DURHAM will find themselves up against West Indian Phil Simmons in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy on Wednesday, and they might reflect that in the past he has done them far more harm than good.

Now 39, Simmons plays club cricket in Derbyshire but also makes occasional appearances for Wales in the Minor Counties Championship.

He played twice for Durham in the NatWest Trophy in their Minor Counties days, but he had a far greater impact playing against them for Leicestershire.

Despite bowling atrociously for Durham at Old Trafford in 1990, he twice improved his best first-class bowling figures against them in matches which Leicestershire won by an innings.

In fact, if Durham fans think things are not too rosy now, they should remember the dark days of 1996. It was the occasion of Stephen Harmison's debut at the Riverside and Simmons took six for 14 with his medium pace then hammered 171 as Leicestershire won by an innings and 251 runs.

Two years later at Darlington he took seven for 49, but at least Durham had the consolation of removing him for a duck.

Simmons was Guisborough's professional when Durham drafted him in for the NatWest Trophy tie against Middlesex at Darlington in 1989.

His fellow West Indian Desmond Haynes held the visitors' innings together with 83 out of a total of 215 for seven and Simmons launched the reply in thrilling style.

He took seven off Angus Fraser's opening over, smashed Norman Cowans' first ball back over his head for four, then pulled successive balls from Fraser for six and four.

A straight six followed when Simon Hughes replaced Fraser, but Simmons edged the next ball to Paul Downton and he was gone for 33. Hughes took four for 20 as Durham faded to 161 all out.

IT'S a fair bet that a pair of Pratts making their best scores in the same game is unique in the annals of first-class cricket, and hopefully it had them dancing in the streets of Crook.

Gary felt he should have gone on to make a century instead of getting himself stumped for 66, but at least he didn't run himself out for 93.

That was the fate of elder brother Andrew, who was under pressure from a looming declaration on Saturday when he pushed to mid-on and ran, narrowly failing to beat the direct hit of Gloucestershire's Ian Fisher.

He would have been the first Durham wicketkeeper to make a century since Chris Scott scored two in 1994.

Now 27, it seems a shame that Andrew didn't come to the fore earlier. But he was kept him waiting in the shadow of Martin Speight, who in five years with Durham never lived up to his reputation as a batsman with Sussex. He is now playing for South Northumberland.

ANOTHER former Durham wicketkeeper, David Ligertwood, now works as an agent for a company called athletes 1, who brought South African Nic Pothas to Hampshire on a Greek passport.

Ligertwood, himself a modest performer, said: "There are not enough English players who are up to scratch, so it will not do any harm for players like Pothas to come in."

Durham, fielding ten North-Easterners in the current match, would disagree, and as one of only two counties to vote against two overseas players they face a dilemma at the end of this season.

Even second-rate overseas players do not come for less than £50,000, which would not help Durham's budget at a time when their priority is to build an indoor school.

"We are not obliged to have a second overseas man, but if there was one who we felt would do a good job we would look at it," said chief executive David Harker.

"To keep sponsors and members happy, we need to be competitive. But as the international calendar continues to grow the big names are increasingly unavailable. That means the price of the second string players is going to grow with increasing demand.

"We are trying to manage our finances sensibly and invest in the long-term future of the club. It will be a more and more difficult balance to strike between long-term development and retaining competitiveness and credibility.

"Before we make any decisions about overseas players we need to know more about our young players, and we are learning about them now because of the injuries."

RUMOURS that Jack Russell's hat has to be surgically removed were dispelled by Friday's wind. It was an amusing sight as Jack seemed unsure whether to chase his hat or get to the stumps to collect a throw-in. Professional instincts prevailed, but other members of the breed could not have looked more unhappy had they been parted from a bone.