YET another day's rain was no surprise to Durham yesterday, but they were rocked by news that Mitchell Johnson will not be available for the Twenty20 Cup and Ben Stokes needs a knee operation.

Stokes was ruled out of the current England Lions v West Indies match by a back problem and had an injection on Wednesday, which was expected to allow him to play a full part in the opening CB 40 match at home to Somerset on Sunday.

But after suffering a swollen knee he had a scan which revealed a tear in a cartilage and the ECB have arranged an operation in London next week.

He is unlikely to play again until June, so he will miss three CB 40 matches and the four-day visit of Lancashire, starting on May 30.

Stokes should at least be fully fit for the opening Friends Life t20 match at Headingley on June 15, which is roughly when Johnson will be arriving on these shores with the Australian one-day squad.

After being sidelined by a foot injury since November, he has been recalled to the squad for their one-day series in England and Ireland, which runs from June 21 to July 10.

Durham complete their group games on July 8, so there is no prospect of Johnson playing any games for them and coach Geoff Cook said: "It's very disappointing. We were looking forward to having someone of his stature around.

"Now we will have to look again at who might be available. It could be a batter or a bowler - it's more a case of finding someone of the right quality and with so many short tours going on it's very difficult. It's a nuisance to have to deal with this at this stage, when we have other issues to address."

Durham have also signed Herschelle Gibbs for the tournament, but he has been unable to play for Mumbai in the IPL because of a finger injury.

However, Cook said: "We're not too worried about him. He's played quite a lot of T20 cricket over the winter and he's going to arrive here about ten days before our first match so he can acclimatise."

One-day captain Dale Benkenstein is seeing a specialist early next week about the shoulder problem he developed during fielding practice this week. He has not totally ruled himself out of playing on Sunday, but it seems unlikely.

"These are all problems we have to deal with and it's an opportunity for people to show some character," said Cook. "Scoring runs is paramount for us now.

"We were doing OK until lunch on the first day against Somerset, when Mark Stoneman and Gordon Muchall had done well to get us through the last 40 minutes.

"We felt if they could have gone on for another ten overs it would have got easier, but we had the same sort of collapse as at Edgbaston. It's a recurring theme, which has something to do with the conditions. But we need some batsmen to hang in.

"They are all searching for confidence, but you can't find that without performances behind you.

"Runs have been scarce all round the country but we have scored fewer than most. It was a shame that not a ball was bowled at the Oval, which would have been the best surface we were likely to play on.

"Stoneman did well in a tough situation on Wednesday. He's a nuggety sort of lad and he showed his qualities. He's at a stage where he needs regular first team cricket so we have to expose him and Stokes and Scott Borthwick as much as possible."

It was decided at 1.15 yesterday that there could be no play on the second day of the match against Somerset at Chester-le-Street, making it the sixth totally washed-out day of Durham's season.