Durham need victory to stay in the frame

With only the top side in each group going through to the final, the weakness of this format was in danger of being underlined by Lancashire breaking away at the top until Yorkshire beat them yesterday. Apart from winning all their previous four games, Lancashire had also been lucky enough to avoid the bad weather.

Since winning their first two matches Durham have lost at Old Trafford and suffered a washout at Worcester, so they cannot afford to drop any more points.

With Steve Harmison again available, the team is expected to be unchanged for the 10.45am start, although there is a slight doubt about Mick Lewis with a sore Achilles.

Durham's remaining C & G matches are on four successive Sundays, with Yorkshire at home next week followed by Nottinghamshire, Scotland and Derbyshire away.

After their difficulties against Sussex's Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan last week, Durham will be hoping to fare rather better against another Pakistani, paceman Mohammad Asif.

They will also hope to see off Leicestershire's other overseas man, Indian Dinesh Mongia, cheaply after he scored 164 in a championship match at Riverside last August.

But with several batsmen missing from their squad, including Hylton Ackerman and Aftab Habib, the visitors have included reserve wicketkeeper Tom New and Perth-born all-rounder Jim Allenby, the former Brandon professional.

Durham lost twice to Leicestershire in the Twenty20 Cup last season, but beat them by eight wickets in the totesport League last season, when the visitors were all out for 113 at Riverside, Lewis taking four for 13.

Durham (from): D M Benkenstein (capt), J J B Lewis, J P Maher, G J Muchall, G J Pratt, G R Breese, P Mustard, O D Gibson, S J Harmison, G Onions, M L Lewis, G D Thorp. N Killeen.

Leicestershire (from): J K Maunders, D L Maddy, T J New, D Mongia, J L Sadler, P A Nixon, S G Clark, J Allenby, D D Masters, C G Henderson, R A G Cummins, M Asif