Co-leaders VRA Amsterdam and VOC Rotterdam moved a little further clear of the chasing pack on Sunday as HCC and HBS Den Haag both lost, while at the other end of the table Rood en Wit Haarlem edged ahead in the battle to avoid relegation by defeating rivals VVV. And Quick Haag’s win over HCC keeps them in contention for the title.

VOC were the most convincing winners of the day, securing their second nine-wicket victory of the season, against Excelsior. Architect of the win was seamer Chris Smith, who took three for 25 in an opening spell that reduced Excelsior to 52 for four, with only Mark Cleary able to withstand the initial attack. At the other end, meanwhile, Ernst van Giezen picked up the valuable wicket of Daan van Bunge.

After Cleary went for 33, veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Marcel Schewe held the rest of the innings together, making a fighting 52 to see his side through to 178 for eight. Spinners Kashif Hussain and Robbie de Widt again bowled economical spells, picking up two wickets each, to restrict Excelsior’s total well below the 200.

Although Maarten van Ierschot fell to Cleary for 21 when VOC replied, that was to be Excelsior’s only success as Michael Dighton and Bas Zuiderent put on 148 in an unbroken second-wicket partnership, finishing with 79 and 72 respectively to complete a resounding win with more than ten overs to spare.

Voorburg made VRA work somewhat harder for their 29-run victory. The foundation of the Amsterdam side’s total of 253 for seven was a 143-run stand for the third wicket between Tjade Groot (78) and Darrin Murray (94), which enabled them to recover from 8 for two in the third over.

Murray then added another 53 with Mike Smith, but after they were dismissed in successive overs it took some positive batting from Ryan Maron and Garth Brown, who pummelled 39 runs from the last three overs, to see the score past 250.

VCC set about overhauling this target with some confidence, but VRA took wickets at fairly regular intervals to maintain the pressure. Half-century partnerships between Ryan Le Loux and Mohammed Rafi, and then between Rafi and Atse Buurman had the leaders on the defensive, but once they had gone Peter Borren came back to finish off the game with a hat-trick, giving him final figures of four for 40.

Quick Haag’s win over HCC was a personal triumph for coach Faiek Davids, who is certainly making up for lost time since his arrival half-way through the season. Having hit a rapid-fire 93 to ensure victory against Hermes in his first game of the campaign a fortnight ago, he capped this yesterday by making 69 off just 52 balls (with six sixes) and then taking four for 17 as HCC fell 29 runs short of their target.

Coming in at 84 for four, Davids shared a 135-run partnership with Henk-Jan Mol, whose fine run of form continued with a patient 77, and this enabled Quick to reach a reasonable total of 231 for seven. Skipper Tom de Grooth again led the way for HCC with 55, but apart from Bob Entrop with 33 no-one else was able to build a sizeable innings, and wickets fell rapidly as the required rate mounted.

Quick are now in third spot, just one game behind VRA and VOC, and their match against VRA next Sunday has emerged as another of the Hoofdklasse’s key battles.

HBS also failed in a run-chase, going after Hermes’ 251 for three in Schiedam. For the home side opener Pankaj Joshi returned to form with 103 not out, his second century of the season, while Nicky Statham contributed an extraordinary 86 from 38 balls to set HBS a decent target.

Apart from Alexei Kervezee (35) and captain Billy Stelling (45 not out) none of the HBS batsmen was able to get going, and with Robin ter Plegt taking three for 18 and Joshi three for 22 they were dismissed for 173 to lose by 78 runs.

VVV would have been fairly happy with their total of 243 for nine against Rood en Wit, the core of which was a 124-run partnership for the third wicket between Zulfiqar Ali (60) and Mohammad Shabaz (84). Of the Haarlem bowlers skipper Farhad Sardha was again the most successful with three for 32, while Moenir Bhoelan picked up three for 56.

At 49 for two Rood en Wit could have been in trouble once again, but an unbeaten 118 from coach Enoch Nkwe, taking over the opening role, with support from Elvis Roach and Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk, saw them through to an exciting three-wicket victory with just two balls to spare.

VVV’s two-point penalty at the start of the season now gives Rood en Wit a slight advantage at the foot of the table although VVV have a game in hand, and much will depend on any surprise victories one or other of these sides are able to pull off in the closing weeks of the campaign.