Hetton Lyons and Eppleton go head-to-head in derby
Second placed Hetton Lyons welcome neighbours Eppleton this weekend in a vital Dukes ECB North East Premier League derby clash.
Hetton Lyons skipper Stuart Walker said ahead of the game: “Christopher Ralston is back in for Ethan Dixon and it should be a good local derby played hard and definitely competitive.”
Newcastle, in third place, take on Burnmoor, in fifth, and director of cricket Phil Hudson said: “We are waiting on the availability of Durham CCC players Liam Trevaskis and Tom Mackintosh, ahead of our crunch clash within-form Burnmoor, and have named a squad of 13 until the picture becomes clear.”
Burnmoor’s Alec Linsley said: “After losing four on the spin we have won four and taken 119 points out of a possible 120.
"This means we are challenging for a top-four finish again, but it’s still a long way to go!
"Newcastle who will be looking to keep the pressure on the teams at the top.
“They had a winning draw against South North last weekend, so we will need to beat our very best if we are to continue our winning streak.
"Josh Coughlin is nursing a hamstring injury so misses out again this week.
"Graham Clark is available, so he replaces Cy Duffy who stood in for Josh last week.”
Sunderland entertain Ben well Hill at Ash brooke and visiting skipper Peter Halliday said: “We are without Ben Moody who performed well on debut last week, but Mohsin Mukhtar returns.
"Phil Bell is also missing. We will be looking to build on a number of decent performances in recent weeks, but we need to start turning draws into wins.”
Whitburn host Chester le-Street skipper Paul Shields said: “We welcome them for what will be a crunch game.
"Results have been mixed recently and we are hoping to bounce back after a loss last Saturday and we go into the match unchanged from last weekend.”
The Cestrians skipper John Coxon said: “Stan M cA lin don, myself and George Harrison are all doubtful after picking up injuries last weekend, while Jack Harrison is still away.
"However, we will be going hard for the win and try to close the gaps on some of the teams above us, while pushing ourselves away from the bottom of the league.”
Castle Eden are 17 points behind Division One leaders Ashington and they head to Willington.
Skipper Jonathan Malkin said: “Keith Bailey comes back into the side, but we have a couple missing due to a stag do this weekend.
"Hopefully, we can build on last week’s good results.”
Philadelphia travel to Seaham Park and following a superb double-winning week-end when they defeated Lanchester and Tynemouth, their chances of recording a hat-trick of wins have been severely dented.
Skipper Shaun Hauxwell said :“No fewer than four of the winning team are unavailable for the game, as Luke Robinson and Jack Scott are on Durham Academy duty, while other absentees are Mat tie Noble and Steven Wright.
"The number could rise to five if Ryan Downes, shortly to take up a job in Cardiff, is also ruled out.
“We' ll have to make the best of it, but it's a pity because we played so well last weekend.
"I' m confident that the lads who come in will not let the side down though.”
Sacriston journey to Gateshead Fell and fixture secretary Iain Bestford said: “Chris Rush worth is hopefully available after returning from Durham duty and Ed Foreman returns from holiday.
"They'll replace captain Mel Betts and Hamish Barrie who are both on holiday.
“We are delighted that Chris may be back available, to add strength to our bowling ranks and we are looking to extend our unbeaten run in the longer-format, as we look to consolidate our position in the top four of the division.”
Washington travel to inform Shotley Bridge and skipper Joe Thompson said: “We will have Thomas Sproates back from holiday, but we have to put last Saturday behind us and move onto nine cup finals if we want to stay in the league.
"We are hopeful we will have a couple of additions in the coming days and that could be the boost we all need.”
*Captain Jos Buttler insisted England’s white-ball batting remained their ‘super strength’ and would not be derailed after being skittled cheaply by India in the first one-day international.
Having lost the Twenty20 series 2-1, England packed their top six with returning stars Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root for the first of three 50-over matches, only to be rolled over for 110 with half of the allocated innings unused.
Stokes and Root both failed to score, joining Jason Roy and Liam Livingstone on the duck hunt, while Bairstow’s career-best hot streak in Test cricket did not carry over as he was dismissed for seven.
Indian duo Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, on the other hand, made batting look easy as they reeled in a 10-wicket victory in just 18.4 overs.
Buttler has now lost three of his four games since Eoin Morgan’s retirement left him in charge of the limited-overs group, but he remains confident nothing drastic is required.
“You certainly don’t want days like that to come, and they do come few and far between, but today’s one of those days and it’s tough to take,” he said.
“It’s certainly key not to panic, not to look too much into it and find too many faults.
"India bowled fantastically well and we didn’t manage to deal with that as well as we’d have liked.
“But, if I look back over the past five or six years, batting has been our super strength in this form of the game.”