DURHAM duo Ian Blackwell and Mitchell Claydon will play alongside former teammates in New Zealand’s Twenty20 competition, which starts this week.

Blackwell teams up with Ross Taylor in the Central Districts side for the HRV Cup, while Claydon will head to Canterbury, where former Durham spinner Paul Wiseman is based.

Blackwell and Taylor shared a second wicket stand of 113 in Durham’s T20 match at Edgbaston last season, when Blackwell scored 79.

At the time it was Durham’s highest individual score in the competition, but two games later Taylor beat the record with an unbeaten 80 at home to Leicestershire.

After that Durham’s form nosedived and Blackwell lost his place in the team for the last three games.

“The opportunity to play T20 in New Zealand is one that I couldn’t turn down,” he said. It will be great to get more time in the middle playing this format. I want to improve my game and bring the experience back to Durham so we can push on in the FPt20 in 2011.”

Blackwell and Claydon will square up on December 10 when the sides meet in a competition featuring several other English players.

Claydon, who has been playing in his native Australia, said: “This is a great chance for me to develop my T20 skills. I love this format of the game and any chance I get to play during the winter can only improve my contribution to Durham’s performances.

“With a bit of luck I’ll come out with bragging rights when we play Central Districts.”

Durham’s chief executive, David Harker, said: “We have under performed in T20 and we’re keen to improve. We were pleased to be able to support the loan of two of our players to their respective sides.”

■ Yorkshire’s David Wainwright has been selected to go to a spin bowling camp in India early in 2011 with fellow left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan from Lancashire.

Wainwright went on the England Lions tour to the UAE last winter, but had a season to forget this year due to injury and loss of form.

Yorkshire’s former England Under-19 batsman Joe Root is one of ten young players to be selected for the ECB’s scholarship programme and will spend most of the winter playing grade cricket in Adelaide.

■ The England Performance Programme made the most of a deteriorating pitch in Brisbane to complete a 126-run win in their four-day game with Queensland Academy.

The EPP, boosted by Adam Lyth’s century, declared on 282 for four in their second innings to set the hosts 373.