Chester-le-Street will be the team to beat for the championship after strengthening their side which had 30 points in hand of runners-up Benwell Hill last season.

Although they have lost the talented Ashley Thorpe to Durham County, he has been engaged as their contracted player and in addition Shaun Birbeck and Ashley Day have moved to Ropery Lane.

Thorpe was second top in the batting averages last season when he was the only player to reach four figures. He ended with 1,003 runs at 66.9 and also picked up 33 wickets which cost just 15.9 runs apiece.

So it was not surprising when the County moved in for him but the Cestrians are hopeful that he will be able to play some games this season.

Shaun Birbeck joins his brother Tony who is captain at Ropery Lane. Shaun was the leading scorer in the Federation Special Durham Senior League last year averaging 55.9, hitting 838 runs while Day, whose appearances with Hetton Lyons were limited, still managed to top the bowling averages with 34 wickets at 9.4.

"Last year was an outstanding season for us and we hope to build on the success," enthused official Keith Robson. The only player to leave Ropery Lane is youngster Liam Simpson who has joined Durham Academy.

Much attention will be focused on Sunderland - and Michael Roseberry in particular. The former Durham captain who has had two spells with Middlesex comes in as player coach and it is anticipated that he will be one of the leading runmakers in the League.

Franklyn Rose is back for a second spell as professional and Alan Mustard has moved to Ashbrooke from Hylton but on the debit side, influential batsmen Darren Blenkiron and Richard Hawthorne have moved on.

"We are optimistic that we can do better than last season. We won the first championship in 2000 but made a bad start last year.

"It is a very competitive league which so far has been good for cricket in the region and I am certain that standards and competitiveness will continue to improve," declared Sunderland secretary Mike Smith.

Another Roseberry, Andrew, takes over as captain of Philadelphia who will be having their first taste of the Premier League. They beat off stiff opposition for the one vacancy but Roseberry, brother of Michael, is optimistic of a successful baptism.

Roseberry, who was with Glamorgan and Leicestershire, is a previous skipper at Bunker Hill and was the club's first choice to take over the task.

Gavin Swan, who plays for Western Australia, has been brought over to spearhead the attack and he comes with outstanding credentials as a pace bowler.

Another Western Australian, Jim Allenby, has also signed up and in the last couple of seasons the 19-year old was highly successful with Durham City. Last year, he was second top in the Durham Senior League averages with 752 runs at 57.8.

Another ex-Durham City player Ross McLaren, has rejoined the club as have father and son Norman and Shaun Smith who both played for Hylton last season .

Wicket keeper/batsman Ben Young (Chester le Street and Sunderland), Craig Adey (Eppleton) and Shoaib Akhtar (Dawdon) boost the squad although the side lacks a genuine spinner.

Stockton have former Durham County player Alan Walker in the role of both professional and captain and Chris Mann will be their contracted player. They have lost a number of players with the news that Robert Lake has retired and that Hylton Wordsworth, who has served the first team for a decade, is to play only second team cricket.

Australian Charlie Burke has joined Shildon and Richard Thomas has also left the club.

Norton are hopeful of a better season after finishing third bottom last time. Stephen Ball has moved on to Sacriston as their professional but Tim MacDonald is back for a second year from Perth.

Kenny Gresham takes over as captain, Marc Symington is their Durham contracted player and Jonathan Kean, who has been with Durham Academy, is also available. Justin Peacock has returned from Australia and it is hoped that Andrew Tait will be available on a regular basis.

Blaydon have suffered a double blow with the news that Stephen Humble has joined Swalwell as professional and that Ray Marshall has taken up a similar post at Whickham.

Andrew Robson has switched from Horden and he should prove a capable replacement in the attack for Humble and Graeme Bridge has been engaged as a contracted player from the County.

Nehemiah Perry returns and Mark Drake takes over as captain from Ian Somerville.

Gateshead Fell, who failed to win a game and were 86 points behind second-bottom Tynemouth last year, have taken steps to improve their team with the threat of relegation hovering for the first time since the League was formed.

A major signing is Australian Marcus North who will be having his third season with the club.

He missed last year when he joined Colne in Lancashire and if he repeats the form he showed during his first two seasons at Low Fell then the bowlers should have a defendable target.

The bowling will be stronger with the return from Newcastle of Stephen Lugsden, while Steve Beaver will add variety to the attack with his spin after joining from Tynemouth.

Benwell Hill, runners-up last year, have re-engaged Pakistani paceman Shahid Nazir for a second term and a new signing is opening batsman James Miller, who was in top form with Tynemouth last summer.

Newcastle have signed Scott Kay for his second season and Gary Pratt will be their contracted player but a blow is the loss of Stephen Lugsden who has returned to Gateshead Fell.

South Northumberland skipper Adam Heather reports that Dewalt Pretorius, who has played one Test for South Africa against Australia is their new professional and he is confident that the quickie will cause problems for opposing batsmen.

And former Durham man Martin Speight has also signed up.

Tynemouth have a new captain in Russell Perry who was in charge of the second team last season. Their professional is Indian Amol Mazumdar a top-order batsman and leg-spinner from Bombay.

Former Tynemouth junior Gordon Muchall is their Durham contracted player and two other newcomers are John Schofield, a batsman attending Newcastle University and John Burn, an Australian who lives in the area.