DURHAM star Mark Davies is returning to the Darlington Building Society NYSD League after signing as Normanby Hall's English qualified professional.

He played as Richmondshire's pro a couple of years ago and with the mid-season lull in the County Championship season in June he is hopeful of maintaining his match sharpness in league cricket.

Normanby haven't carried a second pro for a couple of seasons and while they realise he will only be available on an occasional basis were happy to sign the recognised talents of a quality performer.

As well as being a former Durham CCC player of the year Davies' first-class record is outstanding.

He has 197 top level wickets to his name at a Truemanesque' average of 21.88 and is likely to make one or two batsmen hop about at Cricket Lane in the next few weeks.

He will not play in today's home game against Marske as he is appearing in the county match at Hove, and that is likely to be the case next weekend when the final championship match is played ahead of the mid-summer recess.

Marske left-armer Mike Yuill broke his thumb on Monday so Chris Atkinson replaces him.

John Pickard also returns to the line-up in place of Liam Haveron.

A week ago Bishop Auckland were wondering how to halt a run of five successive defeats but following two victories over the Bank Holiday weekend it's all smiles at Kingsway again.

Bishops are delighted to welcome Colin Barker back. A regular for many years, he has only been able to play occasionally in the last couple of seasons and has appeared mainly in the seconds.

Now he is to be regularly available again he is expected to become a first team fixture.

Guy Wilkes is also back in for the game at Blackhall, with Matthew Cowling stepping down and Carl McGregor missing because of college duties. The home side have Phil Bell returning in place of Chris Brown.

Guisborough are starting to build a head of steam reminiscent of their halcyon days of league domination, although they do have four changes for the trip to Hartlepool. Stu Mackay has recovered from his triceps injury, Anthony Parsons gets his first team chance after scoring plenty of runs in the seconds, and Gary Veazey and Martin Hyde are also in a side that will be missing skipper Richard Dunn and Will McDougall.

Pools' spinner Shas Kasi is considered a good prospect at Park Drive and after a useful first-team debut last Monday retains his place.

Richmond felt that the toss proved crucial last weekend as they were unable to dictate terms after losing the coin guessing - the resulting two defeats dropped them back into third. Kevin Forbes is back to keep wicket against visitors Darlington who are unchanged.

The end of Northallerton's search for an overseas pro may be in sight. With Shreyas Khanolkar now but a memory, a replacement has been identified who played in the region last season.

The team gained breathing space with Monday's win and whether or not a pro signing is made he will not feature at Redcar today. Mark Cowell and Andrew Fishburn are back in the Northallerton team and a late decision will be made on Ian Gill's fitness. He has had long term back problems which were not improved by a recent altercation with a grandfather clock when moving house. Redcar, desperate for points, are unchanged.

Great Ayton suffered two top order batting collapses over the Bank Holiday and as a result lost both games despite Riaz Afridi taking nine wickets in one of them. They stick with the same side for the match at Leven Park against Billingham Synthonia.

Synners are missing Simon Driver, with James Wiggins stepping up, but Martin Cull looks like being a permanent fixture after missing the start of the season through work commitments.

Leaders Middlesbrough face a derby at unchanged Marton, and if there is a chink in their armour it could be today as they go into the match with limited bowling resources. James Beaumont is unavailable and Brett Roberts is still unable to bowl because of his shoulder injury. Shaz Akbar comes into the side, with Lee Roberts replacing Raf Rashid.