aggregates so far. With Asad also averaging over 50 and Sikander putting on a fine show in the NSPS games at Deventer this week, few would bet against the Amsterdammers tomorrow.

RL:
ACC, too, were a little slow out of the blocks, hampered by the late arrival of overseas player Zakir Kathrada. But now they have hit their stride, as their victory over VRA last week testified. Any question marks apply more to the bowling than the batting, especially with Sikander Zulfiqar unable to bowl through injury. If he’s fully fit that will make a big difference, but the home side have the wily Usman Malik in any case, and his nine wickets so far show that he remains a threat. Missing key players VOC nevertheless saw HCC off last week, but it will take a massive effort from them to repeat the trick against ACC.

Form Guide:

[Note: These tables show the results of this fixture over the past ten seasons. ‘W’ means a win for the home side, ‘L’ a defeat, ‘T’ a tie, ‘N’ no result. Matches played on the opponent’s ground or a neutral venue are shown in square brackets.]

Bertus de Jong’s predictions:
VRA, HBS, Excelsior, Quick, ACC.

Rod Lyall’s predictions:
VRA, HBS, Excelsior, HCC, ACC.