EX-England pair Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison says that both Durham and Yorkshire have serious chances of beating the other in this evening’s T20 Blast match up.

Hoggard, once of Yorkshire, Harmison, a long time servant of Durham, were passing on their wisdom to the next generation at Headingley on Monday by performing a bowling masterclass to some of Yorkshire’s scholars.

Hoggard, 44, and Harmison, 42, were both part of the famous England Ashes winning side of 2005 that brought of a wave of excitement around the English game. It was clear to see they were enjoying each others company as the did throughout England test matches for many years.

Both Yorkshire and Durham have made a strong start to the T20 Blast this season. The Tykes only defeat in the competition so far came against Durham last week where they were beaten by 20 runs at the Emirates Riverside Ground.

“They’re getting back to the form that Durham had when they were successful in 08/09” admits Harmison who was speaking at an event withVertu Motors, sponsor of Yorkshire CCC and Durham Cricket.

“They’ve got a couple of experienced players now who have been around the block a bit and who don’t have the baggage of batting on that surface. The surface is getting a little bit better and they’ve got some quick bowlers.

“By Monday night’s result, they’ve got a fantastic team spirit. Never give up and never give in. 45 runs off four overs with two wickets to go and they managed to win so that’s a fantastic achievement.

“Scott Borthwick, red ball captain, Cameron Bancroft, everyone knows what happened with Bancroft a few years ago but he’s a fantastic cricketer and he’s a good player for Durham and he enjoys being Durham’s overseas player.

“I think Durham could be an outside bet for this 20/20 competition.”

Yorkshire have made changes to their side ahead of tomorrow with George Hill, Dom Leech and Josh Poysden coming into the squad. Meanwhile, Adil Rashid is being rested due to England duty while Jonny Bairstow and, number one T20 batsman in the world, Dawid Malan both miss the game through injury.

Andrew Gale’s side have made a strong start to the 20/20 format but former Yorkshireman Hoggard admits they haven’t been at their best in other competitions with the weather playing a part in some results.

“Yorkshire have got a good side as well but they’re not quite performing” says Hoggard.

“There’s so many different people who usually can take the game away. In a T20 game, it usually takes one person to take the game away and if one of the big guns fire from either side, they win the game.

“But I don’t think Yorkshire will be happy with there form throughout the year because they’re not that consistent. They do have the personnel to beat anybody.

“You’re always told to control the controllables. You can’t control the weather so you can’t moan about so you’ve got to get on and do the job in hand.

“They’re very capable of beating anybody and everybody."

Harmison interrupts Hoggard mid sentence and admits the big players will make the difference in the tie for Yorkshire at Headingley.

“They’ve done well in the Championship and the one game they did lose was against Lancashire. That derailed them a little bit but it’s going to be ‘who’s going to be available?’ At the back end who’s going to replace the Bairstows, the Rashids.

“Durham’s problem is, where do they fit Ben Stokes in?

“They’ve won two from two and now they’ve got a certain fella called Ben Stokes who might be available for the next game.

“Maybe he might back at number seven and bowl a few overs!

“What a proposition that is. If Ben Stokes walks out to bat then we’ve got six, seven, eight thousand people in, I think it just makes the game even better. The kid is an unbelievable cricket player.”

The game at Headingley is due to get underway at 6:30pm.