In the end, the margin by which HBS Den Haag secured promotion to next season’s Topklasse was deceptively large: beating all three of their rivals in the second phase of the Hoofdklasse, the Crows finished eight points clear of their nearest challengers Bloemendaal, although the latter had played two games fewer and the difference on average points was only 0.34.

But having lost their two opening matches to Punjab Rotterdam and Bloemendaal, HBS lost only once more – to Punjab again – and overall they were clearly the strongest team.

In a competition in which the overseas players have an overwhelming influence, they inevitably owed much to wicketkeeper-batsman Bradley Barnes and allrounder Grant Elliott. Barnes made 622 runs at an average of 69.11 and Elliott 634 at 52.83, while the South African-born former New Zealand international also claimed 32 wickets at 10.92, with an economy rate of 3.36.

With a century and four fifties for Elliott and five half-centuries for Barnes, the overseas pair largely carried the batting, and even when they did not reach these milestones they generally provided the bulk of their side’s runs. It is an indication of how vital their contribution was that the next most prolific batsmen were Dennis Coster with 265 at 20.38 and Taco Risselada with 151 at 18.88.

If the batting is a cause for concern as the Craeyenhout club contemplates life in the Topklasse, there will be fewer anxieties about the bowling. As in the days before reorganisation, when HBS were last in the top flight, it was often the attack which kept the side afloat.

Apart from Elliott’s outstanding effort – no-one took more wickets in the Hoofdklasse this season – five other HBS bowlers feature prominently in the averages.

Two of them are in the veteran category, but they are seasoned performers in the top division, and they can be expected to cause problems for opposing batsmen next year. Rasool Abed claimed 20 wickets this season at 19.95 and Sjoerd Weurman 15 at 27.73, but it was their economy rates of 3.32 and 3.24 respectively which joined with Elliott’s in containing their opponents.

Weurman in particular will relish the chance to return to the top flight, where he claimed 301 wickets between 1997 and 2009 at an average cost of 21.66.

And these two will have the support of Ferdi Vink (23 wickets this season at 17.39), Ollie de Geus (14 at 17.71) and the promising youth international Wessel Coster (18 at 18.22).

For the KNCB, though, the promotion of HBS may present a problem. The club’s main ground has an artificial outfield, and although they were granted permission to play their home games there in the last two seasons of the old Hoofdklasse, in 2008 and 2009, that was on an experimental basis.

Special permission will again need to be granted if HBS are to play their home games at Craeyenhout next season, and the precedent which this would create could have long-term consequences for Dutch cricket. It seems certain to be a lively topic of discussion over the winter.