IT LOOKS like the waiting game is over for Thornaby in the Darlington Building Society NYSD League with confirmation received from Lahore that their professional, Pakistani Khurram Shehzad, should be with them in time for this weekend.

Shehzad, with 40 first-class appearances to his credit and primarily a batsman, was expected to collect his visa and fly in today. But apart from trying to immediately acclimatise to the dip in temperature, he will also be pitched straight into battle with the champions, and new table-toppers, Middlesbrough.

However, there is further good news for the Mandale Bottoms club in that keeper-batsman Michael Muldowney is now fully recovered from a knee operation and will make his seasonal debut, and Richie Rennard also returns.

The game is only Boro’s third at Acklam Park this season, and in the previous two they had quite a bit of leather chasing to do on a pitch that was described as a road, even in April.

They were comfortably held to a draw on both those occasions and their own missing pro, Pakistani leggie Yasir Shah, will not be here in time to relieve the pressure on their attack.

Kyle Coetzer is also a doubt because of his Durham commitments.

There is a derby match to savour at Fountains Garth, where Guisborough versus Great Ayton tussles are always fiercely contested. This one is unlikely to be any different with the Priorymen exhibiting signs of emerging from their slumber of the last couple of seasons.

They went to the top of the table last Saturday night before being usurped 24 hours later by a Middlesbrough team who have played one more match than the rest.

Both teams are unchanged for this clash, and while there are many talented amateurs on either side, it is tempting to say that the battle could be decided by the respective professionals.

For the Aytonians, Riaz Afridi has already stretched away as the league’s leading wicket-taker with 27 in just five games, while Chris Batchelor has 250 runs at an average of 50.

For Guisborough, Neil Russell’s 14 wickets have come at the same average as Afridi (12.9), and Tariq Aziz is starting to blossom, having scored 224 runs at an average of 56.

Marton have surprised a few people so far, and after an unbeaten start lie nicely positioned in third place. And they, too, face a stern derby test when they travel to Cricket Lane to take on a revitalised Normanby Hall, who are just two places and five points below them in the table.

Alex Wardell is back for Marton, while the key news for the Hall is that they expect to be unchanged, which will mean another outing for Paul Wiseman.

The New Zealand Test star has had a dramatic impact at Normanby, his stats in the first five matches reading 250 runs at an average of 82, and 13 wickets at 13 apiece.

Elsewhere, former top dogs Hartlepool travel to Northallerton with multiple changes.

Chris Fawcett, Ian Palmer, John Cannon, Alan Tebbett and Mike Gough are all unavailable for one reason or another, with Hashim Ahmad, James Johnston, John Daniels and Jonathon Mitchell stepping into the breach. Ian Place keeps wicket for the Town, with Andy Mc- Quaker returning.

An unchanged Bishop Auckland entertain a Richmondshire team who have Chris Layfield returning, Darlington, with Garry Moody back at the helm, travel to bottom club Billingham, who are on tenterhooks to see if Nisal Randika arrives in time as promised, and Blackhall expect Stuart Lobb to play in place of Jack Ward when they take on a Marske team who include Gary Lynch and Liam Haveron.

Last weekend saw three teams occupy the top spot during the course of just two days as Hartlepool started the weekend in pole position, Guisborough took over on Saturday night and then Boro slipped quietly above the rest when they played on Sunday.

Guisborough’s move into pole position on Saturday came with a ten-wicket win at Thornaby where Tariq Aziz (64 not out) and Martin Hood (40 not out) looked impressive as they chased 106 for victory following another disappointing batting performance by their newlypromoted opponents.

Marton plunged Billingham Synthonia into further isolation at the bottom of the league with a five-wicket win. Chris Veazey (56) made sure the Villagers stayed on top of their game despite 70 and two wickets for Craig Symington. John Glendenen hit 30 out of 167-5 after Billingham had been confined to 165-7 from their 50 overs.

Hartlepool had fractionally the better of the exchanges in the day’s top game against Middlesbrough, which finished as a draw. Pool hit 246-8 with a superb maiden century from Chris Fawcett. He finished with 122 from153 balls.

New pro Janaka Gunaratne (59 from 82 balls) shared in a stand of 152 to get the home side off to a flyer, but James Beaumont, with a hat-trick among five wickets, led the Boro attack well.

Left with just 40 overs because of a rain stoppage, Boro still went for the runs with Paul Johnston (85) and James Lowe (68) sharing an opening stand of 154. But they lost both batsmen in quick succession and finished on 211-5.

Three of the other games were drawn but Richmondshire celebrated against Northallerton with their first win of the season.

Mattie Brown was again in superb form with an unbeaten 67 from 62 balls, and six wickets.

He shared a second wicket stand of 112 with James Clarkson (78 not out), who put on 90 in an opening partnership with Michael Layfield (49).

Richmond were confined to 33 overs because of rain, but they made the 202 they needed with 11 balls to spare.

Bowlers had the upper hand at Feethams where Doug Mulholland (6-61) enjoyed star rating against Bishop Auckland.

Bishops totalled 159 and although Simon Guy hit 29 to lead the reply for Darlington, they were a bit short on quality and managed just 125-7.

Paul Wiseman was again in great form for Normanby Hall with an unbeaten 93 from 98 balls, including nine fours and three sixes, at Marske. Then he grabbed three wickets, but not before Steve Chapman (64 from 66 balls) and Neil Pratt (58 from 59 balls) had laid the foundation for a spirited reply. They got to within 15 runs of victory despite losing 18 overs batting due to rain.

Great Ayton hit the day’s highest score, 253-2, with 81 for Chris Batchelor and 60 for David Grainge in an opening stand of 146, and 58 for Riaz Afridi and 35 for Steve Pennock in a partnership of 107. Blackhall responded more slowly with 158-5, recently landed pro Warren Swan holding them together with 70.

Sunday’s one game was a match brought forward from August and Middlesbrough grabbed the opportunity to power to a six-wicket victory at Blackhall.

A total of 18 overs were lost from the game because of rain and when they were inserted after losing the toss Blackhall only had 41 overs to bat. South African Warren Swan (74) and John Darby (46) shared an opening stand of 93, but, with James Beaumont sending down 17 overs of high class off-spin to claim 5-54, the home team were restricted to 186-8.

Boro’s opening pair then took the game away from their hosts with a stand of 164, Paul Johnston cracking 13 fours in a superb 91 and James Lowe seven fours in 67.

Although Blackhall claimed some consolation wickets near the end, Middlesbrough raced to victory in the 35th over.

In Division One, the top three, Barnard Castle, Stokesley and Middlesbrough, are separated by just two points. Best individual displays were an unbeaten century and three wickets for Barney’s Richard Borrowdale, and four victims and 67 for Andrew Weighell at Stokesley