Shoaib back to face Northampton in key game

By Jon Steer
September 2 2003

Durham lose the services of Steve Harmison to England but are boosted by the return of Shoaib Akhtar for a game which is key to our promotion challenge.

This week's game against Northampton is likely to be the toughest of the games remaining so a good result would be a great start to the final stages of the promotion chase.

Shoaib Aktar should be full of confidence after his first test 10 wicket haul in the second test victory over Bangladesh but must be expecting the Northamptonshire batting line up to be a tougher assignment. Northants have two players, in Mike Hussey and Phil Jaques that have passed 1100 championship runs this season.

Nicky Peng also returns to the squad after recovering from a virus that kept him out of the one day match at Derby. Ashley Thorpe keeps his place ahead of Gordon Muchall after some solid batting performances last week.

The full squad is:

1. Jon Lewis
2. Nicky Peng
3. Martin Love
4. Paul Collingwood
5. Gary Pratt
6. Ashley Thorpe
7. Philip Mustard
8. Graeme Bridge
9. Shoaib Akhtar
10. Neil Killeen
11. Mark Davies
12. Nicky Phillips

Gary Pratt will be looking for a repeat of his performace earlier in the season against Northants when he scored his season's best 150 but will be hoping that the result is different as Northants won the Riverside encounter by eight wickets.

Promotion rivals Gloucestershire and Yorkshire take on bottom clubs Derbyshire and Hampshire this week so it is important for Durham to get as many points as possible from the game to stay ahead in the chase for third place.