INJURY-HIT Durham again have former England Under 19 player Mark Davies in their squad for today's Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy third round tie against Hampshire at the Riverside.

The 20-year-old Stockton-born seamer played in Sunday's defeat by the same opponents and is on stand-by in case Danny Law is not fit to bowl his full allocation of ten overs.

"We had to change our plans and play an extra bowler on Sunday because Paul Collingwood woke up with a stiff neck," said coach Martyn Moxon.

"Ideally we want to play an extra batsman, but Danny has developed a shoulder problem and we'll have to see how he is."

Jimmy Daley has joined the squad and will compete with Martin Speight for the extra batting spot if Durham decide Law is fit to bowl ten overs.

Because the Reader ball tends to go soft they are planning to stick to the recent Sunday formula of opening the innings with Law in the hope of getting off to a flying start.

Davies, who was awarded a development contract for this summer, played for the Durham Board last season in the premier knockout event, then known as the NatWest Trophy.

He has yet to make his first-class debut but has played three times in the one-day league, with a best performance of three for 15 against Derbyshire at Darlington last season.

Simon Brown, who played in only three one-day games last season, will spearhead the attack and Moxon said: "He has just started his season and we don't want to flog him. But for a one-off game like this we need his experience, especially in view of the injuries.

"It's a big game and we need to get back on track. If a catch hadn't gone down on Friday morning I'm sure we'd have beaten Hampshire comfortably in the four-day game and everyone would have been smiling.

"But if you lose it does knock your confidence and the feelgood factor disappears, so this is an important game to win.

"We have to play to our potential on the day. We didn't do that on Sunday. We bowled a bit full at the start of the innings and gave them some momentum, then we didn't bat very well.

"I don't know why Durham keep losing to Hampshire. There's no point worrying about such things because the same was said about Lancashire and we have beaten them twice this season."

Durham haven't beaten a first-class county in this event since their first season in first-class cricket in 1992, when they beat Middlesex at Uxbridge to reach the quarter-finals for the only time.

They can at least expect a pitch full of runs after being dismissed for 91on a damp surface by the same opponents at this stage last season.

Durham (from): J J B Lewis (capt), D R Law, N Peng, M L Love, P D Collingwood, M A Gough, J A Daley, M P Speight, A Pratt, N C Phillips, S J E Brown, N C Hatch, A M Davies.

Hampshire (from): R A Smith (capt), J S Laney, N C Johnson, D A Kenway, W S Kendall, A D Mascarenhas, L R Prittipaul, A N Aymes, S D Udal, A C Morris, A D Mullally, J R Hamblin, C T Tremlett.