Some former Hoofdklasse coaches have been distinguishing themselves in the Southern Hemisphere summer, but others have had more mixed fortunes.

The unluckiest must surely be New Zealand Test batsman Craig Cumming, who coached VRA Amsterdam to three titles between 1998 and 2001 and who suffered a sickening blow when he was hit in the face attempting to hook a Dale Steyn bouncer during his side’s Second Test against South Africa at Centurion on 16 November.

Cumming’s cheekbone and jaw were badly damaged, and he underwent extensive surgery before flying home.

Remarkably, two former VRA coaches took part in this series, with left-arm spinner Paul Harris in the South African side. Harris received limited opportunities, however, bowling only nine overs in the two matches, which were dominated by the home side’s pace attack.

Two other members of the New Zealand touring party with Dutch experience did not play in the Tests, but came into the reckoning in the one-off Twenty20 match and subsequent ODI series. Jamie How, who coached Excelsior ’20 Schiedam in 2005, made 90 and 76 in the first two ODIs (the latter innings helping the tourists to their only win), but last season’s HBS coach Gareth Hopkins was less successful and was dropped after the first game.

Back in New Zealand, former Hermes-DVS coach Greg Todd had a dream start to the State Championship season, hitting a century in each innings of Otago’s match against Wellington. Todd followed up 110 in the first innings with 165 in the second, but his side nevertheless had the worse end of a draw. He currently has a total of 397 runs from three games at an average of 66.16.

The Wellington-Otago match, too, was something of a Hoofdklasse reunion, with Nathan McCullum (Hermes-DVS, 2005; Rood en Wit Haarlem 2007) and Marcel McKenzie (Voorburg, 2005) also in the Otago side, and former HBS stalwart Grant Elliott playing for Wellington.

Elliott went on to make a crucial 64 in his side’s next match, against Canterbury, as Wellington came back from a first-innings deficit to win by 90 runs.

Another ex-Hoofdklasse pro who is having a good season in the State Championship is former international André Adams, who leads the bowling averages after three rounds with 19 wickets at 9.57. Adams coached HCC in Den Haag in 2003. A colleague in the Auckland side is Tim McIntosh, coach at Quick Haag in 2005, and he has made 76 against Canterbury and 71 in his side’s innings victory over Central Districts as Auckland have moved into second position in the table behind unbeaten Wellington.

And the Canterbury side includes South African-born Johannes Myburgh, who coached HCC for the first half of 2006 before an injury sustained in a football kick-around forced him out. After a modest season back in South Africa last year he has moved to New Zealand, where a half-century in his side’s defeat by Wellington gave promise of things to come.

Across the Tasman Sea, the VOC Rotterdam triumvirate of Michael Dighton, George Bailey and Xavier Doherty have all been turning out for Tasmania, along with Quick Haag’s 2007 coach Sean Clingeleffer.

Dighton has contributed the outstanding single performance so far, hitting 146 not out in an unbroken second-wicket partnership of 263 with Ricky Ponting as Tasmania ran up 266 for one to win their one-day Ford Ranger Cup match against New South Wales in Sydney.

The Tasmanian opener then followed this up with 106 against Western Australia to consolidate the island state’s lead in the one-day competition.

Tasmania have been less successful in their defence of the four-day Pura Cup, which they won for the first time last season. But Bailey has done relatively well, recording four half-centuries and making a total of 317 runs in five matches at an average of 39.62.

Dighton has not enjoyed the same success in the longer form of the game as he has in the one-dayers, and Clingeleffer has struggled so far.

Doherty’s appearances have been confined to the one-day side, where he is a regular; he has so far collected four wickets, but has a reasonable economy rate of 4.60.

Excelsior ’20’s coach Mark Cleary’s opportunities have so far been limited to one game in each competition for South Australia, but his three for 40 against New South Wales in the Pura Cup was a solid performance in a losing side. He hasn’t played since, however, illustrating just how competitive selection can be in the first-class game.

Shane Deitz, HCC’s coach in 2007, has played three first-class matches and one one-dayer so far, his best score 58 against Queensland in his side’s most recent Pura Cup game.

Outside first-class cricket Voorburg pro Ryan Le Loux hit an extraordinary, record-breaking 302 in the opening round of the Brisbane first-grade competition back in September, making the runs out of his Redlands side’s total of 466 all out against Beenleigh/Logan. It was the highest-ever individual score in Brisbane’s first grade, and Le Loux’s maiden first-grade century.

One of the stars of the South African domestic season has been Neil McKenzie, yet another former HCC coach, having played at De Diepput in 2005. He has just been named as captain of the South Africa A side to meet the touring West Indians in East London, starting on 19 December.

McKenzie has made 680 first-class runs at an average of 56.66 in six games, including 182 against the New Zealanders and 164 for his Lions side against the Dolphins in the SuperSport Series.

The Lions also have a former VRA coach in Leicestershire’s Claude Henderson, who has collected 13 wickets in six SuperSport games at an average of 29.53.

Among the coaches from the Dutch Eerste Klasse, Hercules Utrecht’s Brendan Taylor has been playing for Zimbabwe in his country’s 3-1 ODI series defeat by the West Indies, while at a quite different level Luke Vivian, who made more than 1000 runs in the 2007 season to take Sparta 1888 back to the Hoofdklasse, has helped his Howick-Pakuranga side to the Auckland Twenty20 title.