Aided by a second defeat for rivals Hermes-DVS, Kampong Utrecht took another big step towards becoming the first side since 1939 to win the championship in their first season after promotion when they defeated VRA in the Amsterdamse Bos on Saturday.

Such an outcome seemed unlikely three overs into the match, when Ben Fletcher and Peter Ruffell had reduced Kampong to 10 for three with Max O’Dowd, Daniel van den Berg and Lane Berry all gone, but the Utrecht side were rescued by a 174-run stand for the fourth wicket between Scott Edwards and Lorenzo Ingram.

On a pitch which gave the bowlers plenty of help Edwards and Ingram refused to panic, holding firm for 38 overs and gradually accelerating  the tempo until Ingram lashed out at Leon Turmaine and was caught in the deep for 76.

With the innings now into the final ten overs and Kampong chasing runs, Edwards proceed steadily to his century, from 129 balls, as wickets fell at the other end, but then he too perished, caught by Vikram Singh at long off from the next delivery he faced.

Ruffell and Fletcher were the beneficiaries of the quest for runs, Ruffell collecting five for 44 and his new-ball partner four for 47 as Kampong were all out for 239.

Just how crucial Edwards and Ingram’s partnership had been soon become evident when VRA replied, only Jack Cassidy looking at all at home in the conditions as the home side collapsed to 79 for six.

Ruffell managed some resistance in company with the tail, hitting a 27-ball 31, but with Adam Constant unable to bat after injuring himself in the field the innings closed on 127 for nine, skipper Alex Roy the pick of the bowlers with three for 23 and Lachlan Bangs finishing it off with two for 2 in six deliveries.

Hermes-DVS, meanwhile, were suffering an almost-equally decisive defeat at the hands of fourth-placed Voorburg at Westvliet, the home side’s total of 269 for eight built on half-centuries by Noah Croes and Henry Melville, reinforced by 33 from Carl Mumba and an unbeaten 37 from Udit Nashier.

Sebastiaan Braat had initially removed Gavin Kaplan and Cedric de Lange, and came back to collect two more and finish with four for 67, while Hikmatullah Jabarkhail again proved his value in the middle overs with three for 50, including both Croes and Melville.

Viv Kingma, returning from injury, and Tom de Leede then combined to reduce Hermes to 51 for six, and although Braat, Sahil Kothari and Ralph Elenbaas were able to achieve a partial recovery which limited the net run rate damage, Hermes were all out for 162.

The match at the Bermweg followed a similar pattern, Punjab-Ghausia posting 275 for nine, largely thanks to a 109-run partnership for the third wicket between Musa Ahmad and Mohsin Riaz, and then dismissing Sparta 1888 for 102.

Ahsan Malik again made early inroads, removing Jonathan Vandiar with the third delivery of the match and then adding the scalp of Shoaib Minhas, but Musa and Riaz turned the innings around, Riaz making 55 before he was trapped in front by Max Hoornweg.

Musa went  on to 91, and with brothers Saqib and Sikander Zulfiqar contributing 38 and 22 and a 13-ball cameo of 21 from Khurram Shahzad, the defending champions reached the day’s highest total.

To this Sparta had no answer, Sulaiman Tariq producing another of his metronomic spells to claim three for 33 and Saqib Zulfiqar taking three for 6 in 5.1 overs, and although Malik, again batting at three, showed great resilience until he was the last out for a dogged 45.

The side of that defeat saw Sparta slip to the foot of the table, since although VOC also lost, to HBS at Craeyenhout, they put up enough of a battle to edge ahead on net run rate.

With Tim de Kok opting to bat first, VOC owed their total of 179 to a solid 58 from opener Scott Janett, with lesser contributions from Christiaan Oberholzer and Jason van der Meulen, not to mention a valuable last-wicket stand of 27 between Jelte Schoonheim and Roman Harhangi.

That never seemed likely to be enough, however, and although Arnav Jain set the hosts back on their heels by removing both openers with just one run on the board, Tayo Walbrugh and Wesley Barresi effectively sealed the issue with a third-wicket stand of 130.

Barresi made 59, his fourth half-century in seven innings, while Walbrugh went on to an unbeaten 92, batting with Lehan Botha to see his side to a seven-wicket victory with more than 12 overs to spare.

Even more dramatic than Kampong’s recovery in the Amsterdamse Bos was the collapse of Excelsior ‘20 after a truly stunning opening by Sam Rahaley and Roel Verhagen, who took HCC’s attack apart in the first eight overs, only to see the rest of the side collapse from 80 without loss to 150 all out.

Rahaley was particularly destructive, smashing six sixes in his 32-ball 53, three of them off a single Clayton Floyd over, but once the openers had gone Hidde Overdijk produced another superb spell, claiming five for 18 in ten overs with five maidens, and HCC were back in command.

Floyd set up the reply with 33, and then Boris Gorlee and Oliver White put the issue beyond debate with a third-wicket stand of 91, Gorlee adding 51 to his impressive tally for the season and White seeing the Lions home with an unbeaten 40.

The day’s results sees VRA slip from third to seventh in an extremely congested mid-table, with just two points separating them from Voorburg, who have taken over the third spot; Kampong, though, now have clear water at the top, while Sparta and VOC slip further off the pace and Excelsior, in eighth, have a worrying three-point gap opening up between themselves and VRA.