Stoneywood-Dyce aim to halt Stirling charge

The Aberdeenshire side's captain Nikhil Ninan is upbeat about his team's prospects. "We ran second-placed Heriot's very close at Goldenacre last week, and were only undone in the end by conceding too many extras," he said. "We've already shown that if we can stick to the basics and add some more consistency we can challenge for a top six finish."

Young batsman Omar Afridi comes in for unavailable Stuart Coetzer. Stirling skipper Phil Rees is delighted with the progress his side are making. "We're performing well, there's a buzz on training nights, and our bowlers in particular are doing a fine job," he said. "Richie Carswell has been outstanding with the new ball for the past three weeks, and gangly seamer Seth Edwards has been a revelation."

Glenn Rogers returns to bolster the batting in place of leg-spinner Tauseef Ahmed.

Captain Steve Knox is aiming to help Heriot's maintain their unbeaten start away to struggling Stenhousemuir when he returns to the fray after recovering from a thumb injury. "We played to only 85 per cent capacity last week," he said. "We batted and fielded patchily, although we did bowl well."

Ex-Edinburgh CC bowling all-rounder Raja Javed comes in for Calum McDougall. Jed Case is out injured. Stuart Whyte will skipper Stenhousemuir, for whom Ross Jones returns in place of David Halcrow, as the Tryst side look to Kiwi pro Hamish Rutherford to post a big score after some good recent starts.

Ayr introduce seamer Calum Leck, who has recovered from a shoulder injury, and in-form all-rounder Richie Borland for the visit of Drumpellier. The away side, who will be encouraged by last week's demolition of Stenhousemuir, have doubts over skipper Graeme McLaren, Ally Rawlinson, while it remains unclear whether Indian pro K S Sahabuddin will arrive in time. "Not too many teams will outbat us," said Drumps spokesman Alan Stevenson, "although we may struggle to defend a large total."

Arbroath United retain keeper Chris Shepherd, who is deputising for Saltire Marc Petrie, while opening bowler Ewan Small comes in in place of Jack Plomer for the visit of Falkland, who introduce a new captain in Graeme Watson. "It's a splendid batting track, and the forecast is sunny," said Lochlands skipper Fraser Burnett. "It would be nice to win the toss and post a challenging total."

The Fifers are keen to bounce back from last week's defeat by Ayr.

Winless Penicuik will bring Kris Steel and Ross Liddell in in place of absent duo Matthew Foulds and Andy Harrison as they welcome out-of-sorts Poloc. "We took a lot from recovering from 40 for 5 to score 200 at Arbroath last week," said upbeat Kirkhill skipper Keith Morton. Poloc have been struggling to make an impact without all-rounder Keith Sheridan, who has continuing work commitments, but they will have Dan Walton and Alex Scott back in place of Scott Millen and James Blackburn.