Consistently two of the most powerful sides in Dutch cricket, defending champions Excelsior ’20 Schiedam and VOC Rotterdam will face the challenge of the Topklasse with justifiable confidence.

Excelsior will, of course, be without Mark Cleary, the most successful allrounder in the Hoofdklasse throughout his four seasons at Thurlede, but in star Tasmanian batsman Ed Cowan they have found another coach who is likely to prove prolific with the bat, even if Cleary’s bowling seems certain to be missed.

Their batting line-up, indeed, will be one of the strongest in the competition, with left-handed opener Rifaiz Bakas returning from injury and joining Cowan, Daan van Bunge, Usman Malik (known until now as Malik Hussain), Luuk van Troost and keeper Marcel Schewe as a powerful top six. Martijn van Gelderen, too, showed signs of real promise once he had established himself in the team.

Any doubts about the balance of the side will be focused on the attack, but even without Cleary there’s plenty of variety and cutting edge. Malik is a canny operator, and claimed a remarkable 47 wickets last season at 11.45, and we may see former international Sebastiaan Gokke resuming his old role with the new ball.

With the evergreen Van Troost, newly-named A squad member Tom Heggelman and Brett Haider also in the seam attack, and the spinning role shared by off-spinner Adam Woutersen and Van Bunge’s leg-breaks, Excelsior will have a steady attack, even if it lacks the potential sparkle of the batting.

Their one real disappointment is that the exchange player they had lined up has had to withdraw through injury, but it’s worth remembering that they were without both Cleary and exchange player Tom Brindley in last year’s play-offs and were still strong enough to claim the title.

Although VOC suffered a blip in 2008, finishing as low as seventh, they recovered their form last year and again claimed their accustomed second spot. They will undoubtedly be looking to go one better this year, and secure their first title since 1987.

Michael Dighton will be back as player-coach, and they too will have plenty of strength in the batting, with newly-appointed skipper Maarten van Ierschot,
Chris Free, Daan van Everdingen, Bas Zuiderent and Chris Smith probably making up the top order. Van Everdingen has had limited opportunities in the past couple of seasons, but given more responsibility he had demonstrated that he has the ability to make runs at this level.

Brothers Karel and Nikki Vieler have moved to Kampong and Ernst van Giezen has returned to Hermes-DVS, but the Rotterdam club’s attack will benefit from the return of Ben Goedegebuur, who played for VRA last season, and the acquisition of Bay of Plenty seamer Andrew Hoogstraten.

They also welcome two exchange players, Tasmanian medium-pacer Joe Carroll and wicketkeeper Zac Scott, the latter another from coach Ben Williams’ Bay of Plenty stable. It is not yet clear which of the two is more likely to play in the first team.

With Reinout van Ierschot, Jelte Schoonheim, and Dighton’s remarkably successful medium-pace – he claimed 40 wickets last season at 13.35 – along with Goedegebuur and Hoogstraten, VOC will have a core quintet of seamers, with the spin likely to come from one or more of leg-spinners Maninder Singh, Asaf Altaf and Koen van Everdingen.

With the competition reduced to eight teams there won’t be many easy matches, and it seems safe to predict a tense battle to make the cut between the top and bottom four at the end of July. Excelsior and VOC will definitely face no shortage of challenges for those precious play-off places.