There were small but significant shifts at both the top and bottom of the Topklasse table after Thursday’s rain-affected Ascension Day round, tremors rather than earthquakes, but enough to cause alarm in at least some clubhouses two matches short of the halfway point.

Not the least meaningful outcome was in the Amsterdamse Bos, where not a ball was bowled, the effects of the morning’s rain leaving the pitch unplayable, frustrating VRA and Voorburg, and forcing them to settle for a point apiece.

This opened up a three-point gap between them and the two leaders, although the damage was curtailed to some extent by the news from Rotterdam’s Zomercomplex, where Hermes-DVS suffered their first defeat of the season, at the hands of defending champions Punjab-Ghausia.

Put in to bat in a match reduced to 40 overs a side and with opener Daniel Doyle-Calle on international duty with Spain, Hermes found runs elusive against a parsimonious Punjab attack, before Burhan Niaz grabbed four quick wickets at a cost of 38 runs to reduce them to 61 for four.

That brought together veteran Nick Statham and the club’s new recruit Mussayab Jamil, who proceeded to add 93 for the fifth wicket in just over 16 overs, Jamil’s 52 his second half-century  in the top flight and Statham’s unbeaten 67 his 70th in 477 innings, seven of those converted into centuries.

Hermes closed on 184 for seven, and with half Punjab’s batters out and 101 still needed, the leaders seemed to have given themselves a chance of retaining their unbeaten record.

The defending champions, however, were rescued by Mohsin Riaz and Niaz, who put on 72 for the sixth wicket before Niaz was run out for 41.

Riaz continued in company with Fawad Shinwari, making 63 not out and steering the side to a four-wicket victory with 14 deliveries remaining.

Hermes’ place at the top of the table was taken, albeit only on net run rate, by Kampong, who eked out a three-wicket victory over HBS Craeyenhout in a match reduced to 45 overs.

On a day when most skippers chose to bowl, Tayo Walbrugh took the bold step of electing to bat, and it seemed to be paying off when his side had reached 161 for three with eight overs remaining, Walbrugh himself having contributed 40 of them before he was trapped in front by Pierre Jacod.

But then Akhil Gopinath bowled Lehan Botha, leaving Wesley Barresi to work with the lower middle order, and Lorenzo Ingram took over, removing first Barresi for 45 and then three more to finish with four for 38.

The last six HBS wickets fell for just 14 runs, and with the side all out for 197 the bowlers were left with the extremely difficult task of removing Kampong’s powerful top order.

This they did reasonably effectively, and when the home side were on 87 for five, with O’Dowd, Van den Berg, Berry, Ingram and Bangs all back in the dug-out, the Crows were in with a real chance.

This brought Jacod in to join Scott Edwards, and this pair swung the match back Kampong’s way with a 94-run stand for the sixth wicket, and although Julien de Mey had Edwards caught behind for 49, soon trapping Alex Roy leg-before as well, Jacod saw the side home, finishing with an unbeaten 67.

Barresi’s three for 28 were the best figures for HBS, 13 of the 17 wickets to fall in the match captured by the spinners.

Fielding no fewer than five overseas players, another escalation in the Topklasse Arms Race, Excelsior ‘20 proved too strong for Sparta 1888 at Thurlede, winning their 43-over match by 53 runs, but the Spartans lived up to their name by battling hard against the odds.

It took a 49-ball knock of 67, including five sixes, from New Zealander Brett Hampton to get Excelsior up to the day’s highest total of 234, but it was a Dutch-produced youngster, Karson Edward, who administered the final blows, taking three wickets in five balls to end Sparta’s chase on 181, finishing with five for 11.

Earlier, Raynard van Tonder had anchored the first part of the Excelsior innings with a steady 54, while Khalid Ahmadi delivered the season’s third hat-trick, removing Niels Etman, Jason Ralston and Edward with successive deliveries to finish with four for 29.

Promoted to three, Ahsan Malik contributed 33 to Sparta’s reply, but the best partnership of the innings was 65 for the fifth wicket between Lukas Boorer (32) and Juandre Scheepers, who remained not out on 54.

Sparta remain narrowly ahead of current wooden-spooners VOC Rotterdam, who also fought hard all the way but eventually lost to HCC by 24 runs in the only game where overs were not deducted.

HCC’s innings sputtered along to 211 all out, mostly thanks to a solid 60 from Oliver White and a valuable 29 from Hidde Overdijk, while for VOC Jelte Schoonheim claimed three for 43, including a fine reactive return catch to remove Mark Wolfe (24).

Bowling honours, though, went to Aaditt Jain, who after claiming the early wicket of Clayton Floyd came back to pick up three more, finishing with four for 44; his brother Arnav finished wicketless, but his ten overs conceded only 18 runs, a nagging stint which maintained the pressure on the Lions’ batters.

That VOC came so close to their target was due to an aggressive 71 in 60 deliveries from Jason van der Meulen, who shared half-century partnerships with Christiaan Oberholzer (21) and Tim de Kok (26), but HCC’s overseas pair of White and Josh Brown kepttaking wickets,finishing with four for 27 and three for 31 respectively, and keeper Wolfe helped out with two catches and two smart stumpings.