DURHAM go into a run of three tough Royal London Cup ties in five days knowing that two wins would set them up for a tilt at a home quarter-final.

Their final three games are all against division two clubs in an easier group than the one from which they scraped through last year.

The only opponents they have been bracketed with both years are today's hosts, Somerset, and Friday's visitors, Surrey.

While Somerset have struggled this season, signs of a resurgence at the Oval increased when Surrey thrashed Northamptonshire by 220 runs in this competition on Tuesday.

England's recent one-day opener Jason Roy thrashed a 74-ball century and fellow opener Steve Davies scored 99 in a total of 343 for five.

They had no need of a big contribution from Kumar Sangakkara, who will be back at Chester-le-Street on Friday after spending a few weeks with Durham last season.

Somerset, meanwhile, will be desperate for a win after the weather dealt them a cruel hand in their opening tie at home to Derbyshire. Required by Duckworth/Lewis to score 104 in ten overs to win, Somerset fell 29 short.

They are locked in a relegation battle in the championship and failed to progress in the NatWest T20 Blast, despite splashing out on Chris Gayle.

Coach Matthew Maynard has decided to go with youth in the RLC and has allowed his most experienced one-day bowler, Alfonso Thomas, to join Sussex on loan.

Recalling how Durham saw their score of 311 for seven overhauled with 3.2 overs to spare at Taunton last year, John Hastings said: “We didn't quite get it right with our bowling.

“Normally you would expect to win with that sort of total, but it's a very quick outfield there and they have batsmen who can exploit it. Hopefully we can learn from last year's mistakes.”

Durham will also have to adapt to handling the sort of pace and bounce they experienced from Olly Stone at Northampton on Saturday as they can expect more of the same from the Overton twins, Craig and Jamie.

They have added Calum MacLeod to the squad, despite the fact that he struggled in this competition last year after making 94 in the second match at Canterbury.

His three weeks with Scotland in the ICC World T20 qualifiers appear to have done little for his form, but Durham feel his T20 skills could be useful towards the end of an innings. If he plays it is likely to be at the expense of Keaton Jennings.

Jamie Harrison has also been added to a 15-man squad, but Durham will be reluctant to change the team which made a winning start to the defence of the cup at Northampton.