THERE is a strong homegrown presence at York CC today, with four North Yorkshire cricketers included in Northern Diamonds' squad to take on Thunder in the city.

Ex- Archbishop Holgate's School pupils Grace Hall and Lauren Winfield-Hill will line up for the Diamonds, as will Harrogate's Emma Marlow and Scarborough's Leah Dobson, as they look to bring their Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy defence back on track in York.

Added of course is the impetus of getting one over on their Lancastrian rivals.

Thunder have won the toss at Clifton Park and elected to bowl, with play getting underway at 10:30am.

The Diamonds have named a strong squad for the encounter, including both Hollie Armitage and Winfield-Hill following the pair's taste of England duty during the Ashes series, hoping to bounce back from a trio of defeats in the competition.

Not even Armitage's 70 could save them in the latest of those against leaders Blaze at Chesterfield last week, the Diamonds collapsing from 55-0 to 185 all out - a total they had little chance of defending on what is typically a fast ground.

However, in Winfield-Hill they have a proven runs scorer, the Stamford Bridge-born batter hitting 392 across the course of the competition thus far at a strike rate of 100, including an outstanding unbeaten 116 in their triumph over South East Stars.

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By contrast, their Roses rivals have failed to record a win in the competition this year, currently only kept off the bottom of the table by a superior net run rate over Western Storm. Their eight points thus far includes three losses, two draws and two no-results.

Thunder head into today's clash having tied their match against Southern Vipers in Southport on Friday.

Both sides finished with 262-8, the hosts crashing 97 runs from their last 10 overs as both Ellie Threlkeld and Tara Norris notched half-centuries.

Today's clash at York marks the first 50-over a side Roses clash of the season, with the Diamonds hopeful of avenging their T20 defeat to Thunder in Blackpool last month - one in which sealed the hosts' place in Finals day whilst knocking the Diamonds out of the competition.