It’s a subject on which everyone has an opinion: the place of the professional cricketer in the emerging cricket nations. Do they dominate too much, or deprive good young local players of a place; or do they help to raise the standard, leading by example on the field and, one hopes, offering high-level coaching off it?

Since paid coaches were first allowed to play in the Dutch competition in 1978, there is little doubt that they have had an enormous impact on the game, and that their influence has been overwhelmingly positive. Without their presence, indeed, there would be no question of The Netherlands having made it to three World Cups between 1996 and 2007.

That is literally so, for the core of the 1996 side included several former pros who had stayed in The Netherlands and qualified to play for their adopted country: Australian Peter Cantrell (recently named as the Dutch national coach), Barbadian Nolan Clarke and Sri Lankan Flavian Aponso. Others who have worn the orange cap include the Guyanese Rupert Gomes and the New Zealander Roger Bradley, while the current side includes the latter’s compatriot Darron Reekers.

Nor should we forget the contribution of the Barbadian Emmerson Trotman, who coached the national side for several years and helped lay the foundations for their current success.

When that fateful decision was taken in 1978, it was deeply controversial, but over the years the playing coaches have won pretty universal acceptance, even if nobody in The Netherlands can bring themselves to call them ‘professionals’.

The first to arrive were largely from the Caribbean: Gomes, Trotman, Clarke, and a young Barbadian called Carlton Hope, who helped his HBS side win three consecutive championships. He may have been the least gifted of the quartet, but his presence goes to show that while the best pro can’t turn a poor side into a fine one, an average player can sometimes make a team that’s already good very good indeed.

Among the clubs that supported the move and were quick to take advantage of it, VRA Amsterdam had just been relegated to the First Division, and their signing, South African Hylton Ackerman, got them back to the top flight that first season, making more than a thousand runs in the process. Two years later his successor, the late Peter Swart, took them to their first post-War championship.

In general, South Africans, Australians and New Zealanders have predominated, after those early years in which West Indians (and a bit later Sri Lankans) made such a lasting impact. Local traditions emerge, whereby clubs tend to recruit a succession of coaches from the same place: VRA has a strong link with Canterbury, for example, but the most remarkable of these relationships is that between Excelsior Schiedam and Western Australia.

It began with wicket-keeper Tim Zoehrer, who was at the Schiedam club for three years in 1990-92, taking over a hundred wickets with his leg-spin, and he was succeeded by Wayne Andrews and Sean Cary. More recently, Michael Dighton and David Bandy have continued the tradition.

In one respect, perhaps, the introduction of player-coaches gave rise to a problem: since 1978 the line between strict amateurism and semi-professionalism has become blurred, and the number of overseas players, most of them appearing as ‘amateurs’, has grown. But this would probably have happened anyway, and there’s no evidence that the development of promising Dutch players has been stunted as a result.

On the contrary: the level of competition has steadily risen, and in this respect the experience of The Netherlands is probably not so different from that of other countries at the same stage of development. On the field they provide an example; off it, their experience and advice helps to foster serious cricketing attitudes.

Over the years, a lot of big names have appeared in the Dutch Hoofdklasse, sometimes ‘Before They Were Famous’, sometimes when their reputations were at their height, occasionally at the tail-end of their careers. The list includes the Flower brothers, who played for VCC and Quick Haag respectively, their fellow-Zimbabwean David Houghton (who preceded Grant Flower at Quick); Gary Kirsten (HCC); Nathan Astle (VOC), who still holds the record for runs scored in a League season (1257 in 1994); former New Zealand Test seamer Chris Pringle (HCC and VRA); and Australian Test spinners Peter McIntyre (VOC) and Colin Miller (Rood en Wit).

There seems to be something about coaching at Rood en Wit: it was from there that Miller was picked for the Australia A side that played in Scotland and Ireland in 1998, making his Test debut soon afterwards, while three years earlier Lee Germon was at the Haarlem club when he was surprisingly named as New Zealand Test captain.

Nor is there any sign of the quality dropping: HCC’s coach last season was former South African Test star Neil McKenzie, while in 2003 Claude Henderson, now at Leicestershire, spun VRA to the fourth of their five recent championships and Jonathan Trott (now with Warwickshire) played for HBS.

In the realms of fantasy cricket, indeed, one could pick a pretty powerful side from those who’ve graced Dutch grounds as professionals. How about this:

• Gary Kirsten (South Africa and HCC)
• Grant Flower (Zimbabwe and Quick Haag)
• Lou Vincent (New Zealand and VCC)
• Craig Cumming (New Zealand and VRA)
• Nathan Astle (New Zealand and VOC)
• *Andy Flower (Zimbabwe and VCC)
• +Tim Zoehrer (Australia and Excelsior)
• Colin Miller (Australia and Rood en Wit)
• André Adams (New Zealand and HCC)
• Chris Pringle (New Zealand and HCC/VRA)
• Rod McCurdy (Western Australia and VOC).

Zoehrer would, perhaps, be first-choice wicketkeeper, but should his leg-spin be required, skipper Andy Flower could always take the gloves. Or we could dispense with Zoehrer and pick another batsman, such as Roy Dias (Sri Lanka and ACC), Bandula Warnapura (Sri Lanka and VOC) or Darrin Murray (New Zealand and VRA), or a second spinner, such as Claude Henderson (South Africa and VRA).

Can we imagine comparable sides ‘representing’ Scotland and Ireland? Perhaps someone would like to have a go?