Another new feature of this year's Hoofdklasse competition comes into play this weekend as the clubs deal with the absence of players who are in Canada with the national side.

In previous seasons this led to an automatic suspension of the competition, but this year the programme continues regardless.

The greatest problem will be for leaders VRA Amsterdam, who will be without Eric Szwarczynski, Peter Borren, Adeel Raja and Mangesh Panchal when they are at home to a VOC Rotterdam side unaffected by call-ups to the Dutch squad. Even VOC captain Bas Zuiderent, normally an automatic choice for The Netherlands, will take part, having made himself unavailable for the Canada trip.

VRA have strong reserves, but even so, this will be a stern test for the champions. Batsman Andy Gilder and seamer Sohail Bhatti made their Hoofdklasse debuts at HBS Den Haag last week, but took no active part in a game which lasted for less than 25 overs. Garth Brown, missing last Sunday, will also reinforce the batting, and neither veteran Joost Leemhuis nor youngster Vinoo Tewarie played against HBS.

VOC's attack has a slightly improvised look by comparison with the start of the season, but with Xavier Doherty now the leading wicket-taker in the competition and the top of the batting order fairly solid the Rotterdam side will be keen to seize this opportunity to close the gap on the leaders. They were, after all, the last team to beat VRA in Amstelveen, albeit nearly two years ago, and this game gives them a chance to repeat the experience.

After a string of five defeats HCC could have done without the loss of Jeroen Smits, Tom de Grooth and Mark Jonkman for their clash with Hermes-DVS Schiedam at De Diepput. But their second team is currently riding high in the Eerste Klasse (although they, too, lost last weekend), and the return to fitness of ex-international Feiko Kloppenburg is also a bonus.

It is possible that coach Shane Deitz will take over the wicketkeeping duties from Smits, although HCC also have young keeper Chris Davey, whose twin Graeme will presumably assume a more important role in the attack in the absence of Jonkman (as will the latter's own twin, Maurits).

(Cricket trivia question: Has any top-grade side anywhere ever fielded two pairs of twins in the same match?)

Hermes-DVS have been in patchy form this season, but their seam attack is steady at worst and at times quite threatening, while Nicky Statham's run-making has been a crucial factor in such successes as they have had. If coach Pankaj Joshi can begin to reproduce his form of last year, they could prove a handful for an HCC side whose situation is starting to approach the desperate stage.

Another side who have been very inconsistent is HBS Den Haag, who will not be helped by the absence of Billy Stelling for their derby match against Quick Haag. Already hit by the temporary departure of coach Gareth Hopkins, HBS's resources look pretty threadbare when Stelling is also removed, although the return of Berend Westdijk last week bolstered the seam attack somewhat. It's the batting that's really suspect, however, and Quick, even without Edgar Schiferli and Darren Reekers, have the attack to exploit that weakness.

Fifteen-year-old seamer Tim Gruijters, who has been opening the bowling in the second eleven, may get another chance at the top level, but Quick's resources include both promising youngsters and experienced older heads and with a seam attack which still includes Somesh Kohli, Jeroen Brand and the brothers Mol, it will be interesting to see what balance they settle on for the HBS game.

The remaining games will be somewhat less affected by the national side's Canadian trip.

Excelsior will be at full strength, for example, when, at home for the third straight week, they take on a VVV Amsterdam side which has provided only Mudassar Bukhari to the Dutch squad. This looks like another close game, although it would be remarkable if it were to be as tight as their encounter in Amstelveen in May, which VVV won by one wicket.

The Schiedam side's batting was reinforced by the return of veteran Carl Schewe last week, and there are suggestions that ex-VRA seamer Rashid Amin may soon make his appearance.

With coach Mohammed Hafeez and the apparently-eternal Nolan Clarke among the runs, VVV remain a tough proposition, although an ankle injury to allrounder Rizwan Akram has weakened the squad to some degree.

ACC and Voorburg, who meet in Amstelveen, had contrasting fortunes last Sunday: Voorburg managed to squeeze in a win over HCC (although that result, of course, is currently subject to challenge), while ACC played themselves into a strong position against VOC only to see the match called off because of the rain.

Voorburg have risen from bottom place to the edge of the top four as a result of three consecutive victories, and will be looking to make it four in a row this week despite the absence of keeper Atse Buurman.

ACC will have taken heart as a result of the fine batting display by Chris Slattery and Bas van der Heijde against VOC, although the collapse which followed reinforces the notion that they are far too reliant on a small number of players.

Voorburg have had the same problem, but there are signs that a larger proportion of the squad is playing a full part. Safaraz Gondel makes a big difference to the side when he plays.

A bit of a lottery this week, then, but for what it's worth, my tips are: Quick Haag, Voorburg, HCC, Excelsior, VRA.