THE contest between two young captains will be crucial when Durham visit Leicestershire in this evening's Friends Life Twenty20 match.

In the absence of Dale Benkenstein and Paul Collingwood, Durham will be led by Mark Stoneman and will be wary of his opposite number, Josh Cobb.

Leicestershire's four-day captain, the West Indian Test player Ramnaresh Sarwan, is standing down in this competition as they have Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and Queenslander Joe Burns as their overseas men.

Cobb has so far presided over defeats by the group's two unbeaten sides, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, but the Foxes have been in the hunt both times.

Cobb hit 47 off 26 balls against Derbyshire and in the opening match at Trent Bridge his side amassed 183 for eight, only to lose by seven wickets.

Durham will be grateful for good weather as their last two trips to Grace Road have proved fruitless. Last year's match was washed out and the year before Cobb scored 54 in the first five overs before play was abandoned.

Durham had expected to have Graham Onions back after his appearance for an England XI against Essex this week, but the national selectors don't want him to play until they name their squad for next week's Ashes Test.

If he is in the squad named this weekend he will probably have to miss the first two days of Durham's championship match at home to Derbyshire, starting on Monday.

It is hoped Collingwood will be fit for that game, but the thumb injury he suffered at Scarborough on Sunday rules him out this weekend.

Shakib has yet to make a big impact for Leicestershire but emerged early this year as the world's leading all-rounder in the one-day international rankings.

A 26-year-old left-handed batsman and left-arm spinner, he has scored more than 4,000 runs and taken over 100 wickets in ODIs and international T20 matches.

Stoneman gave an indication of how dangerous he could be in this form of the game when he thrashed 33 off 17 balls before being run out in Durham's opening defeat by Lancashire.

After scoring only three in Sunday's win against Yorkshire he will be determined to get his side's innings off to a flying start at Grace Road.

Durham need to win if they are to stay on the heels of the leaders, especially with group favourites Nottinghamshire due at the Emirates ICG tomorrow afternoon.

Durham: M D Stoneman (capt), P Mustard, S G Borthwick, W R Smith, B A Stokes, G J Muchall, M A Richardson, G R Breese, R D Pringle, M A Wood, C Rushworth.