Former England paceman Paul Taylor takes over as Banbury skipper for tomorrow's Division 1 home game against newly-promoted Henley.

Left-arm seamer Taylor, who took 6-21 off 16 overs against local rivals Bicester & North Oxford in last Saturday's drawn local derby, is at the helm because captain Craig Haupt is unavailable.

Fast bowler Mark Rorich misses out for the same reason, while young Tim Smith is concentrating on his examinations at college.

Batsman Ashley Pearson returns to the side after a two-week layoff with a fractured finger, while the veteran Martin Thomas is also included.

Bicester & North Oxford skipper Darryl Woods is looking for his batsmen to get among the runs as they travel to early pace-setters Slough tomorrow.

Woods recognises that his side have struggled for runs in their first two matches, but believes that this situation will improve once he is able to select from a full squad.

However, Woods has been encouraged by the start made by new boy Lee Mason, who picked up his first five wicket haul for the club in the drawn game against Banbury last Saturday.

"Lee looks a quality bowler and I would not be surprised to see him feature in some Minor Counties matches this season," he said.

Seamer Ali Malik makes his first team debut for Oxford at Falkland in Division 2 West tomorrow.

Ali, who returned superb figures of 8-50 in the 2nd XI's win over Abingdon last week, takes the place of Philip Evans, who is playing for Cardiff UCCE.

Skipper Rupert Evans said: "Ali had a good season for Oxfordshire Colts last year and helped our 2nd XI win Division 3. He has made a good start this year, so he has earned his place."

Ian Crosby comes back into the side with all-rounder Graham Charlesworth unavailable due to his coaching commitments with Oxford UCCE, who have a two-day game away to Durham UCCE this weekend.

TOMORROW'S TEAMS

Banbury (v Henley, home): P Taylor (capt), A Sabin, I Tew, C Smith, A Pearson, D Harding, M Thomas, S Wijayaratne, P Hill, I Adams, J Phillips.

Bicester & North Oxford (v Slough, away): Woods, Hawtin, Boon, J France, B France, Went, Chapman, Savin, Kennedy, Mason, Jeacock.

Oxford (v Falkland, away): R Evans, Mustow, R Eason, Jobson, Cook, Shahbaz Ali, Thompson, Crosby, Shazad Rana, Angove, Ali Malik.