The new NTSL campaign gets underway this weekend after a close-season of significant activity for the administrators.

After sitting ‘outside’ the pyramid system for a number of seasons the NTSL will now become an integral part of the ladder, with the champions afforded an opportunity to tilt for a place in the North East Premier League.

A working party, headed by the Durham and Northumberland Cricket Boards and comprising the five leagues in the pyramid, have produced a blueprint which confirms that the champion clubs of the NTSL and Durham Cricket League will go head to head in a play-off match in September, with the winner to be promoted to the NEPL First Division at the expense of the bottom club in that set up.

There are caveats to that arrangement. The two competing clubs must meet the grounds and facilities criteria for entry to the NEPL, and secondly that they wish to be promoted.

If only one of the two opts to go up, then promotion for them would be automatic. If both clubs fail to meet the criteria or decline promotion then the two runner-up sides in each league would be handed the same opportunities. The system will be reviewed after two years.

There was also an end of season issue in 2015 when Alnwick, who finished bottom of Division A2, were handed a reprieve from relegation following some player eligibility issues arising that condemned Backworth to the bottom slot after a re-adjustment of the table.

Backworth were relegated to the Northumberland League, replaced by the upwardly mobile Bates Cottages.

The 2015 Division A1 championship was not decided until the last game of the campaign, with Shotley Bridge emerging victorious for just the second time in their history, and it proved to be a poignant farewell for retiring skipper Peter Collingwood who, after the joy of leading his side to the title, became only the second player in NTSL history to pass 8,000 career runs, and the first to do so playing for just one club.

Collingwood will be a huge miss for the champions this year, and although Stuart Graham will prove a more than capable successor as skipper in his seventh year with the club, he will also have to cope without the significant skills of Graeme Angus and Phil Carlin for long periods because of work and family commitments.

On the plus side Durham all-rounder Barry McCarthy has been signed as the match pro, while talented youngster Greg Patterson has joined from Lanchester.

Swalwell will be one of the main challengers again, with skipper Paul Dumighan desperate to reclaim the title in what will be a remarkable 20th consecutive season as captain.

He led the side to seven consecutive crowns between 2007 and 2013, and having missed out in agonizing fashion in the last two campaigns the motivation is obvious. Two new signings will bolster an already strong squad, with John Meadows (Tynedale) and Simon Bickerstaffe (Blaydon) having arrived.

Ashington were the third team fighting for honours last time, with Anirudh Singh their shining light.

He is back again after being the only player to score over 1,000 league runs last summer, form that also saw him break the league record for most centuries in NTSL history – he now stands on 18.

Alongside him this year will be Ben Harmison, back with his home club after being released by Kent. With the only departure being Stephen Boyd, who has moved to Scotland, the Colliers will be a force to be reckoned with once more.

Bangladeshi Test player Mohammad Sharif arrived late in Leadgate last summer, playing his first game with more than half the season gone. But the fast bowler and big hitter made a huge impression as his new team won seven of their last ten matches to finish fourth, and with the international arriving in time for the first game this time around Leadgate are expecting to improve on that placing.

Lanchester are another side with high hopes following their acquisition of quick bowler Gareth Wade from Chester-le-Street – a player they have been chasing for several seasons. He is joined at Ashley Park by the returning Arran Halliday (Annfield Plain) and Aussie Daniel Nicotra, a top order batsman and leg spinner from Sydney.

Consett, mid-table in 2015, have a more or less unchanged squad with top performer Kamran Mansoor back at Hope Street, but for Annfield Plain it could be another year of toil as the talismanic Neil Killeen has joined several ex-Durham colleagues at Burnopfield in the DCL.

Plain finished just above the relegation placings last time out, but they have Dave Newstead (Bill Quay) and Sam Stephenson (Leadgate) returning.

Tynedale, champions in 2014, will have a very young team in the field and see this season as a developmental one with half their line-up likely to contain juniors, while newly-promoted Newcastle City are hoping to consolidate their top-flight status following the signing of Pakistani Usman Salahuddin who has more than 5,000 first-class runs to his name at an impressive average of 45.