Having finished in mid-table last season, Schiedam neighbours Hermes-DVS and Excelsior ’20 will be especially keen to go one step further this time and make sure of a place in the play-offs.

Excelsior, the dominant side in Dutch cricket in the 1990s, last won the competition in 2004, and their squad certainly has the talent to do better than the sixth place they managed in 2007.

They have acquired Dutch international off-spinner Mohammed Kashif from VOC Rotterdam over the winter, as well as allrounder Malik Hussain, who was the star performer in now-defunct Eerste Klasse side De Kieviten last year.

Their coach will again be Mark Cleary, the South Australian allrounder whose two previous Hoofdklasse seasons have yielded 1326 runs at an average of almost 48 and 61 wickets at under 13.

The squad will also be strengthened by another Australian, 18-year-old batsman Alex Holbrook, who plays in the same first-grade side as Cleary. Holbrook comes as an exchange player, Excelsior’s Tommy Heggelman having spent the winter playing club cricket in Adelaide.

Holbrook joins a batting order which includes opener Rif Bakas, Cleary, Luuk van Troost, Marcel Schewe, and Daan van Bunge, now back in the international fold and looking for a solid season to consolidate his place in the Dutch middle order. Van Bunge had a disappointing tour of Namibia and the Emirates, and Excelsior need him to score consistently if they are to mount a serious challenge for the championship.

Eric Gouka, who missed most of last season through injury, has now retired, while seamer Brett Haider has also stopped. It is still uncertain whether Rashid Amin, who added bite to the seam attack in the four games he played last year, will be back.

There is no doubt that Excelsior have the nucleus of a very good side, but they will be looking for more substantial contributions from players like brothers Adam and David Woutersen, Zaffar Ahmad and Farhad Akram to lend support to the big names.

For Hermes-DVS, the only new face will be that of the coach, 27-year-old South African fast bowler Antonio Mullins, who played for Wickford in the Essex Premier League last season.

But several faces will be missing: Lou Borrani and Robin ter Plegt step down to the seconds, while Borrani’s cousin Renzo, captain in 2007, is taking a year out because of work commitments and a persistent back injury.

Gavin McRae, on the other hand, who made a successful return to the first team last season, will be regularly available, and will add solidity to a batting line-up which sometimes faltered last season.

The side will be led by Nicky Statham, sixth in the national batting averages last year with 602 runs at 43.00, and without the Borranis at the top of the innings much is likely to depend on his being able to maintain that form.

Bart Schilperoord will again be behind the stumps, but Jasper Beijer is recovering from a hernia operation and is likely to miss the first part of the season.

Hermes will also be hoping that seamers Ruud and Frank Nijman will be available for the whole season, to add to an attack which also includes Erik Hartong, Harro Seelaar and Dutch international left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar as well as Mullins.

There will be more opportunity for brothers Nils and Borg Lenstra, both of whom have a little Hoofdklasse experience, to consolidate their places in the side, while in Pieter van der Hammen, Jeroen van der Zwan, Mustafa Nesaar and Niels Woermeijer Hermes have a crop of youngsters whose emergence in the top side should not be far off.

Hermes missed out on the play-offs by just a couple of points last year – beating both VRA and VOC along the way – and a little more consistency, especially with the bat, would certainly make them strong contenders this time.