AS they prepare for what they hope will be the first genuine five-day Test match at Riverside, Durham are also making plans for the party to spill over into a sixth day.

If they beat Nottinghamshire at Riverside on Sunday, they will almost certainly have a home semi-final in the Friends Provident Trophy the day after the fourth Test finishes.

"It sets us an interesting challenge," said chief executive David Harker. "We have put in 9,000 additional seats to get the capacity up to 16,000 for the Test, but the companies who provide them are aware of the situation and are not expecting to come in to dismantle the seating straightaway.

"It means we will be set up to stage a big match and the challenge will be to encourage as many people as possible to come along for our first semi-final.

"We talk about the passion for sport in the North-East, so we would want the whole region to get behind us. We are already thinking about getting the word out that it's a genuine possibility. We would want to sell tickets during the Test and promote the game to local companies."

The first two Tests at Riverside have been against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, and despite their Headingley collapse it is hoped the West Indies will provide a longer contest when the fourth Test starts on June 15.

On the subject of whether Durham's England trio would be likely to be made available for a semi-final on June 20, Harker said: "Steve Harmison isn't playing in the one-day internationals, so we would like to think he'd be available if he hadn't bowled too much in the Test."

The England squad do not have any further commitments until June 28 and 29, when there are two Twenty20 games against the West Indies at the Oval.

With two games left, Durham lead the northern group of the Friends Provident Trophy by one point from Nottinghamshire and are two points ahead of the only other side who can deny them a semi-final place, Warwickshire.

If Durham beat Nottinghamshire they will definitely go through, and they could be denied home advantage in the semi-final only if they lost heavily at Edgbaston next Wednesday against a Warwickshire side who have an inferior run rate.

It has long been a dream of Durham officials to reach a knockout final at Lord's. If they make it the game is to be staged on Saturday, August 18, the day after Durham are scheduled to finish a four-day home match against Surrey. On the Sunday they are due at Taunton for a Pro40 match.

While Scott Styris is expected to have returned to New Zealand by then, England will have finished their Test series against India and will start the limited overs internationals until the following Tuesday.