Tudhoe are expecting professional Shahid Anwar to give them a lift for their home game with Sedgefield today

Tudhoe are expecting to receive clearance in time for him to start his third spell as a pro at the club, and skipper Kevin Littlefair said: "He enjoyed his time here previously, and scored plenty of runs as well as taking a few wickets.

"We're hoping that he'll give everybody a boost, especially the youngsters who are coming through." Regular wicketkeeper Stephen Maddison is unavailable, so opening batsman Simon Davies will go behind the stumps.

Sedgefield are strengthened by the returns of Eddie Johnson and Martin Lower, while all rounder Neil Mulvaney will make his first appearance of the season.

Two teams who have won all their games so far, Brandon and Kimblesworth, face each other.

Brandon, who have scored over 600 runs in their three matches so far, expect to be unchanged, while Andrew Kelly is missing for Kimblesworth.

Evenwood, also unbeaten so far, are at home to Mainsforth. David Wilkinson is missing, but Craig Rutherford and Kevin Watson are added to the side.

Mainsforth are without wicketkeeper Gary Johns, so Chris Hardwick deputises, while John Kavanagh, signed from Brandon, makes his debut. Paul Purcell and Mark Stephenson drop into the second team.

Etherley, who are at Willington, recall youngster Richard Balmer to their line up, with Chris Renshaw returning to the seconds.

Shildon Railway, who are without a win so far, are at Ushaw Moor, and expect to be unchanged.

Ushaw are without Mark Burnham and Brendan Jackson, with Stephen Hancock and Peter McCormick coming in.

Esh Winning who won their first game of the season on Monday, will be unchanged for their game at Langley Park.

* England's leading players will report to Lord's on Monday having become firm advocates of Duncan Fletcher's policy to let them rest during the early stages of the county season.

As the selectors prepare to name their squad to face Sri Lanka, there are still murmurings of discontent among counties at having their contracted England players sidelined at the start of the season.

With all but two of the 11 contracted players - neither Darren Gough nor James Foster will be selected because of injury - expected to feature in a 12-man squad, there are fears England could enter the series badly under-prepared.