With play-offs among the top four sides providing the climax to the Hoofdklasse competition this season, it seems very probable that Excelsior '20 Schiedam and Quick Haag will be among the contenders for a place in the semi-finals.

Excelsior is a club which has come to expect success, and which will be keen to bounce back quickly after a season's team reconstruction which saw them finish in an unaccustomed sixth place. There will be an additional incentive in their acquisition of a new ground for the First Eleven, with the prospect of turf pitches in 2008.

Coach Mark Cleary was one of the great successes in last year's Hoofdklasse campaign, despite problems with a shoulder injury, and with 720 runs and 30 wickets he was clearly the leading allrounder. If he can stay injury-free this season he could have an even greater impact.

The Schiedam club have lost the services of former international seamer Seb Gokke and of brothers Luqman and Suleiman Tariq (the latter pair having moved to Eerste Klasse club Sparta Rotterdam), but will be strengthened by the arrival of left-handed opening batsman Rif Bakas from Rood en Wit and of Rashid Amin from VRA Amsterdam.

In eight seasons with VRA Amin took 272 wickets at an average cost of 14.90, and he was a key factor in the side's success during that period. If he is no longer quite as devastating as he was when he first appeared in the Hoofdklasse, he will still give added edge to the Excelsior attack.

Excelsior will have a well-balanced side, with Daan van Bunge and Luuk van Troost, both of whom will be free of international duties, as hard-hitting batsmen, and skipper Erik Gouka and wicketkeeper Marcel Schewe also providing plenty of experience.

The younger players in the squad include seamers Tommy Heggelman and Brett Haider, brothers Adam and David Woutersen, and opener Zaffar Ahmed.

Quick Haag will have fewer personnel changes, but will be relying equally heavily on the further development of their exciting crop of youngsters.

They will also have a new coach, in 26-year-old Tasmanian batsman-wicketkeeper Sean Clingeleffer. He is unlikely to keep wicket regularly in a squad which includes Bobby van Gigch and youth international Stijn Allema, but with three first-class centuries, the most recent of them in last month's Pura Cup final, he will add considerable force to the batting line-up.

Quick did well to finish fifth last season, considering the fact that their coach, Faiek Davids, was unable to join the side until July, playing just nine games, and that an injury to Edgar Schiferli put him out for the second half of the season. With Darron Reekers also struggling for fitness, the side was never at full strength.

Call-ups for the national side may affect the team's composition for parts of this year's campaign, even if Schiferli and Reekers are fully fit. Allrounder Geert Maarten Mol is another who will be in contention for national honours, with seamer Somesh Kohli a possible candidate if he has a good start to the season.

Jeroen Brand became a first-team regular last season, and the club will be looking to him to progress further. Thijs Fischer has, however, moved to HCC.

But with the experience of former international Henk-Jan Mol and of Job van Bunge, and emerging talents like nineteen-year-old opening batsman Lesley Stokkers, Allema, and sixteen-year-old seamer Tim Gruijters (who played a full season in the Eerste Klasse with Quick's second team last season, taking 21 wickets at 11.71), the side will be strong contenders for a place in the play-offs.