CHARLESTOWN captain Daniel Arms will present debut caps to international duo Ahmadullah Fazli and Jacob Mulhall in round seven of Newcastle District Cricket Association's first-grade competition.
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Left-arm paceman Fazli, who originally hails from Afghanistan, and English opening batsman Mulhall have both been called into the Magpies' XI for a two-day fixture against Belmont at Kahibah Oval.
Arms says he's has been impressed by Fazli, who "bowls fairly slippery" and has taken half-a-dozen wickets in two games of seconds since returning to the club this season.
Fazli first played lower grades for Charlestown last summer before heading down to Sydney for the rest of 2022-2023.
"Last year when he came out he was quick but his control wasn't quite there and I don't know how much cricket he'd played," Arms told the Newcastle Herald.
"This year he's been unreal the whole time and the quickest of the net bowling we've seen at the club for a while.
"He's been charging in the whole session and then last week he was running around doing shuttle runs afterwards.
"He's come a long way from last year and even though there's a language barrier, every time I speak to him he's very excited and ready to go."
Fazli will join forces with fellow seamers Dan Bailey and Parth Shah while Isaac Wallace and Dan Standing provide the Magpies with spin options.
"He'll be a big point of difference for us tomorrow. A bit of extra pace and left arm, which helps with Adam Winchester still not bowling because of his hammy," Arms said.
Huddersfield-based Mulhall is enjoying his third summer frequenting Charlestown and has "just worked his way up".
"He came back last year and played twos and now he's been banging down the door. Scored 100 last week and 50-odd the week before, so he gets picked on weight of runs," Arms said.
Andy Saville makes way while Magpies regulars Daniel Chillingworth and Matthew Bench are both unavailable.
Chillingworth's younger brother Toby comes up to help fill the void and will keep in the absence of Bench.
"We had a couple of guys we could have brought up [to keep], but his batting was the difference because without Benchy and Chill that's two out of our top four," Arms said.
Charlestown sit equal second on the ladder with 28 points while eighth-placed Belmont (19) arrive fresh from an outright victory over Hamilton-Wickham.
All-rounder Adrian Isherwood returns for Belmont following an impressive maiden NSW Country Championships with Newcastle while Jamie Heath and Tony Bristow are also ins.
City (32) and Wallsend (28) have a top-of-the-table clash at No.1 Sportsground just a fortnight after meeting in the Tom Locker Cup final.
Cardiff-Boolaroo (27) visit Stockton (22) at Lynn Oval with five points between either side of the semi line.
Wests (22) head to Ron Hill Oval minus representative leg-spinner Aaron Bills (hamstring) while Toronto (2) have named two-time NDCA player of the final Brendon Charlton.
Merewether (16) welcome back experienced campaigner David Celep when they host University (17) at Townson Oval.
Hamwicks (21) are at home to Waratah-Mayfield (15) at Passmore Oval.
Play is scheduled to get underway at 11am on Saturday.