Castle Eden are 25 points ahead of the rest but it is their turn to sit out the programme today.

No doubt the Castle players will be casting their eyes to the heavens to see if the atrocious weather forecasts are correct and hand them an unexpected bonus.

Just five points separate positions two to eight in the league and any of the eight sides could still emerge as champions come September, but a washout will be a severe blow to this group if it happens.

Third-placed Murton will try to use their game in hand on the leaders to claw back at least 20 points, but they will not find that easy as their visitors today are Seaham Park, who are one place and one point above them.

Having lost the services of the Akhtar brothers in the last couple of weeks, Park are looking internally to fill the gap and welcome back Alan Dick to the side. Dick was their pro for ten years and is returning after work commitments.

Murton lose Graham Robson through injury, with his replacement being Kevin Hardy.

Boldon CA have kept their unbeaten record intact despite some tough fixtures in recent weeks but they now need to push on with some wins if they are to establish a creditable challenge.

They are back to full strength this week with David Batty and Karl Bellerby returning for their home game with Ryhope.

The visitors have John Menniss available again, although they do have an injury doubt of Darren Sutherland.

Only two points separate Easington from visitors Silksworth, so they will be delighted they have Jason Robson back from injury for a game where the winners will be catapulted to the heart of the championship race.

Bill Quay are just one point above Easington so the same theory applies to them.

Still undefeated, their match at Washington presents the ideal opportunity for the former league leaders to get right back in the thick of the action against a side who are still locked in the bottom two.

Dawdon sit 30 points beneath league leaders Castle Eden but with plenty of cricket still to be played they are confident they can start to make inroads into the deficit and turn themselves into genuine challengers following two major signings in recent weeks.

Umar Akhtar returned to his former club a fortnight ago and he has now been joined by his brother Shoaib Akhtar following his transfer from Seaham Park this week.

Shoaib is a former North-East Cricketer of the Year and his significant all-round skills will be a big bonus to the Dawdon team.

Both play this weekend against bottom club Peterlee who, up until last Saturday, had been everybody's whipping boys.

Given Dawdon's new personnel and the new-found fighting spirit displayed by Peterlee in their creditable draw with Murton, this game now has an intriguing twist to it.