Hoofdklasse club VRA Amsterdam has been granted permission by the KNCB to bring in South African-born Canterbury batsman Johan Myburgh as a replacement for its injured coach, Namibian international Gerrie Snyman.

Snyman sustained a serious injury to the index finger of his left hand while bowling against HCC at De Diepput on 31 May. He is not expected to available again before the closing weeks of the season.

VRA lost that match, and have also been defeated in three of the five matches they have played since. They remain in fourth place in the Hoofdklasse table, but with only four points separating them from ninth place the club were obviously not prepared to take any chances, especially with the possibility that three clubs will be relegated from the top flight this season.

Myburgh, who as HCC coach helped that side to the national championship last season, will join a batting line-up which includes established internationals in Peter Borren and Eric Szwarczynski, new cap Wesley Barresi, former New Zealand Test batsman Darrin Murray (who is not available regularly), Atse Buurman and Adeel Raja, as well as the promising teenager Vinoo Tewarie and utility player Victor Grandia.

Last year he made 772 runs for HCC at 42.89, finishing fifteenth in the national averages. His younger brother Stephan, who is in the process of qualifying for The Netherlands, is still playing for HCC, so the meeting of the two clubs on 2 August will have an additional element of spice.

The introduction of Myburgh as a replacement for the injured Snyman is not without a certain irony: the first time that Johan played in the Hoofdklasse as a coach, for HCC in 2006, he himself had to be replaced – as a result of an injury playing football in midweek.

On that occasion it was brother Stephan, who had joined him as HCC’s second XI coach, who took over for the rest of the season.