Paul Collingwood's concern about his lack of form means that he will play for Durham in their Friends Provident Trophy semi-final against Kent today at the Riverside, where he will line up alongside Shaun Pollock. Only six days ago, Collingwood had been declared unavailable, but his desire for more batting practice before the first Test match against South Africa, starting on Thursday, led him to ask Durham to select him for the game today.

In the LV County Championship match against Yorkshire this week, Collingwood initially looked out of touch, but regained a semblance of form in the second innings with an unbeaten 44.

“Paul has really enjoyed being away from the pressures of international cricket,” Geoff Cook, the Durham director of cricket, said. “He started to show a bit of form against Yorkshire and he'd like to build on that momentum now.”

Pollock was originally contracted to play only in the Twenty20 Cup for Durham, but his stay has been extended to include today's 50-overs match and the Twenty20 Cup quarter-final at home to Yorkshire on Monday. Azhar Mahmood returns for Kent.

Cambridge University, who were unable to force Oxford University to follow on in the Varsity match in the Parks, had built a lead of 305 by the close of the third day yesterday. Akbar Ansari, who made 193 in Cambridge's first innings, was unbeaten on 44 and Richard Timms contributed 55. Earlier, Ansari had taken four Oxford wickets with his leg spin. Ollie Sadler was Oxford's top scorer with 77.