Philadelphia suffered a double whammy this week when they were refused permission to register Simon Brown as a Durham contracted player and wicketkeeper Phil Empson sustained a fractured thumb.

Brown made it known a couple of weeks ago that he would like to play on Saturdays with a view to improving his fitness.

But the league have turned down the move on the grounds that the club did not intimate before the start of the season that they were interested in taking on a County player.

"It is a big disappointment since it would have been good for Simon, Phili and the league to have such a high-profile player on board.

"Simon said that his appearances for one day games with Durham were limited and he thought it would help him get back to full fitness by playing a bit of Saturday cricket," said Phili skipper Andrew Roseberry.

Another blow to the Bunker Hill club is the news that Empson will be out of action for up to three weeks after fracturing his thumb in the Bass Tom Burn Cup tie at Houghton earlier in the week.

Mark Moore, in good form with the gloves and bat in the second team, will replace Empson and Shoaib Akhtar, who gave his best performance to date against South Northumberland last weekend, retains his place and so too does Darren McKitterick. He impressed in the cup win over Houghton.

Philadelphia visit Stockton who make a couple of changes with Ben Lee taking over from the unavailable Danny Lewis. Michael Wood is preferred to Lee Mason who is named in the second team.

On Sunday, Stockton host Chester-le-Street in the Banks Salver which is a repeat of last season's final.

Bottom-of-the-table Norton face another difficult test against Chester-le-Street at Ropery Lane.

Even though the Cestrians lost for the third time last weekend, Norton will have to raise their game if they are to profit.

Durham's James Brinkley returns and so too does seamer James Huitson while a debut is handed to young batsman Danny Nowell. A close result is anticipated in the game between Sunderland and Blaydon at Ashbrooke. Simon Brown is home from University and will come into contention as Sunderland's wicketkeeper now that Nick Gore is living in London.

Former Middlesex and Durham opener Michael Roseberry resumes alongside Stuart Pattison, giving Simon Old's side a more balanced look about it.

David Sherrington, the former Horden wicket keeper and Chris Stephenson are both ruled out of the Blaydon line-up.

A massive disappointment to Tynemouth is an injury to Wayne Falla which will keep him out of the game for some time. He sustained a broken finger attempting to take a catch last Saturday.

South North, who visit Guisborough tomorrow in the Regional Final of the ECB National Knockout Cup, have a full pool of players with Howard Sidney-Willmot, Ian Gilthorpe, Imran Shah and Tom Seymour all returning.

Newcastle's Neil Wake has overcome a back injury and resumes as captain for the home game with Durham Academy.

Wayne Ritzema, however, is unavailable. Benwell Hill, in excellent form recently, are at Gateshead Fell.