The rematch of last year’s Topklasse grand final turned out to be an anti-climax on Saturday, as VRA Amsterdam turned the tables on hosts Punjab-Ghausia at the Zomercomplex, dismissing them for 111 and racing to an eight-wicket victory.

The win propelled the 2025 runners-up to the top of the table on net run rate, but with three other sides also claiming a second victory there is plenty of competition for a clear lead in the race to the title.

It was VRA’s new pace-bowling overseas player Peter Ruffell who started the rout, removing the dangerous Shoaib Minhas in the third over of the game after Teja Nidamanuru had won the toss and put the home side in, and who then, when Punjab had negotiated their way to a precarious 107 for five, dismissed last week’s centurion, Mohsin Riaz for 35, starting a collapse which saw the last five wickets fall for the addition of just four runs.

Samir Butt (24) had given Riaz some support, but with Ruffell claiming three more wickets to finish with five for 19 and Vikram Singh chipping in with two for 3 from eight deliveries, the innings quickly subsided.

So quickly, in fact, that there was time for VRA to reach 49 for one by the scheduled lunch break, despite Sajjad Kamal removing Singh in the second over of the reply, and with Jack Cassidy and Johan Smal putting on 81 for the second wicket in 16 overs, the Amsterdammers needed only 19.5 overs to complete the win.

Smal eventually fell to Suleiman Tariq for 42, but Cassidy stayed to the end with 45 not out, Nidamanuru finishing it off with a boundary.

Promoted side Kampong Utrecht’s top five gave them a great start, taking them to 236 for three with 14 overs remaining against Excelsior ‘20 at Thurlede, but then a flurry of wickets in pursuit of a massive total saw them dismissed for 308 with eight deliveries remaining.

Max O’Dowd kicked off with a 25-ball 30 which included seven boundaries, his fellow-opener Damien van den Berg contributed an even brisker 26-ball 42, and then Lane Berry made a run-a-ball 38 before Scott Edwards and Lorenzo Ingram, the latter taking on his former team-mates, put on 86 for the fourth wicket.

Edwards eventually went for 59, having brought up his 3000th Topklasse run in the process, but Ingram posted 76 before falling in the quest for quick runs, the Excelsior new-ball pairing of Jason Ralston and Jens Blankestijn finishing with three for 45 and three for 68 respectively.

After last week’s capitulation against VRA the home supporters may have feared for the worst, but Excelsior put up a much better fight this time, Luuk Kroesen and Roel Verhagen posting a half-century opening stand and Stan van Troost then making a career-best 94, from 96 deliveries, as he anchored the rest of the reply.

The home side struggled to keep up with the required rate, however, and it was Kampong’s spinners who capitalised, Pierre Jacod claiming four for 62 and Ingram three for 40 as the innings ended on 267 for nine, Van Troost falling to Jacod just before the end.

Kampong’s total was surpassed by Voorburg at Westvliet, where the top order also produced an outstanding effort to see them to 328 for eight against VOC Rotterdam.

New signing Peter Hatzoglou got them off to a rollicking start with a 12-ball 23, Michael Levitt made 42 before he was brilliantly run out by Tim de Kok, and then Cedric de Lange’s 56 and Gavin Kaplan’s 70 took them to 239 for four in the 42 over.

Kaplan’s departure was the cue for Bas de Leede, clearly relishing his brief return to the Topklasse, to inflict further punishment on the VOC attack, hitting six fours and three sixes in his 51-ball 83, taking his side past the 300-mark.

Scott Janett (83 from 94 deliveries) and Indian-born Danish international Taranjit Singh Bharaj (55 from 62) shared a solid third-wicket partnership of 129 for the visitors after Viv Kingma had grabbed two wickets in four balls, but Hatzoglou removed them both as he took six for 35, and then Cedric de Lange, one of four keepers in the Voorburg side, picked up the final two wickets for 5 runs with his left-arm spin as VOC were all out for 197.

Hermes-DVS were the fourth side to make it two wins out of two, getting the better of HBS Craeyenhout in the most hard-fought match of the day.

Put in to bat at the Loopuyt Oval, Hermes owed their total of 195 for eight very largely to Spanish international Daniel Doyle-Calle, who came in at 48 for two and batted through to the end, finishing with an unbeaten, 93-ball 89.

He received a measure of support from Sebastiaan Braat and Sahil Kothari, but with Kyle Klein and Jayden Rossouw picking up three wickets apiece, for 26  and 45 respectively and Julien de Mey contributing a wicketless but economical spell, Hermes finished well short of an imposing total.

It proved to be enough, however, for although HBS reached 91 for two in reply, Braat (four for 41) and Hikmatullah Jabarkhail (four for 35) ran through the middle and lower order, only Wesley Barresi standing firm with a dogged 57 not out.

39 were still needed from 44 deliveries when Jabarkhail removed Rossouw and brought last man Benno Boddendijk to the crease, and although he and Barresi added 25 of them, Braat finally had Boddendijk caught by Ralph Elenbaas and Hermes won by 13 runs.

At Sportpark Bermweg HCC bounced back from last week’s collapse against Hermes, and at one point seemed likely to join Voorburg and Kampong in the 300-plus club as they pummelled the Sparta 1888 attack.

Supported by 47 from Shirsak Banerjee, skipper Boris Gorlee led the way with a 105-ball 102 which included 11 fours and two sixes, but once Ahsan Malik returned to the attack to remove him the innings fell away, closing on 278 for nine.

But Sparta could not carry that fightback into their reply: Hidde Overdijk ripped the top off the innings with three for 7 in five overs, reducing the Spartans to 15 for four, and although Juandre Scheepers and Lukas Boorer put up some resistance, the home side were dismissed for 103, giving HCC a thumping 175-run victory.