VRA recorded an emphatic win over VOC to keep the title race alive, whilst Hermes again failed to break their duck against Quick Haag. Meanwhile leaders Excelsior struggled to a narrow win at Dosti to keep their four point lead intact, whilst ACC and Punjab Rotterdam won through in two low-scoring contests against HBS and HCC.

Much like when the two sides last met at the Bos, VRA's pace attack made short work of the VOC batting line up, Fred Klaassen and Quirijn Gunning taking four wickets apiece as the visitors rapidly collapsed to 54-8. A 38-run 9th wicket stand between Bobby Hanif and David Cohen ensured at least got the Rotterdammers within sight of three figures this time, but Pragam Rathore's legspin broke the stand and Haseeb Gul found the final wicket to bring the innings to a close with 92 on the board in just 23.1 overs.

A wicket in each of Dirk van Baren and Hanif's first overs briefly hinted at a contest, but the third wicket would never fall as Mitch Lees and Eric Szwarczynski took the hosts comfortably home before the break, finishing unbeaten on 33 and 47 respectively.

The early finish meant VRA had a free afternoon to follow developments elsewhere, specifically proceedings at Drieburg where it briefly seemed like Excelsior might be sliding to a second defeat in as many weeks as the table-leaders contrived to make a meal of chasing a modest Dosti total. Their hosts had managed to put just 138 runs on the board despite facing all but one of their 300-ball allocation.

Taruwar Kohli's comparatively brisk 32 from number 3 was the top-score for the hosts, but the rest of the top order struggled to find any fluency and it was close to the half-way mark by the time the 50 came up. Kohli would become the first of four victims for Sohail Bhatti, and only a battling 27 from Mahesh Hans down the order save Dosti from a double-figure score.

It would be far from plain sailing for Excelsior in the chase however, as Wahid Masood quickly removed openers Etman and Verhagen and Kohli then took five successive wickets as Excelsior stumbled to 76-8. James Hilditch was still there however, and in Gijs Kroesen he finally found a partner who could stick around. The pair would put on an unbroken stand of 65 for the 8th wicket to see Excelsior home with 17 balls to spare, Hilditch's 76* enough to keep the defending champions four points clear at the top.

Meanwhile fellow Schiedammers Hermes DVS came as close as they have this season to recording a win, falling 17 runs short against Quick Haag at Harga. Fifties for Henk Mol and Jean Bredenkamp, with support from Wesley Barresi and Geert Mol had seen Quick build a solid platform at 195-4, but a fine fightback at the death from the hosts restricted them to a comparatively modest 229-9 by the close, Seb Braat pick of the bowlers with 3-42.

The chase would prove just beyond Hermes however. Henk Mol would trap Setphan Myburgh LBW for 40 to arrest the early momentum, and a 77 run stand for the 4th wicket between Dan Ter Braak and Oliver Elenbaas that had threatened to put Hermes on top was brought to an end by Jeroen Brand, with Bredenkamp following up with two quick wickets to remove Elenbaas and de Klerk with 50 still to get - a total that proved beyond Braat and the tail and left Hermes still waiting on their first win and staring down the barrel of near-certain relegation.

A win for ACC over HBS at Craeyenhout meanwhile further added to the congestion in the mid-table, despite restricting their guests to a remarkably modest 168, Usman Malik top-scoring for the Amsterdammers with 48, HBS were to fall 18 runs short - effectively putting an end to their title hopes. Despite a typically belligerent 41 from Toby Visée at the top of the order and a composed 39 from Jaron Morgan, a string of single-figure scores for the rest of the line up saw the crows capitulate inside of 32 overs.

HCC similarly fell short with the bat after doing good work with the ball, sliding to a 9-run defeat despite holding Punjab to 159-9 in the first innings. In a similar story to events at Craeyenhout, helpful but less-than decisive contributions from the HCC top order got the visitors into a winning position only for the lower order to collapse in sight of the finish line. The result leaves HCC all-but guaranteed a mid-table finish this season, whilst Punjab are in joint 3rd on points with Quick - a most remarkable acheivment for the Topklasse debutants.