Excelsior surprised even themselves last season as their youth policy bore fruit earlier than anyone expected, and apart from the arrival of new coach James Hilditch from Australia is seems likely that the side will closely resemble that which took the national title for the tenth time.
Lorenzo Ingram is back, and his partnership with Hilditch will be a crucial factor in the team’s continuing success.
But the real story of 2016 was the emergence of Excelsior’s crop of younger players, with Topklasse Player of the Year Roel Verhagen, who successfully combining keeping wicket with the opening role, his partner Tim Etman, and the new-ball pairing of Rens van Troost and Gijs Kroesen all making significant progress.
Van Troost and Kroesen took 47 wickets between them, the former’s 29 at 14.83 placing him eighth in the averages, and with skipper Tom Heggelman and Sohail Bhatti also contributing to the seam attack and the addition of Hilditch, Excelsior are likely to present opposing batsmen with plenty of challenges.
On the batting side, the top six of Verhagen, Etman, Ingram, Joost Kroesen, Heggelman and presumably Hilditch is capable of contributing plenty of runs, with the lower middle order of David and Adam Woutersen and the specialist bowlers also capable of chipping in as required.
All in all, then, Excelsior appear to be in good shape to mount a spirited defence of their title.
In Amsterdam, Dosti United will welcome two new overseas players in former South African international Juan ‘Rusty’ Theron and Punjab batsman Taruwar Kohli.
Both are likely to have a considerable impact in the Dutch competition, but Dosti will be without their third overseas player, Dutch passport-holder, Colin Ackermann, now playing county cricket with Leicestershire, and this will leave a big gap at the top of their batting order.
The club has suffered major losses in the seam department as well, with internationals Ahsan Malik Jamil and Mudassar Bukhari moving to VOC and Sparta 1888 respectively. The pair took 44 wickets between them last season, and this too will be a substantial weakening of the side.
In looking for replacements, moreover, the problems are compounded by the fact that several key Second eleven players, who moved to Dosti when the club merged with United, have returned to Haarlem to play for Rood en Wit.
Of last year’s Topklasse side, skipper Vinoo Tewarie and wicketkeeper-batsman Rahil Ahmed had disappointing seasons with the bat in 2016, and both will need to need to be a lot more productive this season if the batting is not to become too dependent on Kohli’s undoubted skill.
Veteran Mohammad Hafeez remains a key member of the side, both for his batting and for his left-arm bowling, while Sherry Butt is another who will be aiming to improve on last year’s efforts and stiffen the middle order and Vimal Tewarie’s bowling will be a more important factor this time.
Then there’s Gary Gravesande, the very model of a utility player: an aggressive batsman, useful seam bowler, and excellent reserve keeper. If he and pace bowler Victor Grandia are fully fit and able to play regularly, that will go a long way towards solving some of their side’s problems.
Off-spinner Mahesh Hans is likely, too, to find more weight on his shoulders, but his recent performances is representative sides suggest that he is more than capable of bearing the load.
After several seasons of remarkable success, one of the fascinating questions of the new season is how well Dosti will be able to absorb these shocks and remain a force at the highest level.
Previous previews: Quick and ACC, Hermes and HCC, VOC and VRA, HBS and Punjab.