A comfortable six-wicket victory over Rood en Wit on Saturday enabled VRA Amsterdam to take their sixth Hoofdklasse title in nine years, but VOC Rotterdam's defeat of VVV gave the Haarlem club some hope that they might still avoid relegation.

VRA effectively made sure of the championship by bowling their opponents out for 88 in less than 25 overs, although the brittleness of their own talented top order, which has troubled them all season, was again in evidence as they battled their way to 40 for four.

But Jeroen Westermann (32 not out) and Mike Smith (24 not out) produced a solid fifth-wicket partnership to settle the match and the title.

The extension of the season into September meant that both sides were without several regulars. This enabled VRA to give a Hoofdklasse debut to fourteen-year-old leg-spinner Vinoo Tewarie, and he made the most of the opportunity, taking three for 19 in an excellent spell of 4.2 overs.

At the other end Peter Borren took four for 22, while Rashid Amin had two for 6 in his initial - and as it proved, only - six-over spell. It was Amin's dismissal of Enoch Nkwe, who was unlucky to be adjudged caught behind, which began the demolition of Rood en Wit, and although Jeroen van Aalst (28) put up some resistance, adding 31 for the fourth wicket with captain Farhad Sardha, it never looked likely to be enough.

And when Atkinson fell, caught on the boundary by Borren to give Tewarie his first Hoofdklasse wicket, the innings closed quickly, the last five wickets falling for just 6 runs.

Meanwhile, in Amstelveen, VOC had another of their excellent starts, despite the absence of coach Michael Dighton, whose return to Australia deprived him of the opportunity to reach 1000 runs for the season - he had to make do with 980.

Bas Zuiderent took over the opening role and made a solid 58, assisted by Chris Smith in a 76-run stand for the third wicket. Both batsmen were dismissed by Atul Awan, who took three for 31, and the VOC innings subsided somewhat, from 141 for two to 198 all out.

With VVV's dangerous batting line-up this might have been tricky to defend, but Ernst van Giezen turned the game with a ten-over spell of four for 21, removing the core of the VVV batting and reducing them to 49 for five.

There was no way back from there, and although Zishan Akram hit powerfully to make 36 not out in the closing stages, VVV were behind the rate and running out of wickets, and the innings eventually closed on 152.

VVV must now wait to see the outcome of Rood en Wit's final game against Excelsior to see whether they will have to take on their Haarlem rivals to decide who will be playing in the Eerste Klasse. A win over Excelsior in that match, scheduled to be played on Sunday, would put Rood en Wit level on points with VVV.

But with another miserable weather forecast for Sunday, it is possible that that decision will be delayed by another week. With the footballers circling Dutch cricket grounds like vultures, the season's final hours need to come sooner rather than later.