Ayton hoping Afridi will be in harness for derby clash

9:18am Saturday 10th May 2008

WITH the fifth round of matches played in the Darlington Building Society North Yorkshire and South Durham Premier League, clubs will have completed almost 20 per cent of their league fixtures by close of play tonight - and a number have had to do so without the crucial services of their overseas player.

Great Ayton head into the derby with Guisborough unsure whether Riaz Afridi will be making his seasonal debut. They hope he will, but that has been the case for the last couple of weeks.

There will be one debut in the Leven Park encounter as Guisborough try to solve their wicketkeeper crisis by signing veteran Gary Veazey from Marton.

Northallerton are even more uncertain as to the estimated time of arrival of Shreyas Khanolkar, their new Indian signing. They entertain Bishop Auckland, with both sides desperate for a win - the home team to kick-start their season and the visitors to halt the mini-slump that has seen them lose three successive games.

Another two desperate for victory are Darlington and Billingham, who meet at Feethams.

The Quakers believe Salil Avinash Agarkar will be with them next week, and Synners are in the better position of having Nisal Randika in their ranks already, the Sri Lankan holding out the promise of riches to come with a five-wicket haul last weekend.

The youthful Richmondshire side look down on the rest after a great start, but they face a stiff home examination by Marton, who have won their last two.

Jamie Stead misses this one for the hosts, 19-year-old Adam Hilary deputising, as the visitors are set to be unchanged.

Title favourites Middlesbrough take a full-strength team to joint bottom club Redcar, who have Ryan Lazenby and Ben Parker in the side. Normanby Hall also expect to have a full complement for their trip to Blackhall, but Hartlepool will have to face Marske at Park Drive without Mike Gough, on first-class umpiring duty, and skipper Ian Palmer.

Chester-le-Street head the fledgling Northern Rock North East Premier League table jointly with Tynemouth.

John Coxon injured his groin last week but the Cestrians are hopeful he will have recovered to play at Benwell Hill. Glen Read, an MCC employee, has returned to London, although there's a ready-made replacement in Tim Stonock.

Despite every indication to the contrary, Shahid Nazir didn't make it in time to play for Sunderland last weekend, however the Pakistani international will be in the line up to play at Norton this morning and Greg Applegarth also returns.

Norton won't be able to call on their Durham players but have Mattie Brown back in the team after his recovery from a hand injury.

Tynemouth travel to Blaydon strengthened by the return of John Callaghan and Iain Purdy, as Durham Academy entertain Newcastle.

Gateshead Fell prop up the rest at the moment with just eight points and face South Northumberland today.

Some good news for Fell is that they won't be up against in-form batting star Brendan Ford, who is carrying a hamstring injury.

The bad news is that his replacement is Nicky Peng, who has agreed to play on a needs-must basis.

Gateshead will have Ben Young making his seasonal debut.

South Shields have Chris Dorothy in their side as they take on Stockton, who are showing signs of being more of a force this year as Durham man Karl Turner hits his straps and overseas star Brendon Adams starts to acclimatise.

Horden sit proudly on top of the early-season Warmseal Durham Senior League following their thrilling victory last weekend over champions Burnmoor, which came with just two balls of the match left - the first league defeat for the title holders since 2006. And with a trip to Marsden, who have made an uncertain start, in prospect today, the return from injury of Stephen McCoy is a further boost to the table-toppers.

South Hetton and Whitburn are locked together in joint second place, just two points behind the leaders, and the two go head to head this afternoon.

The visitors start as favourites but Hetton have a settled team, and with John Quarmby back in the side are at full strength. Whitburn welcome the return of Neil Ayre, Andrew Turns makes his seasonal debut and second-teamer Mark Soppitt is promoted.

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