AJAZ PATEL and Bas de Leede are both hoping to make their Durham debut in the LV=Insurance County Championship game with Yorkshire that begins at Seat Unique Riverside tomorrow morning.

Patel joined Durham last week, with the New Zealand spinner replacing the injured Matt Kuhnemann for the next seven matches.

De Leede’s move to Durham was completed earlier this year, but the Dutch all-rounder has been sidelined since suffering an ankle injury during the pre-season tour of Zimbabwe. He has been passed fit now, and is part of Durham head coach Ryan Campbell’s 13-man squad to face Yorkshire.

Mitchell Killeen and Stanley McAlindon remain in the squad, with the former also hoping to make his first-class debut for Durham this week.

Paul Coughlin drops out of the squad after suffering a trunk injury in Durham’s three-day win over Derbyshire a fortnight ago.

“Playing Yorkshire is always a massive game for us,” said Durham skipper Scott Borthwick. “It has always been a huge game right from Under-11s right up to the first team, so we are excited to get going.

“If you look at both Durham and Yorkshire squads on paper, you would think it is a Division One fixture, so I think it should take quite a bit of interest this week and be a good one for the fans.”

Durham head into this week’s game sitting at the top of the Division Two table after winning two of their opening four matches.

They were emphatic winners over Derbyshire last time out, whereas Yorkshire have had a more mixed start to the campaign and head to Chester-le-Street still looking for their first victory of the season following a defeat, two draws and an abandonment.

“Yorkshire are a very strong side,” said Borthwick. “If you look, they have Shan Masood back to captain them and Jonny Bairstow is back and will be wanting to score big runs this week.

“However, we have started the season very well, we will be positive and are excited to be at home again. We are in a good place and backing ourselves to win this game.”

Durham squad: D Bedingham, S Borthwick, B Carse, G Clark, B de Leede, M Jones, A Lees, S McAlindon, A Patel, M Potts, B Raine, O Robinson, L Trevaskis.