The halfway stage in the Dukes ECB North-East Regional Premier League season has been reached, and Stockton welcome Hetton Lyons to Grangefield.

The visitors will be confident after a great win at Chester-le-Street last week and skipper Jarvis Clay said: “All players are available, so we should be at full strength. A good win last week bodes well for the future, after a good batting display followed by a terrific bowling attack, saw the team home in fine style.”

Eppleton travel to Whitburn and director of cricket John Smithson stated: “The team is at full strength which is all well as this fixture, will be a tough one. All sections of the side are producing the goods and are currently sixth in the table and rapidly closing the gap on those above them”

Chester-le-Street travel to South Shields and the Cestrians skipper John Coxon said: “Jack Harrison is still away, so we are likely to be unchanged. I hope the team gets back to winning ways and get the season back underway, to challenge the teams above us.”

Durham Cricket Academy in fourth, travel to Benwell Hill in third position. The Hill’s skipper Kyle Coetzer is a welcome return for the home side, after returning from international duty with Scotland, as is Joe Kilpatrick, who replaces Anthony Hunter who is unavailable due to holidays and Sameet Brar plays alongside John Chambers.

Coetzer said: “A good match is envisaged and all matches must be keenly fought from now on in. We have dropped to third, behind Newcastle and South North.

“This was despite Haseeb Azam taking five wickets last Saturday to no avail, as the batsmen could not post a competitive total, to give the team a chance of victory.”

In the first division, Mainsforth, in dire need of survival points, entertain leaders Sacriston, Skipper Robert Chismon and Ryan Dawson are on holiday, replaced by Brady Smith and John Sweeney.

Skipper Nigel Milner said: “Washington were a bit too strong last week, but other than the enforced changes, the team remains the same. You can only turn up on the day, put in a good performance and hope for a positive result.”

Second-placed Brandon travel to Blaydon who sit just above Mainsforth in the league and need points. Captain Chris Peareth commented: “There is one change to the team, Sairaj Raghavan is unavailable and so Nathan Adamson slots back into the team, after being away on holiday. The team had a comfortable win last week, so it remains the same for the predicted tough encounter at Back Park Avenue.”

Shotley Bridge, in third spot in the Go North-East Northumberland and Tyneside Senior League, welcome bottom club and winless Ponteland.

Visiting captain Jonny Appleby said: “We’re on a tough run at the minute and we were well and truly beaten by Swalwell recently, and now we have a tough game against Shotley Bridge and then we’ve got Ashington.

“We’re going to be looking to improve our performance up to and into the second half of the season. Daniel Wright is into the team, while Ben Harris drops out.”

Lanchester, in fifth position, will be unchanged when they host Ryton. Fixture secretary Bob Gardiner said of their opponents: “Despite the fact they have had a slow start, we’re taking nothing for granted. They’re making improvements and we seem to be going in the opposite direction.”

Leadgate, 17 points from safety, journey to Newcastle City, one place above them, for a relegation encounter. City skipper Sandeep Padmalaya said: “We are hopeful of a win, last week we lost by just 18 runs, so this week we are looking to get back to winning ways.”

In the Readers Durham Cricket League, third-placed Tudhoe are 20 points from a promotion place. They are at full strength at home to Philadelphia and chairman Steven Thexton said: “We had a really good win last Saturday. This week we welcome Philadelphia, who have had a poor start to the season, but are a much better team than their results have shown. They have some very good players, but have just not been getting the wins. We will have to play really well to get a result.”

Phili are without Peter Greenwell and Jack McBeth is missing, celebrating his 21st birthday. In come Michael Hall, who is having an outstanding season in the second team, alongside Stephen Robinson.

Castle Eden journey to Durham City and chairman John Spellman said: “From our perspective we’ve got our best side out this week, and we can’t put a stronger side out. It’s tough against Durham, but we always have a good game. If we can get Jacob McCann out, we’ve got a good chance of winning, but we need to win it regardless. We’re going into the game on the back of a few bad results and need to turn that around, for the last half of the season. We have one change with James Wilkes-Green in and Liam Brown is out.”

Esh Winning, in sixth place, will be at full strength at home to the leaders Easington.

Secretary Brian Gott said: “It’s always a hard game against them, they play very well and they are doing well at the moment too. We’re also starting to recover after a disappointing start. We’re looking forward to the game, it will be a good, competitive game.”