DURHAM will be without the country’s two leading wicket-takers, Graham Onions and Steve Harmison, for at least the next fortnight. Whether they are seen after that will depend on the Ashes selection.

Even though, unlike Onions, Harmison was not named yesterday in England’s 16-strong training squad, both have been selected to play for England Lions against the Australians in a four-day match at Worcester, starting next Wednesday.

Durham begin their championship match at home to Worcestershire the previous day and the consolation is that the visitors will be without three of their top batsmen.

In a move hardly likely to go down well with division one’s bottom club, Vikram Solanki, Stephen Moore and wicketkeeper Steven Davies have all been selected for the Lions.

The only player from either county in the England side to take on Warwickshire in a three-day warm-up match at Edgbaston, also starting next Wednesday, is Paul Collingwood.

England have gone for a second spinner in the out-of-form Monty Panesar and have left Ryan Sidebottom out of both teams, even though he is in the Ashes squad.

Harmison will not be pleased that Yorkshire’s Tim Bresnan has also been preferred among the 16 to attend the training camp, but the selectors have left the door open for him to show that he can maintain his recent form and rattle the Australians.

Harmison’s two five-wicket hauls in Durham’s last two games have taken him to 31 first-class wickets for the season, 20 behind Onions, the only man ahead of him.

National selector Geoff Miller said: “We will continue to consider players outside the 16 and will closely monitor performances in domestic cricket. The door has not been closed on any player at this stage.

“Michael Vaughan will be disappointed not to have been included. But I met with Michael recently and he understands that he needs to make runs consistently in county cricket if he is to force his way back into the squad.

“We have chosen two spinners in our side to face Warwickshire, but this does not necessarily mean that we will opt for the same balance in our bowling attack in the first Test. An extra pace bowler still remains an option for our starting line-up at Cardiff.

“We are keen to make the match at Worcester a tough one for Australia and plan to give all the players in the Lions team the maximum opportunity to press their case for selection. As a consequence, we will now be announcing our squad for the first Test on Sunday, July 5, 24 hours later than planned.”

England squad for pre-Ashes camp: Andrew Strauss (captain) (Middlesex), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ravinder Bopara (Essex) Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad, Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Alastair Cook (Essex), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), Graham Onions (Durham), Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Matt Prior (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire).

England team v Warwickshire: Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Pietersen, Collingwood, Flintoff, Prior, Swann, Broad, Anderson, Panesar.

England Lions: Bell (capt), Joe Denly (Kent), S Moore, V Solanki, S Davies (Worcestershire), E Morgan (Middlesex), Rashid, Bresnan, Onions, S J Harmison (Durham), S Mahmood (Lancashire).

■ Australian Twenty20 specialist David Warner will finally make his debut for Durham in tonight’s floodlit match at Derby, and leg-spinner Scott Borthwick is also in the 12-man squad.

Durham could play all three spinners as the only specialist seamers they have named are Mitch Claydon and Neil Killeen.

Michael Di Venuto has been rested, so Warner will open with Phil Mustard, with Kyle Coetzer back at No 3 after some excellent performances for Scotland in the Twenty20 World Championship.

After losing four of the first batch of six matches, Durham need to win their four remaining games to have any chance of reaching the quarter- finals.

Their home games, starting at 6pm, are against Yorkshire tomorrow and Lancashire on Friday before they complete their programme away to Leicestershire on Sunday.

There will be a fly-by courtesy of RAF Coningsby at the Yorkshire match.

All hospitality places have been sold for Friday’s match and anyone wishing to attend is advised to book in advance by calling the Box Office on 0844 499 4466 or visiting www.durhamccc.co.uk.

Durham (from): W R Smith (capt), D Warner, P Mustard, K J Coetzer, D M Benkenstein, I D Blackwell, G J Muchall, G R Breese, B W Harmison, M E Claydon, N Killeen, S C Borthwick.