Excelsior’s 14-match winning sequence – almost certainly the longest in the limited-overs era – came to an end at Thurlede on Sunday, as a dominating performance by VRA saw the Amsterdam side to a 110-run victory.

It also gave greater interest to the Topklasse race, cutting the leaders’ margin to four points when another Excelsior win would have extended it to an almost-unbridgeable eight.

With their nearest rivals, HBS and Quick Haag, both losing, the victory also established VRA as virtually the only serious threat to Excelsior’s hopes of taking a second successive championship.

The foundation of VRA’s win was Ben Cooper’s 133-ball 144, which enabled his side, put in by Tom Heggelman, to reach 288 for three in their 50 overs. Cooper shared a second-wicket stand of 137 with Eric Szwarczynski (49), and then added another 83 with skipper Peter Borren, whose 52-ball 70 not out hammered home the visitors’ advantage.

VRA’s newest Dutch international, Fred Klaassen, then gave his side a dream start by bowling Heggelman with his first delivery, and although Tim Etman (41) and Lorenzo Ingram (40) gave Excelsior some hope with a third-wicket stand of 60, once they had gone, Klaassen striking again to remove Ingram, the rest of the batting line-up found the chase beyond them.

Klaassen cleaned up the tail to finish with four for 25, while there were two wickets for Haseeb Gul Mia.

HBS were unable to capitalise on Excelsior’s defeat, losing to HCC by 5 wickets in a mildly rain-affected game at De Diepput.

Winning the toss, HBS were given their usual explosive start by Tobias Visée, who hit a 32-ball 42 before holing out off Floris de Lange, making an excellent return to the HCC side after injury.

Visée’s fellow-opener Corey Rutgers, by contrast, batted throughout the innings, posting his second century of the season and finishing unbeaten on 102. But of the remaining HBS batsmen only Dennis Coster reached double figures, his 21 contributing to a 46-run partnership with Rutgers which prevented the batting from collapsing completely.

In an impressive performance by the HCC seamers De Lange, Mark Jonkman, Ali Ahmed Qasim and Hidde Overdijk all picked up two wickets, and the innings closed on 211 for nine.

The HCC target was adjusted to 208 when two overs came off as a result of rain during the innings break, and the home side were given a fine start by openers Overdijk (33) and Tonny Staal, and then by Jonathan Vandiar, so that 125 runs were on the board before the prolific Vandiar became the second wicket to fall, having made just 31.

Staal went on to make 63, and with his dismissal at 175 for five HBS may have sensed a slight opening, but this was quickly closed by Ryan Ninan and Jonkman, who knocked off the remaining runs and saw their side home with almost six overs to spare.

Rain had a more significant influence just across Den Haag at Nieuw Hanenburg, where a mutually-agreed late start meant that Punjab were in the 34th over when the players were forced from the field.

They were on 122 for two at that point, although they had also lost Ahsan Masood and Khurram Shahzad, both of whom, remarkably, had retired hurt in the same over.

By the time play could resume the match had been reduced to 43 overs, and Punjab went on to post 191 for six, Masood returning to top score with 46, while Ahsan Bamunusinghe chipped in with a useful 32.

The DLS calculation set Quick a target of 215, Punjab being rewarded for having only lost two wickets at the interruption, and with Suleiman Tariq removing both openers the home side was soon in difficulty.

Geert Maarten Mol led the chase with a fine 64 before he, too, was removed by Tariq, and with Shoaib Minhas and Tasir Ali also picking up three wickets the Quick innings closed on 187 for nine, 27 runs short of Punjab’s adjusted total.

The third of the day’s centurions, ACC opener Asad Zulfiqar gave his side a great start against Dosti United, sharing an opening stand of 149 with Zakir Kathrada, who made 78.

Zulfiqar, like Rutgers, batted throughout the 50 overs and finished on 123 not out, and with brother Sikander making 34 ACC posted the impressive total of 266 for four.

An interruption for rain early in Dosti’s reply left them needing 252 from 45 overs, a task which rapidly proved to be beyond them. Only Corné Dry offered much resistance, making 40, and Dosti were dismissed for 118, with Usman Malik, Rehmet Zulfiqar, Said Ashiqullah and Saqib Zulfiqar picking up two wickets apiece.

At Hazelaarweg, Hermes-DVS’s miseries continued as they lost to VOC by 52 runs and remained winless, six points adrift at the foot of the table.

A fourth-wicket partnership of 78 between Caleb Jewell (50) and Dirk van Baren (41) took VOC from 55 for three to 123 for four, and although Sebastiaan Braat celebrated his return to the Hermes attack with four for 35, the home side posted a respectable 213, Mohammad Hanif chipping in with 31 towards the end.

Hermes were yet again in trouble early on, with Dan ter Braak going cheaply and Stef Myburgh failing to score, and although Nick Statham, Olivier Elenbaas and Braat gave some solidity to the middle order, the Schiedammers were dismissed for 161.

Van Baren completed a valuable double by taking three for 27, while Jelte Schoonheim took three for 20.