Durham's returning heroes, Steve Harmison and Paul Collingwood, held their own mini-contest at Riverside, yesterday.

From north of the Tyne came Harmison against County Durham's Collingwood.

The two county teammates playing together for England at their home base for the first time was a dream come true for many of the Durham members and fans.

The two are best friends, but their friendly rivalry stems from Harmison's support of Newcastle United and Collingwood's of Sunderland.

First bow went to Collingwood. After his failure against the West Indies, among a number of his teammates, he had a point to prove.

All seemed set. England were 37-3 with skipper Michael Vaughan and best bat Marcus Trescothick both back in the pavilion when Collingwood entered the fray.

It all started so well - wellish anyway.

A rousing cheer and a burst of Eminem greeted the son of Shotley Bridge for his first international innings on home turf.

The first ball from Jacob Oram was dealt with admirably. Collingwood's forward defence text book.

He was off the mark in the next over, comfortably clipping a legside ball off James Franklin backward of square and seemingly all set for an extended stay at the crease.

Another single was added to his total before all dreams of glory came crashing all around the all-rounder's ears.

An innocuous over-pitched delivery from Franklin was just too much for Collingwood to resist.

Unfortunately, he was a fraction too late and Gareth Hopkins gobbled up the catch behind the stumps.

Upset? You bet. The walk back to your home pavilion in front of a full house after failing in international colours is among the longest.

A few slaps on the forehead with the helmet and a few angry sweeps of the bat confirmed the obvious.

There's no second chances with the bat in the one-day game.

Could Harmison even upstage his clubmate with the bat?

An edge to third man off Chris Cairns took the current world best fast bowler to three and he wasn't finished there.

A cut behind square ensured the side at least equalled the lowest England one-day total of 86, and his partnership with Jimmy Anderson (11) meant that lowest total record against the Aussies at Old Trafford in 2001 remained intact.

A pick up off his legs from the bowling of Cairns took Harmison to the dizzy heights of double figures.

Another two added to his score and Harmison started getting a bit cocky. A mis-timed drive at Cairns should have been pocketed by Stephen Fleming at first slip, but after a short juggling act he failed to hold on.

Harmison took his chance with both hands and set a new one-day high score target of 13 not out.

If Anderson had held on a little longer anyone who took the 200-1 for Harmison being the top England scorer would have been laughing all the way to the bookies.

But it wasn't to be and the 101 England set was never a testing target.

Ten months after he last bowled on home soil Harmison was steaming in again.

First ball loosener - 91mph. Second ball brought a big appeal for a catch down leg side - not out.

His first over included six balls all in excess of 90mph according to the Sky Sports speed gun.

Second over he cranked up and by the third he'd hit the 96mph mark. He'd also managed to hit Nathan Astle on the helmet.

Just a glancing blow admittedly, but enough to leave Astle resembling Norman Wisdom with his helmet skew-wiff.

In his fifth over he struck. The first ball was short pitched but Fleming's attempted upper-cut over third man didn't make it, with Darren Gough gratefully accepting the chance.

But he wasn't finished yet. His fifth ball hit Astle on the front pad and umpire Rudi Koertzen said 'out'.

Next over ball number two and Ashley Giles took a smart catch at backward short leg.

Umpire Koertzen had obviously developed a fondness for the Ashington Express by this point - completely ignoring the fact Harmison had over-stepped the crease.

So now he had his best international one-day bowling figures (7-0-38-3) to go with his best with the bat.

Next year Riverside welcomes Australia for a one-day international and Bangladesh for a Test match. Durham kingpin Harmison looks a must but Collingwood still has work to do.

The Durham members will be keeping their fingers crossed