DURHAM have suffered so much at the hands of Husseys over the last two seasons, could they now be considering taking one on?

Michael Hussey, whose younger brother David thrashed 166 not out against Durham at Trent Bridge this season, would fit the bill as an experienced left-handed opening batsman with captaincy experience.

He captained Northamptonshire in the 2002-3 seasons and after taking this summer off it doesn't look as though he's going back there as they have moved swiftly to sign up Martin Love for next season.

Love averaged 394 in his recent two-match stint for Northants, but they still look certain to be relegated so he will be back at Riverside in the opposition next year.

Hussey senior scored a mere 43 in the championship match at Riverside last season, but added an unbeaten 112 in the one-day game and hit 187 against Durham at Northampton.

The 29-year-old Western Australian made three triple hundreds in his three seasons with Northants and last season he averaged 89.31 in 21 championship innings.

It was believed that Durham might want to bring Love back next season, but the indications are that they have been pursuing another Australian who is less likely to be in the touring Ashes squad.

Another possibility is Tasmanian Jamie Cox, who is not keen to return to Somerset, or if Durham really want to excite the fans they could go for Andrew Symonds, who might have been unsettled by the current disharmony at Kent.

Durham are believed to have sounded out Michael di Venuto last season, but he remains committed to Derbyshire and probably feels he owes them something after missing this season through injury.

SHANE Warne will be at Riverside tomorrow. I must confess that in earlier ruling him out, I had forgotten that he has retired from one-day international cricket and is not taking part in the ICC Champions Trophy or the current warm-up in Holland.

Simon Katich has taken over at Hampshire from Michael Clarke, who is in the Australian one-day squad, so the Durham old boy will be joining Warne for four days at Riverside.

The Tuesday start is because of the C & G Trophy final on Saturday, which will become the 15th successive Saturday on which Durham have not played following the continuation of the jinx at Colchester.

As with the previous Saturday at Riverside, it was a lovely sunny day in Essex but all hope of play was abandoned in mid-afternoon. There had been five hours of rain overnight and the nearby River Colne was almost bursting its banks.

However, it could be another nail in the coffin for outground festivals as the Castle Park ground obviously doesn't drain well and has suffered too many blank days.

Locals, who had taken to turning up in wellingtons by Friday, were in no doubt that had Durham's visit been scheduled for Chelmsford there would have been twice as much play.

JON Lewis's century at Colchester spared Durham from the embarrassment of going through a season with only three championship hundreds, which would have been the lowest total by any county since they came into first-class cricket.

Marcus North has made two and Gareth Breese one, but Lewis's was the first this season by an English-born player and maintained Durham's tradition at the Colchester ground as Jimmy Daley and Michael Gough scored centuries on the two previous visits there.

There have been a number of instances of counties scoring only four centuries, including by Durham themselves in 1996, when Darren Blenkiron made two, and Stewart Hutton and Sherwin Campbell one each.

Other than Martin Love's 273 against Hampshire last season, the only championship hundred by a Durham player at Riverside in the last two years was Gary Pratt's 150 against Northants in July last year.

DURHAM are holding an extraordinary general meeting tomorrow evening to seek members' approval for restructuring the company. It is believed chairman Clive Leach will bring in some new faces to form a new board, who will be joined by one or two of the current directors, principally vice-chairman Bob Jackson.

They will have the responsibility for securing funding, which might involve a share issue, with the intention of wiping out the £1.8m debt accrued through developing the ground.

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