On a day which began with a real prospect of another washout ground staff, officials and players triumphed over the elements at four of the five Topklasse grounds on Saturday, producing results which both took the leaders further away from the pack and made things a lot tighter at the bottom end of the table.

The chief beneficiaries of the day were Kampong Utrecht, whose thrilling five-wicket victory over third-placed Voorburg at Westvliet kept them clear at the top, still two points ahead of nearest rivals Hermes-DVS.

In a match reduced to 25 overs a side Kampong’s spinners were again in charge, collecting five wickets between them as Voorburg assembled 156 for seven, Cedric de Lange making 40 and stand-in captain Ryan Klein, returning from injury, 34.

The Utrecht side’s replied faltered somewhat at 49 for four, but then Lorenzo Ingram and Alex Roy put on 95 for the fifth wicket, and after Tom de Leede removed Roy for 27 in the penultimate over Ingram finished the job in style, hitting a six to reduce the tension and reach his half-century.

That meant that just two we required from the final over, and after Robert van der Harten levelled the scores with one delivery remaining, Ingram managed the winning run to end on 57 not out.

Chasing the highest total of the day, Sparta 1888’s 175 for eight in a 33-over game at the Loopuyt Oval, Hermes-DVS could thank opener Daniel Doyle-Calle for their seven-wicket win, his unbeaten 115 coming from 86 deliveries and including 13 fours and two sixes as Hermes won with 16 balls to spare.

Sparta’s innings was built around an 82-run stand for the fourth wicket between Kyle Klesse (39) and Juandre Scheepers (53), while for the home side Olivier Elenbaas, bowling for the first time this season, Sebastiaan Braat and Hikmatullah Jabarkhail picked up two wickets apiece.

Doyle then dominated the Hermes reply, with valuable support from Mussayab Jamil (24) and Elenbaas (17 not out), enabling his side to cruise to victory and reinforce Sparta’s position at the foot of the table.

That position was rendered even bleaker by events at the Hazelaarweg, where VOC Rotterdam eased their own situation slightly with a hard-fought 9-run win against VRA Amsterdam.

That outcome had seemed unlikely at the half-way mark, since VOC had failed to make use of their full 27 overs, dismissed for 123 with 11 balls remaining.

42 of those runs had come from Christiaan Oberholzer, with Ashir Abid (three for 20) the most effective of VRA’s bowlers and Topklasse debutant Viraj Thakur pciking up two for 16.

But that fairly modest target proved beyond VRA’s somewhat makeshift batting line-up, depleted by national team commitments, Sachin Peiris, called up to open in place of Vikram Singh, top-scoring with 30 and Ibaad Zaidi making 29.

Brothers Arnav and Aaditt Jain collected five wickets between them, Aaditt taking three for 27, and when Zaidi’s was the eighth wicket to fall, 28 were still needed with three overs remaining.

Aaditt and Jason van der Meulen managed to close things out, and with VRA’s final pair together the innings closed ten runs short of their target.

With VRA losing, Excelsior ‘20’s hopes of escaping the relegation zone were further improved by their own victory over HBS Craeyenhout at Thurlede.

This game was cut to 24 overs a side, and HBS, put in by Roel Verhagen, battled their way to 115 for nine, Verhagen himself equalling a club record with five catches and a stumping.

One of the catches, off Antum Naqvi, was of HBS skipper Tayo Walbrugh, who top-scored with 32, while Joost Kroesen added three more scalps to his tally for the season, at a cost of just 16 runs.

Verhagen then gave his side a solid start with 30, Naqvi made a 39-ball 48, and Brett Hampton completed the task with six overs  in hand, facing just one ball after Naqvi’s departure and ending proceedings with a six.

The only match to fall victim to the weather was the mid-table clash between Punjab-Ghausia and HCC at the Zomercomplex, which was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Their point apiece brought the two sides level with Voorburg, although with inferior net run rates, but at the competition’s halfway point the championship race is increasingly looking like a two-way battle between Kampong and Hermes.