You might almost be forgiven for thinking that the KNCB had decided upon a competition structure with play-offs at both ends of the season, so appetising are some of the match-ups as the Hoofdklasse gets under way on Thursday.

One of the key games will be in Rotterdam, where last year’s defeated semi-finalists, VOC and Quick Haag will confront each other.

The home side will after all be fielding a coach, having secured a last-minute signing of New Zealander Ben Williams, and he will slot into a well-balanced outfit which had a good work-out in defeating a reasonably strong Voorburg team on Sunday.

VOC’s seam attack may be steady rather than menacing, but left-armer Ernst van Giezen bowled well in that game, and with Chris Smith back in the side, a strong batting line-up and a useful (leg)-spin section, the Rotterdammers will be a challenge for any team in the competition.

Quick, on the other hand, have an outstanding group of seamers, led by international Edgar Schiferli, and the battle between their attack and the VOC top order will be one to savour.

Much may depend, too, on how quickly new coach Wes Thomas fits into the Quick side, where his batting will be crucial.

Another game which will provide an early indication of relative strengths will be in Amstelveen, with defending champions VRA Amsterdam will take on an Excelsior ’20 side boosted by the arrival of allrounder Malik Hussain and international off-spinner Mohammed Kashif (known, confusingly, to Dutch scorecards as KM Hussain).

The coaches in this match are old Hoofdklasse hands, both back for a third season, with VRA’s Ryan Maron the leading run-scorer last year and Excelsior’s Mark Cleary one of the star allrounders of the competition.

This is a tough start for both sides, one of the key questions being how well VRA will be able to adjust to the loss of the steadying hand of Darrin Murray.

They go into this game, too, without off-spinner Adeel Raja, who misses the first two matches because of a suspension, and with a seam attack which has a somewhat makeshift look.

But there is no shortage of quality in both sides, with new captain Peter Borren and fellow-international Eric Szwarczynski and Mangesh Panchal in the VRA side and Daan van Bunge and former Dutch skipper Luuk van Troost – still capable of playing destructive innings – playing for Excelsior.

Both these games are too close to call, especially at this early stage of the season, but home advantage may just be enough to shade them for last year’s two top sides.

Whatever happens at Voorburg’s Westvliet ground, where HCC are the visitors, it surely cannot be as exciting as last season’s opening fixture between the same two sides, which ended in a last-ball tie.

The story of these two sides’ experiences in 2007 is a perfect illustration of how unpredictable the Hoofdklasse can be, with HCC almost unbeatable early on and then going into a decline which saw them finish seventh, while Voorburg put in a strong late run to reach the play-offs and go all the way to the final.

This year, fielding a team which includes brothers Johannes and Stephanus Myburgh (the former as coach, the latter playing as an amateur), the identical-twin seam combination of Mark and Maurits Jonkman making scorers’ lives a misery, and ex-internationals Feiko Kloppenburg and Jacob-Jan Esmeijer, HCC seem distinctly stronger, but they know all too well the difference between a powerful side on paper and results achieved in the middle.

Voorburg have a new coach in Queenslander Steve Nottle, whose brief innings against VOC on Sunday demonstrated that he is a batsman of real quality, and they will rely on him to add solidity to a line-up which also includes allrounders Tim de Leede, Mohammad Rafi and Safaraz Gondel.

HCC will be without international opener Tom de Grooth, who is in the Caribbean with the Dutch under-15 squad, but they may still have too many guns for Voorburg.

Having finished just outside the four last season, Hermes-DVS begin the new campaign with a home fixture against a VVV Amsterdam side which has suffered a serious shake-up over the winter.

Hermes are always a tough proposition on their own ground, but they too will be without several familiar faces and will need some of their emerging talents to take on a greater role supporting the experienced Nicky Statham and Gavin McRae and new coach Antonio Mullins.

VVV have recently had good news in the return of former captain Sajjad Hussain, who has had second thoughts about his decision to transfer to Eerste Klasse club Dosti, but they are likely to miss a potential match-winner in international Mudassar Bukhari.

VVV’s loss, however, is a gain for HBS Den Haag, who take on promoted side Sparta 1888. HBS’s controversial artificial outfield is not yet available, so this match will be played at nearby Klein Zwitserland.

With Bukhari in the side and Shane Deitz as the coach, HBS are likely to be more consistently competitive than they were last season, and this game will give us some indication of whether Sparta, for whom former Pakistan Test batsman Mohammad Wasim will be the coach, will be able to make the huge adjustment from Eerste Klasse to the top flight.

Experience reveals that the lot of the Hoofdklasse tipster is not a happy one, and there will be an additional, rogue factor at work on Thursday: the Ascension Day holiday (which explains the midweek start) is immediately preceded this year by Queen’s Day (Koniginnedag), an event characterised by massive street parties and a good deal of alcohol abuse.

Even if we had a form guide, therefore, it would probably be upset by the unpredictable levels of self-discipline displayed by Dutch cricketers.

Still, for what it’s worth (and, as always, in descending order of confidence), here are my tips for the opening round: HBS, HCC, Hermes-DVS, VRA, VOC.

So there!