Majid Haq paused for a second after being reminded it was fast approaching the 10th anniversary of the Scottish Saltires' entry into the Totesport League.

Then he said: "It's amazing how quickly time passes, isn't it? But these early games were magical. And that was because we played some really good cricket."

The Scots stepped into the brave new world of regular fixtures against the English counties when they travelled to the Riverside Ground to tackle the Durham Dynamos on May 4, 2003. In advance of the campaign, expectations were not exactly high, with some observers dismissing the amateur Saltires as no-hopers who would be no match for the professionals at the county organisations. Yet, in the event, Haq, then just 20 and the only member of the original squad who is still playing for the Saltires, bewitched and bewildered the Durham line-up as the visitors claimed an inspiring victory.

"We played for our clubs on the Saturday, then headed down to the Riverside and it was a fantastic experience," said Haq, who burst into the spotlight with a penetrative spell of four for 36, which sparked a dramatic middle-order collapse from the hosts and eventually restricted them to a modest 167 for 7. "Our opening bowlers, Paul Hoffmann, James Brinkley and Craig Wright kept things tight, we fielded well, and it meant I had the chance to put pressure on their guys when I came on to bowl.

"It was one of those days where everything came together. We had a strong side, with plenty of experienced lads, Juddy [Saltires' Australian coach, Tony Judd] was a great motivator and instilled lots of belief in us, and the atmosphere and facilities at Durham were first-rate.

"Even at the midway point, we realised they would come hard at us when we batted. They had Steve Harmison roaring in with some quick, short stuff, and [India's] Javagal Srinath and [South African] Dewald Pretorius in their attack, all of whom had starred on the Test stage.

"But we made a good, positive start through Ryan [Watson] and [Dougie] Lockhart and that definitely laid the platform for the win. A few wickets fell in a clatter, but Colin [Smith] stood up in the closing overs and we chased down the target, although they made us scrap for every run.

"It was strange at the end. We were obviously delighted at the outcome and the fans who travelled down were understandably excited. But this was in the days before Scotland had full-time cricketers on contracts: I remember most of the guys had to go back to work the next morning and Colin had to race back to Aberdeen to deliver the mail! It was a pretty hectic evening."

In some quarters, the news was greeted as if the outcome was on a par with Berwick Rangers beating Rangers in the Scottish Cup in 1967. Indeed, newspapers as far afield as The New York Times carried features on how the Saltires had "ambushed" their Southern neighbours and reacted with near- incredulity to the notion of Scots being linked with cricket at all.

Yet, as Haq recalled, that Durham derring-do was no isolated incident. In the next fortnight of the championship, Wright's side achieved a famous success against Somerset, principally through Watson's remarkable unbeaten knock of 103 from just 44 balls, and, perhaps even more creditably, gained a coruscating triumph at Old Trafford, where they overcame Lancashire.

"Ryan's hundred has rightly gained loads of plaudits, and it was a fabulous effort to take us to 180 in only 15 overs," said Haq. "But, if anything, the performance in Manchester was even better.

"They had a seriously strong team, with the likes of Stuart Law, Carl Hooper and Glen Chapple and, despite us getting to 192, thanks to 60s from Greig [Williamson] and Colin, they were still looking fairly confident they would hunt it down.

"But everybody chipped in with something that day. Craig took wickets, so did Ryan [and Haq] and Ian Stanger produced a terrific bit of fielding to run out Hooper. That meant we had managed three wins in our first four games. Yes, we struggled a bit for the rest of the season [despite the recruitment of Indian Test player, Rahul Dravid], but we showed the counties that we deserved to be in the competition."

A decade later, Haq and his compatriots will embark on another series of matches – in what will be their swansong – this weekend, commencing with a YB 40 meeting against reigning champions, Hampshire. It promises to be a daunting assignment, yet Haq is convinced that the new generation possess the ability to flourish.

"We have to show we have benefited from being involved with the counties and that means winning more of these contests," said Haq. "We've been close on several occasions in the last couple of years, but haven't been able to get over the finishing line. Hampshire down there is a tough start – they are always powerful and have beaten us quite a few times – but it is up to us to put that out of our minds and hit the ground running."