ANDREW Pratt has won the vote to keep wicket for Durham in their three-day match against Durham University starting at Riverside tomorrow.

Despite the opinion of some experts that he is the best wicketkeeper in the country, Pratt was dropped after four championship matches last season.

He was averaging 15.8 with the bat and the management said they wanted him to score more runs, while they also wanted to give an opportunity to Phil Mustard.

Noted for his bold strokeplay, Mustard came in for the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy match at home to Lancashire and was sent in to open. He had the misfortune to be out first ball, but batting at No 7 in the championship he initially did quite well.

He retained the place for the rest of the season and averaged 23.04 with a top score of 70 not out at Derby.

Gateshead Fell professional Marcus North, who is deputising for Herschelle Gibbs for more than half the season, will open the batting with skipper Jon Lewis.

The other overseas substitute, Reon King, is expected to arrive on Monday with a view to playing in the first two championship matches away to Hampshire and at home to Nottinghamshire.

The West Indian paceman is contracted to the South Northumberland club and at the moment Durham have no plans to bring him back later in the season.

The only player making his first-class debut against the university is Gateshead-born seamer Graham Onions, 21, who is now on a full contract. He was promoted along with fellow academy products Liam Plunkett and Ian Pattison.

Durham: J J B Lewis (capt), M North, G J Muchall, G J Pratt, N Peng, G M Hamilton, A Pratt, G D Bridge, L E Plunkett, G Onions, N Killeen

* Steve Harmison is well aware that he is just six wickets away from claiming another Caribbean record and completing his remarkable turnaround from Durham hopeful to England star in less than a year.

The fast bowler has his sights set on the England record for a Caribbean series of 27 wickets held jointly by Angus Fraser in 1998-9 and John Snow in 1967-8 as he enters the final Test against West Indies at the Recreation Ground tomorrow.

If that happens it will complete a remarkable rise from emerging fast bowler to the third best in the world - the position he now finds himself in the world rankings, after claiming 35 wickets in his last five Tests.

But typically for a player who actively shuns the spotlight, Harmison will again be focusing on the team goal of becoming the first side to whitewash the West Indies in the Caribbean rather than concentrate on personal goals.

''I am aware of the record but it's not something I've really set my heart on,'' stressed Harmison, who returned from the World Cup in South Africa last March without even a guaranteed place in England's Test line-up.

''It would be nice to break the record but first and foremost I would like to win 4-0.

''I think we have a really good chance of doing that if you look at the way we have played in the last three Tests and if we can carry that into this Test then I don't see why we can't win.''