Oxford Downs’ hopes of fielding South African ace Johann Myburgh have hit a stumbling block.

The west Oxfordshire club are still hoping to register the 28-year-old, who has been playing first-class cricket for Canterbury Wizards in New Zealand and is coming to work at Cothill House School, near Abingdon.

However, his arrival has been held up by red tape with the school ploughing through the UK Borders Agency’s procedures.

Should Myburgh appear in the league this season, he is likely to be a formidable opponent as he has racked up 4,422 first-class runs at an average of 44.66.

Downs, meanwhile, have lost Oxfordshire opener Chris Sandbach and Jamie Perkin to Oxford, while Marc Milligan, who is studying at Oxford Brookes, expects to be playing university cricket for much of the summer, and Olly Clayfield has returned to his native Leicestershire.

Downs have recruited Tom Norris and Richard Millard-Smith, while Tommy Newell is back after a three-year absence at college and from travelling abroad.

County batsman Adam Cook returns to Cumnor from Oxford as player-coach, while Chris Mitty is back as captain in place of Carl Thompson after keeping wicket at Thame Town last season.

Batsman James Nielson rejoins from Ealing, his off-spinning brother Matt is back after injury, along with seamer Gareth Brown.

Adrian Manger hands over the captaincy at Horspath to Robbie Eason after five highly-successful years.

The acquisition of Adam Krol and Mitchell Meredith, from Thame, should help to make up for the absence of Chris Penner and Matt O'Connor for the first half of the season, while Tasmanian all-rounder Alister Gibbins’ arrival has been delayed by visa issues Bicester & North Oxford have a new captain in Stephen West, who takes over from Darryl Woods.

They have been boosted by Oxford UCCE batsman Duncan Bradshaw signing for a second season, while their overseas player is Adam Yates, an Australian top-order batsman.

Bicester have also captured Oxfordshire Under 17 wicketkeeper/batsman Josh Smith from Great & Little Tew, and seamer Amin Rafiq from Morris Motors Exiles.

Veteran Oxfordshire seamer Keith Arnold continues to struggle with injury problems for Banbury Twenty, who have recruited Indian all-rounder Gurjeet Singh as their overseas player and Ashley Pear-son, another all-rounder from Banbury 2nd.

With Richard Beer taking on a role with the England women’s hockey team for the 2012 Olympics, Ian Evans is to captain Oxford 2nd, with the side being selected from a squad which covers the first team.

Following the success of Sahan Wijerathne as Shipton-under-Wychwood's Sri Lankan coach last season, the west Oxfordshire outfit have recruited Romesh Eranga for the role this season.

Omar Hussain has returned to Witney Swifts and all-rounder Dickon Morris has moved on, while Jason Hunt (formerly Constable) is back from Minster Lovell.

Buckingham Town, who were relegated from the Home Counties Premier League last season, have lost captain and leading run scorer Rob Large, batsman Dan Harris and all-rounder Greg Pearson.

Overseas player Dewayne Bow-den has been replaced by another New Zealander, Brook Hatwell, and medium pace bowler Vishal Valambhia returns after spending last season playing in the Basingstoke area.

Bletchley Town have reverted back to their old name, having played under the banner of Milton Keynes Park for the last six years.

Graham Simpson leads last year’s Division 2 champions side for the sixth time in seven years, with the team relying heavily on their bowling attack which features Ghufran Mohammed, Mark Roberts and James Clark.

Dinton, who were promoted as Division 2 runners-up last year, complete the line-up.