The 2007 Hoofdklasse competition gets under way on Sunday with teams aiming at the unfamiliar target of a place in the play-offs, scheduled for the first half of September. They will also need to come to terms with the newly-introduced Duckworth/Lewis system, although with the forecast suggesting a continuation of the great weather of the past few weeks, it is unlikely to be a pressing issue for the first week at least.

The game of the day will probably be at Bloemendaal, where Quick Haag take on Excelsior '20, their own ground still being occupied by footballers. Both sides look like strong contenders for a semi-final slot, and this match will pit Quick's new Australian coach, Sean Clingeleffer, against his compatriot Mark Cleary.

With Excelsior reinforced by the arrival of opener Rif Bakas from Rood en Wit and Rashid Amin from VRA, they will be keen to get their campaign off to a winning start, but Quick have international seamers Edgar Schiferli and Darron Reekers restored to full fitness and a batting line-up which includes brothers Henk-Jan and Geert Maarten Mol as well as the up-and-coming youth international Lesley Stokkers.

The battle between Schiferli and Reekers on the one hand and Excelsior's Daan van Bunge and Luuk van Troost should be fascinating. This is a game which could go either way, and whoever wins will know that they have established an edge over one of their main rivals.

Newly-promoted ACC entertain last year's runners-up, VOC Rotterdam, in their first match back in the Hoofdklasse after a two-year absence. Their preparations for the competition have been promising, with Bas van der Heijde in good form with the bat, but VOC's batting line-up is again intimidating, and the attack is better balanced than most.

ACC have a side which ranges from veterans Jan Balk and Zulfiqar Ahmed to under-19 internationals Steven de Bruin and Maninder Kamboj, but much will depend on the success of coach Chris Slattery. In another all-Australian match-up, his side will take on a VOC side whose coach is Tasmanian Xavier Doherty, the successor to his team-mates Michael Dighton and George Bailey.

The odds have to be in VOC's favour, but ACC aim to be no pushovers this season, and will want to establish the fact from the outset.

HBS have the challenge of travelling to Amstelveen to face champions VRA without their new coach Gareth Hopkins, who won't arrive until next week. With Robert van Oosterom and Juriaan Geleijnse also unavailable and Alexei Kervezee departed for Worcestershire, HBS will be forced to play at least a couple of their promising youngsters in what is certain to be a tough match.

VRA will be at more or less full strength, with a batting line-up which includes Tjade Groot, Wesley Barresi, Eric Szwarczynski, Darrin Murray and Peter Borren, all of whom have international and/or first-class experience.

The main question mark over VRA's attempt at a third successive title is the reliability of the seam attack, but Remco de Graaff bowled well against Denmark last weekend, and will perhaps share the new ball with Victor Grandia.

HCC received a blow to their title ambitions this week with the news that a knee injury may put their new captain and one of the stars of last year, former international Feiko Kloppenburg, out for the whole season. They will certainly miss his hard hitting and lively medium-pace bowling, but the squad is still strong and they will be looking to get away to a convincing start when they take on Voorburg at home.

Voorburg are something of an unknown quantity, having struggled for the past couple of seasons, but if Tim de Leede, freed of international duties, has a more profitable summer they could spring some surprises.

Ryan Le Loux is back as coach for Voorburg, while HCC's Shane Deitz will fly in from Adelaide on Sunday morning and go more or less straight onto the field. It's scarcely an ideal start to the competition, but HCC should nevertheless be strong enough to record an opening win.

In the final match of the round, VVV Amsterdam travel to Schiedam to take on Hermes-DVS.

With a better-balanced looking side than last year, the Amsterdammers will be hoping that their season is more like that of 2005, when they surprised many by finishing in mid-table. If they can recapture that form they could become outside contenders for a play-off place, but they will need to be more consistent than they were last season, and they will be looking to coach Mohammad Hafeez to make plenty of runs.

Hermes relied heavily on coach Pankaj Joshi last year, and will need their crop of younger players to play a greater part if they are to improve on seventh place. They will be without seamer Ruud Nijman on Sunday, while the promising Nils Lenstra is out with a knee injury.

And so to this week's tips . . . . .

Just for the record, my success rate last season was 70% overall, ranging from 95% with the safest predictions to 55% for those I regarded as the third most likely. You Have Been Warned!

Nevertheless, for what they're worth, here are my prognostications for this week, in descending order of confidence: VRA, HCC, VOC, VVV, Quick Haag.