Having reached the play-offs in 2007, Voorburg and Quick Haag go into the new season knowing that the Hoofdklasse is likely to be even more competitive this year than it was last.

Both clubs have new coaches: Voorburg have signed another Queenslander, Steve Nottle, as successor to Ryan Le Loux, while Quick have gone for a South Australian in Wes Thomas. Both have considerable reputations in their respective first-grade competitions, and coincidentally, both have experience of playing in the Scottish league.

Voorburg were last year’s surprise packet, recovering from an indifferent start to the campaign to reach the four, then beating VOC Rotterdam after a thrilling tie in the semi-finals, and pressing champions VRA Amsterdam hard in the final.

Their trump card was veteran Tim de Leede, rejuvenated after retiring from international cricket and then giving up the captaincy; his 617 runs at 38.56 and 29 wickets at 18.59 made him the outstanding Dutch allrounder in the competition at the age of 39.

John Sist will again be captain, and he will lead a batting order which will include not only Nottle and De Leede but also the exciting but inconsistent wicketkeeper-batsman Atse Buurman, another key allrounder in Mohammed Rafi, and a new acquisition in South African Johan Claessens.

Buurman’s 203 runs at 13.53 last season were a poor reflection of his talent, and both the player himself and his club will need him to perform much more consistently with the bat this year.

The seam attack will be without Adriaan Kroonenberg, but will still have plenty of bite with Sarfraz Gondel, De Leede, Shazzie Anwar and Ehtesham Chaudry Mohammed, while Rafi will again be the main spin bowler.

Wilfried Diepeveen and David Dormits will, like Kroonenberg, mainly be playing in the seconds, and a key question will be whether Voorburg have the strength in depth to maintain their challenge through injuries and other absences.

But if their key players perform as well as they are capable of, it is likely that they won’t be far away at the end of August.

With Thomas succeeding Sean Clingeleffer as coach, Quick Haag certainly have a squad capable of going one better than last season, when they fell at the semi-final stage, and adding the Hoofdklasse title to the Twenty20 Cup they won in 2007.

Skipper Edgar Schiferli leads a seam attack which includes fellow-internationals Somesh Kohli, brothers Henk-Jan and Geert Maarten Mol, and – depending on fitness – Darren Reekers, as well as Jeroen Brand and, perhaps, Thomas.

The batting, too, is potentially strong, with Reekers still capable of playing major innings, and Job van Bunge, the Mols and Brand all likely to give Thomas valuable support. The club will also be hoping for more from Lesley Stokkers, who had an impressive debut season in 2006 but who was rather less successful last year.

Stokkers’ spin will also provide the main variation in the attack, and this may again be the department in which Quick are most vulnerable.

The two most promising young players in the club are, however, unlikely to play much this season, for contrasting reasons which graphically illustrate the realities of Associates’ cricket.

Sixteen-year-old seamer Tim Gruijters, who bowled impressively against Norfolk last week, will be playing in Birmingham, having caught the eye of the Warwickshire coaching staff, and he seems a likely candidate to follow Alexei Kervezee into the English county system.

On the other hand, wicketkeeper-batsman Stijn Allema, just a year older than Gruijters and like him one of the most successful members of last year’s Dutch under-19 side, has reportedly decided that hockey, examinations and other commitments must be given priority over his development as a cricketer.

It would be a major blow for the Dutch development programme, not to mention his club, were Allema’s decision to have long-term implications, and the situation shows just what a tender plant Associates cricket can be.

The absence of Allema means that Bobby van Gigch will resume the wicketkeeping role which was taken by Clingeleffer last season.

Despite these setbacks Quick again look like one of the strongest sides in the competition, and if they can eliminate the tendency to lose at crucial moments to weaker teams, they should be at the centre of what seems certain to be a tough battle for play-off places.