THE new season in the North Yorkshire and South Durham League, which starts tomorrow, has already fallen victim to the winter weather with postponements due to unfit grounds.

In the premier division, two games have been delayed with champions Saltburn v Blackhall and Thornaby v Northallerton taking place at a later date.

Saltburn have retained professional 'Maurice' Rashid following their success last year and will be led by Tony Bell with largely the same squad.

Kevin Wright is at university and will not be available early in the season so Martin Ellwood will take over the gloves. They will miss batsman Jimmy Lawson, who has retired following his knee operation.

Thornaby, again under the captaincy of Neil Marsden, have also retained their South African professional Geoff Love and their prospects have improved with the return of slow left-armer Ian Still from Stockton and Mattie Dex from neighbours Norton.

The Mandale Bottoms club have high hopes for 17-year-olds Chris Metcalfe, an all-rounder, and opening batsman Stuart Moore, who attends the Yorkshire School of Excellence.

Richmond have appointed an outstanding South Australian professional in David Fitzgerald and he is expected to set things alight with his prolific run-scoring.

Graham Bowen will lead Redcar with a new Sri Lankan professional Dulip Samaraweera, but they will miss young Australian Mark Cosgrove, mainly due to his success with the Australian Academy. The captain's brother, Mark Bowen, has been released by his county and is not likely to be available due to work commitments.

Northallerton have Jonathan Barnes as professional for his seventh successive year, a clear indication of his value to the side and to Ian Gill, who again will be captain.

Brian Leach will again lead Normanby Hall and will have Neil Russell as professional following his successful first season.

Danny Evans, the Middlesbrough captain, is most optimistic for the forthcoming season with the appointment of Tahir Rashid, who plays with Habib Bank in Pakistan, as professional and the return of his younger brother Umer to the club.

This will mean that three Rashid brothers are playing in the league. There are seven brothers in total and each one has now played first class cricket.

Marske will be captained by Stuart Mackay and also have a new professional in Sri Lankan Suwanji Madanayaka, an orthodox slow left-armer and middle order batsman. The Coverdale brothers, Neil and Ian, have joined the club from Normanby Hall.

Billy Hornby has returned to Hartlepool, who again will be under the captaincy of Gary Tebbett. They will have Stephen Chapman, the ex-Bishop Auckland all-rounder as their paid player.

Blackhall president Jackie Fairhurst says that after disappointments last year they have appointed West Indian all-rounder Imran Hanif from Trinidad as their professional.

But they have lost Stuart Morgan to the professional ranks with Lanchester. Ben Usher will captain a largely unchanged side and is hopeful for a much-improved year.

Darlington RA will welcome the return of quick bowler Paul Thomas as their professional following the Victorian's outstanding returns with the ball last year. Peter Eckels will again lead the side with the addition of newcomers Peter Mellor and Kevin Roddy, both from the town club, and James Hornby from Scarborough.

Guisborough have a new captain with coach Graham Shaw leading the team and quick bowler David Towse will continue as their professional. Richard Dunn will return after injury, slow left-armer Steve Broderick has returned to the area and the club will be in contention for honours.

Navdeep Singh Sidhu, who plays for Punjab in India, is the new Darlington professional and they also have ex-Durham County all-rounder Neil Pratt as their coach.

Mark Stainsby embarks on his first season as captain and will hope for a much-improved season. Left-arm quickie Kevin Mott hopes to play following surgery for his knee problem.

Keith Stones continues as captain of Bishop Auckland, who have also appointed ex-Hartlepool player Aaley Haider from Pakistan as their professional.

They have lost Andrew Bowman to Stockton, but Darren Hickey has returned to the club.