Joint leaders Northallerton will not have to face Billy Teasdale when they meet third-top Bishop Auckland at Kingsway on Saturday.

Teasdale was seen as a major coup when he moved from Evenwood a couple of weeks ago but he has had a sudden change of heart and returned to the Village club.

"It is disappointing. He looked a good player but it was his decision and we will just have to get along without him," said Bishop's director of cricket, Paul Furby, who reports that Ben Usher and Michael Cowling return with Frank Smith reverting to the Second XI.

Northallerton, who are equal on points with Guisborough and 16 ahead of Bishop Auckland, are unchanged.

Guisborough visit Redcar forced into making one alteration to their line-up since Steve Pennock is unavailable and he is replaced by Martin Hyde.

It is all change for Darlington against Hartlepool at Park Drive. Lee Hutton, David Alderson, Duncan Johnson and Derek Coates are all missing with Daniel Morgans, Jamie Watson, Richard Biddle and James Stock their replacements.

Darlington RA give a big welcome back to Philip Crowther who scored a lot of runs for the Brinkburn Road club before moving abroad to work. He lines up at home to Normanby Hall

Following their superb performance defeating Bishop Auckland last week, Great Ayton name an unchanged line-up at home to Saltburn where they will hope to take another step towards Premier Division safety.

With Adam Smith still ruled out, Richmondshire keep faith with the same team for the visit to Blackhall which means that 16-year old Jamie Stead is again included.

Guisborough reclaimed joint top position with a quick-fire win over Darlington RA at Fountains Garth last Saturday.

The bowling of Paul Goodchild proved problematic for RA when he was introduced as first-change into the attack and once he broke the opening partnership, it was nearly all downhill for the visitors.

Only Andy Russell offered much resistance and he top-scored with 31 out of a total of 107 from 49 overs. Goodchild sent down 24 overs, six of them maidens and claimed six wickets for just 49 runs.

In reply, Guisborough needed only 19 overs to reach a winning score.

Northallerton were involved in an interesting drawn game at Richmondshire where honours were even at close of play.

Faced with a target of 179, Richmond were 151-7 which included 34 by Clive Layfield. Mark Layfield added 24, Dissanayke 26 and Andy Mollitt 23 while for Northallerton, Jonathan Barnes again bowled well to finish with figures of 4-61.

Batting first, Northallerton posted 178-9 with most of the runs coming Mark Stainsby and Barnes, who both scored half-centuries. Dissanayke and Clive Layfield each took three wickets in the Richmond attack.

Great Ayton dented the championship hopes of Bishop Auckland when they recorded only their second win of the season. They were the underdogs at Bishop Auckland but rose to the challenge when they had five wickets and 4.1 overs to spare overtaking the home team's formidable total of 231-7.

Darren Hickey and John Doyle were the match-winners. Hickey hit three sixes and ten fours in 103 and Doyle had seven boundaries out of 63.

Amul Muzumdar scored his second successive century (129) but still ended on the losing side. Paul Timmens added 49 and at tea, Bishops looked to be in a strong position.

Rob Nicol is another overseas player in tremendous form but not even his score of 142 not out could earn Marske victory over Darlington at Feethams.

His wonderful innings included three sixes and 12 boundaries and when Richie Rennard made 42 and Ryan Lazenby 34, Marske hurried to 280-5 in 50 overs.

But Darlington also had a batting hero in Gary Moody and he scored 14 off the last four balls of the innings to reach 100 not out.

Steve Chapman, who earlier took five wickets for 105 runs when he bowled continuously for 25 overs, opened Darlington's reply scoring 33 and James Alderson ended undefeated on 59 with 10 boundaries. Nicol followed up his exhilirating performance with the bat capturing four wickets for 32 runs in 10 overs.