DURHAM skipper Paul Collingwood endured a frustrating delay last night before he could depart for his appearance among a star-studded line-up at Lord’s today.

It was not until 7.25 that it was decided no play would be possible in the NatWest T20 Blast match between Durham and Nottinghamshire at Chester-le-Street.

Collingwood is in the Rest of the World side to play the MCC in a 50-over match as part of the Lord’s bicentenary celebrations.

The MCC will be captained by Sachin Tendulkar and include Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Aaron Finch, the Australian batsman currently playing for Yorkshire.

Shane Warne is the opposing captain and Collingwood will find himself reunited with Kevin Pietersen, with whom he shared a crucial stand when drafted into the final Ashes-clinching Test at the Oval in 2005.

The Rest of the World side also features Mattiah Muralitharan and renowned big-hitters in Shahid Afridi, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Adam Gilchrist. Hartlepool’s Michael Gough is the third official.

Last night’s abandonment meant Durham remain just outside the four quarter-final qualification places in the north group.

After a week free of championship action they have emerged from a run of four T20 matches with two wins and two no-results.

The move to play most Twenty20 matches on Friday evenings has not worked well for them recently as the previous week’s match at Northampton was washed out after ten overs.

Of the four remaining games, three are on Fridays, the exception being a floodlit match at Old Trafford on Thursday, July 24, the night before the final game at home to Northamptonshire.

Yorkshire are the visitors next Friday in what is likely to be a crucial game and the following week Durham visit Leicester.

Calum MacLeod will be back next week after spending the last few days with Scotland. The third of their 50-over games against the Netherlands at Glasgow was washed out yesterday.