FOR those of us who disapprove of two divisions, the one consolation in Michael Vaughan blaming the county game for England's woes is that the split has had no effect.

And in the fourth season of this misguided venture, we go into September with too many issues already cut and dried.

While Sussex's attempt to wrest the title from Surrey looks likely to go to the wire, the only promotion and relegation issue left to be resolved does at least have Durham intriguingly involved.

Although nothing is definite yet, it looks as though Essex, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire are coming down, while Northants and Worcestershire are going up.

That leaves Durham to fight it out with Glamorgan, Yorkshire and Gloucestershire for the third promotion spot.

After drawing their last two games, Glamorgan are 11.25 points ahead of fourth-placed Durham. But the Welshmen have no match this week as they have only two games left while everyone else has three.

Glamorgan are at home to Northants next week then finish off at Riverside; Durham first visit Northants and Bristol; Yorkshire - 7.25 points behind Durham - entertain Somerset and Gloucestershire with a trip to Worcester inbetween, and the one other match of significance is bottom club Derbyshire's trip to Bristol this week.

If Yorkshire and Gloucestershire win this week's home games and Durham draw all four teams would be just about neck and neck.

I'm tipping Durham for a rare draw because I fancy Northants will prepare as flat a pitch as possible, partly because a draw will be good enough for them and also to avoid falling foul of the pitch inspectorate.

They have sailed very close to the wind twice this season in preparing something to suit their spinners and Durham will take the precaution of having two twirlers in their squad on Wednesday.

Durham need one more win to equal their best season in 1999, when six victories earned them a place in the inaugural division one. While they have a tough finish, they now look certain to have Shoaib Akhtar available after he helped Pakistan to a 2-0 lead in the three-match series against Bangladesh.

His two early wickets on the fourth day completed his first ten-wicket Test match haul and after trailing by 61 runs on first innings Pakistan swept to a nine-wicket win.

WITH the second team having completed their fixtures, several players will be waiting anxiously to find out whether they are to be retained. They should know in a fortnight.

"We have to keep them ticking over as best we can because you never know when you might need them," said coach Martyn Moxon.

Five years ago Durham told Martin Saggers he would be released but had to play him in the last match at Worcester, where he performed well in front of a spy from Kent and has hardly looked back since.

But the penny seems to have dropped rather too late with Danny Law that his time might be up as his centuries in the last two second team games are unlikely to save him. Unless a fourth county takes the gamble, his career will fizzle out among mutterings about a tragic waste of talent.

Early in the 2001 season Ian Hunter looked every inch a first-class cricketer in the making, but he too has been out in the cold, with only a handful of Twenty20 appearances in the first team this season.

Moxon admitted it might be necessary to trim the staff for financial reasons, although counties are still waiting to hear how much they will receive in the ECB handout.

If four or five have to go, then Ashley Thorpe and Nicky Phillips could be in danger, while Durham might have to cut their losses with all-rounder Chris Mann, who hasn't played since being promoted to the staff two years ago because of injury.

This raises the possibility that come next season the entire staff will be local, barring skipper Jon Lewis, the two overseas men and Vince Wells, who has a year left on his contract.

Read more about Durham here.