In the Premier League relegation battle, Seaton Carew travel down to Windy Hill Lane to take on fellow strugglers and bottom club Marske.

Seaton are fourth bottom, with a 24-point cushion over their opponents, but are only 17 points above the dreaded drop zone.

Seaton skipper Paul Braithwaite said: “We put in a disappointing display against Thornaby last Saturday, but we will have Danny Thomas and Jack Turnbull returning to the team.”

Marske have not won since late May and skipper Chris Veazey, who has Jonny Mains in for Sam Berry, said: “It was another disappointing result last weekend at Bishop Auckland, a game we should have won. Reckless batting cost us the game in the end, including myself, and we need to turn our form around.”

Two other struggling sides, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool, meet up at Acklam Park. Boro skipper Leigh Beaumont said: “Adil Ditta returns after injury for the unavailable Alfie Taylor-Clarke. It’s another important game against a team below us, the team spirit is good, so we are looking for a positive result.”

Leaders Barnard Castle regained pole position last weekend. They entertain Darlington at Vere Road and skipper James Quinn said: “We have reached a nice vein of form since the Macmillan cup final win. Rob Dixon, Phil Merryweather and Richy Watson, are all away, in come juniors Ed Sabey and Finn Usher, as well as second team captain Richard Stanwix.”

“Darlington have been in decent form of late. We have strung a nice run of wins together over the past month, however we must not get complacent.”

Darlington will play with an unchanged side, after a positive draw against Great Ayton last Saturday.

Great Ayton in second, welcome struggling Bishop Auckland to Leven Park and make two changes. Dave Grainge and Jack Edwards come in for Tom Leng and Phil Holdsworth, who is having his tonsils out. Skipper Jon Grainge said: “We are looking for a positive result, to kick start the second half of the season.”

Richmondshire entertain Marton and skipper Gary Pratt said: “We have four changes to face a rejuvenated Marton team, who had a good win last weekend. Mike Layfield, Josh Dowson Matthew Cowling and Robert Carr, all return to the side, which will strengthen us in all departments.”

Marton are unchanged, following their win at home to Middlesbrough. Skipper Alex Wardell said: “We hope that win will give us some momentum going into the second half of the season.”

Thornaby welcome Stokesley to Acklam Road and skipper Paul Allen said: “Myself, Steven Purcifer and Danny Burns all return, replacing Chris Metcalfe, Lewis Beaumont and Luke Metcalfe. After a miserable month of poor team performances in June, we started July with a fantastic win, with both a wonderful batting and bowling performance.”

“This renewed confidence carried into the 15s qualifying day at Middlesbrough, with another two solid and impressive victories. Against Stokesley, we are looking for the same resilience and competitive performance.”

Stokesley Secretary Mark Smith said: “We were disappointed with last Saturday’s defeat; however, we had a good performance with a weakened team in the 15s games, which saw Jonny Weighell have a great knock in our victory against Great Ayton. We will be hoping for more support from our other batters at Thornaby and hopefully Andrew Weighell will be back up the order to open the batting.”