The KNCB's looming end-of-year general meeting was always likely to be interesting, but as the December 12th date approaches it seems that rumours of impending change at the top for the Dutch cricket board are coalescing into something more concrete.

It is now almost certain that a wholesale change of board will be on the agenda at Nieuwegein in two weeks time. What is less certain, however, is exactly what form the challenge will take, and indeed the extent to which it will be opposed.

Incumbent Jacques Mulders is now entering his fifth year as chairman, having taken over from Marc Asselbergs in 2011 in was originally envisaged as an interim appointment. The board over which he has presided since late 2012 has seen its share of controversy, not least the abrupt and still officially unexplained resignation of vice chairman Rod Lyall last summer, or the rather understated manner of CEO Alex De La Mar's appointment - which is widely believed to have prompted the former.

But the current agitiation for change doesn't seem to stem from any particular controversy so much as a broad feeling it's time to move on from an administration that has run its course. This sentiment, it appears, gradually emerged out of a series of meetings on the future of Dutch Cricket held by a committee of club chairmen including, amongst others, Thijs Kreuzberg, Dick Vierling, Dorien Rauwerda, Reinhout Scholte and Guido Dukker.

Dukker was keen to stress that the move was not an indictment of the current administration per se, but rather a endeavour to effect positive change.  "[The commitee] have met some eight times this last year, with the goal of developing an achievable vision for the future of Dutch Cricket, and members of the current board have been involved in that process, as have KNCB office staff" Dukker said, "but one of the considerations is whether this is the best board to carry forward that plan, or whether a new board is needed."

The consensus that has emerged is that a fresh approach is indeed he best way forward, and a new approach is needed. The feeling is that whilst "there is a great need to do things differently, what needs to be done differently is not entirely clear", Mulders remarked.

Equally unclear is the make-up of the board that might displace the incumbents. It is expected that former Chair of the ICC's Women's Committee Betty Timmer will put her name forward as chairman, with Steven Lubbers and Ruben Weijl of Salland, together with Rod Lyall making up her putative board.  HBS's Reinout Scholte is also understood to have thrown his hat into the ring, however, and it is as yet unclear whether there will be one alternative board challenging come the 12th, or several.

In the absence as yet of any formal candidature, the current board will be standing for re-election, says Mulders, "to prevent the risk of a bestuursvacuüm". It's hardly an inspiring campaign slogan, and to some extent Mulders has the air of a man serving primarily from a sense of duty and necessity as much as anything else, but nevertheless the value of the stability that his board has brought should not be casually dismissed. A functional, if arguably at times over-cozy, relationship with the KNCB office and a sense of normalcy in Dutch cricket administration are no mean accomplishments.

That an air of inertia and stagnation hangs about the board is a difficult accusation to shake off, but it will be for any challenger (or challengers) to lay out a clear and attainable vision with which to replace it, and to show that they can carry the confidence of the members in its execution. Mere change for change's sake is of little value if it just replaces inertia with fractiousness and infighting, or sows discord in pursuit of dynamism.