THE Durham Board X1 will cease to exist next Wednesday unless they pull off a shock win against Glamorgan at Darlington in the C & G Trophy.

Six years after coming into existence as part of Lord Maclaurin's blueprint for the future, called Raising The Standard, the board teams have become victims of financial cutbacks by the ECB.

"It's very disappointing that this is likely to be our last game," said Durham Cricket Board secretary Bob Jackson. "We have been in the third round of the national knockout for four of the six years."

They reached this stage by beating Minor Counties champions Herefordshire at the end of last season.

Like the first-class counties, they are allowed two overseas players but, like Glamorgan with Michael Kasprowicz, have opted for only one in Gateshead Fell's Australian all-rounder Marcus North.

They have also selected 20-year-old Gordon Muchall, who has yet to feature in the Durham first team this season after his winter at the ECB Academy in Adelaide.

The team will again be captained by former Cambridge University skipper Quentin Hughes, who played Minor Counties cricket for Durham as a 16-year-old and featured in the Second X1 Championship without breaking through at the top level.

Durham Board X1: Q Hughes (capt), A Worthy, D Wilson (Chester-le-Street), P Birtwisle (Benwell Hill), M North (Gateshead Fell), G Scott, L Plunkett (Durham Academy), S Humble (Swalwell), A Day (Hartlepool), I Pattison, G Muchall (Durham CCC).

* Northumberland will have strong Durham connections in their side to play Leicestershire in the C & G Trophy at Jesmond on Wednesday.

The team includes ex-Yorkshire batsman Bradley Parker and two players with first-class experience for Durham in Martin Speight, now with South Northumberland, and Steve Chapman, the ex-Bishop Auckland all-rounder now with Hartlepool.

Jon Graham, who was awarded a contract by Durham before being ruled out of the game for a year by glandular fever, will be joined in the top order by Chris Hewison, the former England Under 15 captain from Burnopfield, who was in the Durham Academy and had a season on the Nottinghamshire staff.

The man in charge of the Durham Academy, John Windows, is also in the team and the overseas player is Benwell Hill's Pakistan Test player Shahid Nazir.