Northallerton edge back in front as title race hots up

Northallerton have their noses in front ahead of their home fixture with bottom-of-the-table Blackhall before visiting Middlesbrough, who have moved into fifth position on the back of three successive victories.

John Place takes over from his brother Ian and Richard Chandler returns for Darren Pavan in the Northallerton side, while Blackhall also show two changes with Philip Bell and Ricky Darwin named for Paul Webster and David Brown.

Guisborough are second, just seven points behind the leaders. Their first game is at Darlington and a blow is the absence of Johnny May, who is replaced by Will Wyatt. They have both Wyatt and Ryan Murray available for Sunday's fixture with Hartlepool at Fountains Garth.

Third-top Bishop Auckland are just ten points behind leaders Northallerton in what has developed into an extremely tight race for the championship.

Former first team captain Paul Furby comes out of retirement to keep wicket since Paul Jenkin is unavailable at home to Hartlepool.

Also sidelined is Matthew Cowling and his place is taken by Matthew Atkinson. Bishop Auckland play Blackhall at Kingsway on Sunday.

Darlington welcome the return of Derek Coates and Keith Barker for their double with Guisborough and Richmondshire, while Darlington RA cannot include Paul Freary for tomorrow's game with Middlesbrough at Brinkburn Road and Michael Bean is included.

With Andrew Russell resuming, Colin Cartwright drops back into the second team. Freary resumes on Sunday at home to Marske, whose professional Rob Nicol is in outstanding form.

But Marske are too near the bottom for comfort and will hope to pick up crucial points starting with the local derby against Redcar.

Gary Lynch for Peter Smith is their only change tomorrow, while Steve Larkins, Paul Smith and Graham Coulthard line up for Richie Rennard, Karl Bramwell and Robin Walker on Sunday.

Because of his commitments as groundsman at Middlesbrough, Tony Bell misses out for Saltburn at home to Richmondshire tomorrow, but he resumes at Redcar.

Saltburn stage their annual gala on Sunday from 1pm and therefore the third team fixture has been postponed until the end of the season.

Middlesbrough aim to continue their recent good form when they line up against Darlington RA and Northallerton. Skipper Martin Ball, David Aninakwah and Janisar Hussain all return for the two games.

The see-saw battle for the championship shows no signs of weakening and Northallerton returned to the top of the table when they comfortably defeated Hartlepool last weekend.

When Pools batted first, they lost two early wickets to Jonathan Barnes and, although John Cannon temporarily halted the slide with 42, the innings only produced a modest total of 107.

Barnes ended with figures of 4-30 while John Sample, introduced as second change, took 4-16.

Northallerton also made an indifferent start to their reply before Doug Mulholland (30) and Barnes, who ended unbeaten on 40, took their side to within sight of victory before the fourth-wicket partnership was broken.

Guisborough, who started the day in pole position, lost to third-placed Bishop Auckland.

Phil Timmens was the destroyer of the Guisborough innings at Fountains Garth, where he captured 7-28. Richad Hawthorne returned an analysis of 2-8 and the home side were back in the pavilion for just 78.

Although Paul Goodchild and David Towse each took a wicket, Bishops strolled home as Amul Mazumdar maintained his excellent form with an unbeaten 42.

Saltburn's victory over Blackhall was shrouded in controversy. Blackhall captain Tony Booth declared his side's innings closed with only 72-7 on the board after Azif Jan was run out when he claimed he was taking avoiding action as a ball was thrown in.

When Saltburn went into bat, a number of wides were bowled and Tony Bell voluntarily retired. Paul Ramage and Richard Storr then secured the necessary 75 runs, which included no fewer than 29 extras.

League president Chris West has called for a report from the umpires. He said: "We discussed the matter at our scheduled management committee meeting on Monday night. Obviously I am concerned because I do not want to see things like this take place but, until I have the full facts, I cannot decide what action, if any, needs to be taken."

Middlesbrough have moved up into fifth position following their excellent performance at Normanby Hall, where they won by 117 runs. Colin Haslett and Brett Roberts both made half-centuries, while Brenton Parchment contributed 39 and Omar Shahid 31 to a total of 216-5 scored from 50 overs.

Mohamed Zahid bowled throughout in the Hall attack, finishing with figures of 3-89 in 25 overs.

When the home side replied, they were all out in 39.1 overs for just 99, which included a top-scoring 29 by opener Mark Croft.

Jack Conway produced another good bowling performance for Boro, claiming 4-23 in 12.1 overs, and Parchment had 3-5 in five overs.

Darlington are sixth after seeing off the challenge from Redcar by eight wickets. Man of the match was Neil Pratt, who hit no fewer than 19 boundaries in an unbeaten 106 made out of a total of 162-2.

Batting first, Redcar ended with 161-7 from their 50 overs. Martin Hood and Mohamed Qureshi both contributed 34 and Jason Robinson 30, while Stephen Chapman bowled continuously for 25 overs for Darlington, returning 4-77.

Darlington RA lost by six wickets to Richmondshire at Brinkburn Road. Wilden Cornwall scored 77 of RA's total of 143, but the man of the match was Shanoka Dissanayake who, after taking 7-63, hit an unbeaten 33. Mark Layfield added 45 to Richmondshire's reply of 144-4.

Rob Nicol was again in magnificent form for Marske at home to Great Ayton. He stroked four sixes and 17 fours in 153, leading his team to 267-7 declared from 49.2 overs.

Great Ayton responded with 169-8 and were indebted to John Grainge, whose 48 not out from 101 balls included seven boundaries. Nicol also had a good day with the ball, picking up 4-31 in 16 overs.