THE match of the day in the premier division tomorrow pitches second-top Guisborough against leaders Saltburn at Fountains Garth. The result could be crucial to the championship aspirations of both teams.

Saltburn, with just one defeat in 13 games, lead their rivals by 16 points with tomorrow's programme marking the halfway stage of the season.

They are unchanged after last week's comfortable victory, while Guisborough recall Gary Bolton, who last week played for the second team after being a first team regular for many years. Stephen Pennock is unavailable.

There is a double programme this weekend and on Sunday Saltburn have home advantage over Darlington, when they anticipate showing no alteration to a full-strength line-up.

Guisborough go to Marske for their second game and, with Chris Allinson unavailable, Ryan Murray is drafted into the line-up.

Bishop Auckland are handily placed in third to take advantage of any slip-up by the two leading teams. They meet Hartlepool at Park Drive before hosting Billingham Synthonia at Kingsway.

A year ago, Great Ayton looked as if they might make an immediate return to division one, but the improved form they showed during the second half of the season has carried on this year.

They are fourth before their double with Darlington RA and Richmondshire and their hopes of moving still further up the table are enhanced by having a full squad to choose from.

Darlington are away twice, at Northallerton and Saltburn, and they make two changes with Ricky Hopwood and Lee Craggs taking over from Lee Hutton and Alex Deuchar.

Captain Phil Crowther returns for Darlington RA at Great Ayton and at Normanby Hall. Danny Page will keep wicket in both fixtures.

A magnificent all-round performance by Shanoka Dissanayake earned Richmondshire a vital victory in their bottom-of-the-table clash with Billingham Synthonia last weekend.

Dissanayake bowled throughout and in 25 overs claimed seven of the nine Synners' wickets to fall for just 68 runs. Clive Layfield took the other two at a cost of 41 runs.

Billingham made 168-9, which included 49 by Brenton McDonald, before

Dissanayake took over with the bat. He struck ten boundaries in an unbeaten 91 and Mark Layfield added 31 to Richmond's reply, which lasted 44.5 overs.

Almost 600 runs were scored at Acklam Park, where Middlesbrough lost to Bishop Auckland despite realising 282-6 in 50 overs.

Alex Roberts struck 15 boundaries in 134 made from only 141 deliveries and Mitch Claydon added 61 to the formidable total. Phil Timmens was another bowler to bowl unchanged, taking 3-72 from 25 overs, five of them maidens.

Bishop Auckland faced a huge challenge, but Amul Mazumdar became the second century-maker in the game, eclipsing the performance of Roberts by scoring 168 from only 148 balls. He struck two sixes and 21 fours and Matthew Brown added 68 as Bishops won by six wickets with eight balls remaining.

Saltburn consolidated pole position with a 65-run win over Darlington at Feethams. Adil Ditta (41) and Tim Hood (53) led the Seasiders to 202-8, with Steve Chapman taking 4-93 from 25 overs.

There was resistance from Gary Moody (52) and Mark Jobling (35) before the Darlington innings closed after 47.1 overs with just 137 runs on top. Lee Hodgson took a hat-trick in figures of 4-20 and Navdeep Singh conceded only 52 runs in 24 overs for three wickets.

Great Ayton overtook the Marske total of 187 all out with just two balls left.

Glen Mudd hit a six and seven fours out of 49, while David Grainge struck eight boundaries in 42 made from just 50 balls as Ayton won with four wickets remaining.

Thara Gunnarathne scored 39 and earlier bowled 17.2 overs, returning figures of 4-67 when Marske were dismissed in 47.2 overs. Rob Nicol was their top performer with 11 fours out of 76 and Neil Coverdale added 41 with eight boundaries.

Darlington RA defeated Northallerton by just two runs to ease their position near the foot of the table. Paul Freary top-scored with 79 in RA's total of 173-8 and, although captain Ian Gill contributed 59, Northallerton were all out for 173 with Stuart Morgan taking 3-39 in the RA attack.

Normanby Hall slipped back to fifth position after they too were involved in a close finish with Redcar, who won with their last pair at the wicket.

Runs were at a premium and Neil Russell took 7-45 to restrict the Hall to 135. He then turned match-winner with the bat, contributing an unbeaten 42 and defying the efforts of Mohamed Zahid, who claimed another six wickets in the Normanby Hall attack.

Guisborough won comfortably at Hartlepool, even though the home side made 196-9, which included a half-century by Michael Gough. Imran Jan and Richard Dunn shared seven wickets before Graeme Murray (77no) and Chris Allinson (67) laid the foundations for a seven-wicket win.