Saturday was a day when almost everyone, and certainly mary batters, seemed to have confused the Topklasse competition with the World T20 Qualifier which was getting under way at Westvliet at the same time, so frenetic was the tempo at which top order players hammered boundaries before throwing their wickets away.

The outstanding innings of the day, however, was Lehan Botha’s on the diminutive Westvliet second ground, where he blasted HBS Craeyenhout to an eight-wicket victory over Voorburg, smashing ten fours and as many sixes in his 42-ball, unbeaten 120.

It was an onslaught reminiscent of former Quick pro (and Dutch international) Darron Reekers at his most destructive, and it propelled the Crows to the win in under 14 overs, as they chased down Voorburg’s 139 all out; 64 runs came from the last 15 deliveries he faced.

The home side had struggled against the HBS spin attack, Wesley Barresi starting the rot with three for 18, and Jayden Rossouw (three for 36) and Julien de Mey (three for 46) completing the job.

Only Carl Mumba was able to hit his way out of trouble, making 49 from 36 deliveries before he was  bowled by Rossouw and sharing an eighth-wicket stand of 69 with his Zimbabwean compatriot Patient Charumbira, who came to the crease with his side on 59 for seven and stayed to the end with an unbeaten 25.

At Sportpark Bermweg, meanwhile, Kampong Utrecht had taken another step towards the title with another nine-wicket win, this time over wooden-spooners Sparta 1888.

The leaders again gave their opponents nothing to work with, only three batters reaching double figures and managing only four fours and a six as they struggled to 83 all out in 34.1 overs.

Skipper Alex Roy led the way with three for 17, but it was spinners Akhil Gopinath (three for 18) and Pierre Jacod (three for 14) who maintained the pressure and ensured that the last six wickets fell for just 16 runs.

Then Damien van den Berg and Jacod, the latter promoted to open in the absence of Max O’Dowd, put on 45 from 50 deliveries before Van den Berg fell to Tom Hoornweg; this, however, brought Lane Berry to the crease, and he plundered 26 runs, all in boundaries, from the remaining five balls of the over. 

That left just 13 required, and Jacod and Berry had little difficulty in knocking them off, further improving their side’s already imposing net run rate – a factor they are unlikely to need as they proceed towards an increasingly inevitable-seeming title.

Their nearest pursuers, Punjab-Ghausia kept their faint hopes of retaining the championship alive with a convincing 114-run victory over Excelsior ‘20 at the Zomercomplex.

The only side to bat out their overs, Punjab were set up by a brisk 40 from Musa Ahmad, but it was Burhan Niaz, promoted to three, who anchored the innings with a solid 67, Khurram Shahzad (34 not out) and Tehzeeb Haider (31) taking the side to an imposing 255 for nine. 

Excelsior’s reply never really got going, Sulaiman Tariq removing both openers by the time 40 was on the board, and Sikander , Zulfiqar, taking ball in hand for the first time this season, collecting three for 23 as the Schiedammers were all out for 141.

The chances of Excelsior finishing in one of the two automatic relegation spots were, if anything, increased by another improved performance by VOC Rotterdam, who dismissed Hermes-DVS for 195 and then chased their target down for the loss of only two wickets and with nearly 25 overs to spare.

Architect of their victory was Christiaan Oberholzer, who shared a second-wicket stand of 96 with opener Scott Janett (55) and went on to make 100 not out, reaching his maiden Topklasse century with the winning boundary.

Earlier, Hermes had once again declined from a fine start bequeathed by Ash Ostling and Daniel Doyle-Calle, who put  on 68 for the first wicket, but once Jelte Schoonheim took a sharp return catch to remove Doyle for 42 the innings fell away, although Sahil Kothari made 25 and Olivier Elenbaas 38.

Schoonheim finished with three for 33, while Oberholzer took three for 23.

There have been precious few close matches this season, but HCC and VRA Amsterdam provided a low-scoring thriller at De Diepput, which fluctuated wildly before VRA finally won by 17 runs.

The game got off to an extrordinary start as Shirase Rasool, in his first appearance of the campaign, hammered 23 from eight deliveries before he was bowled by Daniel Crowley, who had already removed fellow-opener Vikram Singh.

Thereafter it was Jack Cassidy who held things together for the visitors with a patient 41 while batters came and went at the other end.

With Crowley claiming five for 40 VRA were eventually dismissed for 148, but what seemed like a straightforward chase for the Lions quickly descended into chaos as Singh and Ben Fletcher reduced them to 24 for four, which became 49 for six as Shariz Ahmad and Peter Ruffell started to pick off the middle order.

It 67 for eight it seemed to be all over, but then Thijs Vrolijk joined Yash Patel at the crease, and they added 50 for the ninth wicket, bringing their side to within 32 runs of the target.

Still, VRA needed only two wickets, and eventually Ruffell had Vrolijk caught for 22, leaving last man Teun Leijer to complete the chase with Patel.

They could only add 14, and when Shariz trapped Leijer in front VRA took the points, nudging past HCC into third place on the table on net run rate, but an near-unbridgeable seven points behind Kampong with just four matches to play.

Ruffell finished with four for 25, while Singh took three for 20.