THREE current Durham players and several from the past are to appear in the inaugural Masters Champions League in the UAE.

In a six-team Twenty20 tournament set up for 90 former internationals, Paul Collingwood will be joined by Graham Onions and Phil Mustard.

It will mean a return to Dubai at the end of next month for Collingwood following his recent stint as an England one-day coach. He revealed at the end of last season that he would not be going with England to South Africa because of his likely involvement in the MCL.

Each team had two “marquee” players appointed prior to an auction this week, in which Collingwood was listed among six “icon” players alongside the likes of Brian Lara and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Of those six Jacques Kallis attracted the highest bid of $175,000, closely followed by Adam Gilchrist. At $140,000 Collingwood attracted more than Lara, probably because he is still playing.

Durham's four-day captain will appear for Capricorn Commanders alongside his old pal Michael Vaughan, one of the “marquee” players.

Onions will be in the Gemini Arabians team with three former Durham players in Kumar Sangakkara, Brad Hodge and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Mustard will have to compete with Gilchrist for the gloves in the Sagittarius Soldiers line-up, which also features one of the most surprising participants in ex-Yorkshire and Durham all-rounder Gavin Hamilton.

Another who has played for both counties, Herschelle Gibbs, will have Darren Gough alongside him in the Leo Lions, while two other Yorkshireman, Ryan Sidebottom and Michael Lumb, will appear together for Libra Legends.

They will be joined by former Durham and Australia batsman Marcus North, who now lives in Gateshead, plus Durham's least successful overseas signing, Shaun Tait.

Dean Jones, Durham's original overseas player in 1992, is running the competition through his company, Major Events Group. He was also a founding member of the Indian Cricket League, which intially rivalled IPL but was plagued by controversy.

Jones, however, is confident of drawing crowds, saying: “It's a wonderful platform for the players to remind everyone how good they are.

“We are not asking them to make hundreds, but we want to see the odd bit of brilliance.

“We want to see great players from the past but our major goal is protecting the standards. If they want the bucks they have to get themselves fit.”