After Saturday’s excitement, the round of Hoofdklasse matches on Sunday produced few surprises, with VRA and VOC pulling off comfortable victories to take the championship contest into next weekend’s extended conclusion to the season.

But at the other end of the table, VVV’s late run continued with a victory over Quick Haag, enabling them to edge ahead of Rood en Wit and giving them a slight advantage in the relegation stakes with one match to play. Rood en Wit, two points behind and with a game in hand, still have to meet Excelsior and VRA, while VVV’s final match is against VOC. Were Rood en Wit – wholly against expectations – to win one of their two games and VVV were to lose, a relegation play-off would be necessary.

By the same token, if VRA were to lose to Rood en Wit next week and VOC were to defeat VVV, there would have to be a play-off for the title. But on the evidence of this weekend’s results, such turn-ups are unlikely.

VRA kept their two-point advantage on Sunday by making short work of defeating HBS. They bowled their opponents out for 102 in less than 36 overs, Mike Smith (three for 22) doing the early damage and then Joost Leemhuis cleaning up the lower order to finish with five for 19. With rain threatening, VRA then knocked off the runs in 18 overs for the loss of five wickets, Wesley Barresi top-scoring with 44. Berend Westdijk took three for 36 for HBS.

VOC again displayed the power of their batting line-up by running up 278 for eight against Rood en Wit, Michael Dighton leading the way with 59 and bringing his aggregate for the season to 980. Jelte Schoonheim took over once Dighton was out, contributing a fine 89.

Rood en Wit reached 106 for two in pursuit, but once coach Enoch Nkwe was out for 43 the batting again fell away, and they were dismissed in the 45th over for 181. Kashif Hussain (a.k.a. Muhammad Kashif) took three for 21 in ten overs, and Reinout van Ierschot three for 31.

The best game of the day was probably that at De Diepput, where Excelsior ’20 fell just 18 runs short in chasing HCC’s total of 275. Derk Rijkens gave the home side a good start with 61, supported by Stephanus Myburgh’s 43, and then Jacob-Jan Esmeijer belted 83 off 49 balls to ensure that impressive total.

Mark Cleary once more got Excelsior away to a flying start, making 89, but once Myburgh had removed Daan van Bunge and Luuk van Troost in one over life was always going to be difficult for the Schiedam side. Myburgh finished with three for 63, but it was Ed Sleijffers’ three for 43 which ensured that Excelsior didn’t quite make it.

HCC thus received some reward for a weekend in which their batsmen had accumulated a total of 523 runs.

The match between VVV Amsterdam and Quick Haag was a hard-fought affair. VVV seized the initial advantage by reducing Quick to 94 for eight, Mudassar Bukhari taking six for 33 and only Darron Reekers, with 48 from 42 balls, showing any sign of real resistance. But then skipper Derk Brouwer and Coen van Bunge added 58 for the ninth wicket, Brouwer making 5 and van Bunge 44 from 55 balls. Quick were therefore able to reach 154.

Bukhari played another of his hard-hitting innings, making 37 from 29 balls, but it was Zulfiqar Ali’s 61 which made sure that VVV took the two points they so desperately needed. Henk-Jan Mol took four for 31 as Quick fought all the way, but their total just wasn’t big enough and VVV won by three wickets with seven overs to spare.

In a low-scoring game in Schiedam, Voorburg bowled Hermes-DVS out for 125 and then collapsed themselves, being dismissed for 82 to lose by 43 runs. In a match dominated by the bowlers, Tamin Faqiri took four for 22 for VCC and Sarfaraz Gondel three for 17, while Ruud Nijman (three for 11) and Harro Seelaar (three for 20) were mainly responsible for the demolition of Voorburg.