Smith missing for Durham (From The Northern Echo)

Smith missing for Durham

9:08am Friday 10th July 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

DURHAM will be without skipper Will Smith because of family reasons when they attempt to secure a record fifth successive championship win at Headingley over the next four days.

Dale Benkenstein resumes the captaincy of a squad which includes Steve Harmison, but not Graham Onions.

As there is a strong expectation that Onions will be playing in the second Test at Lord’s, starting next Thursday, the England selectors have not released him.

Mark Stoneman returns after the thigh strain he suffered against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, and Smith’s absence allows Kyle Coetzer to retain his place.

Durham have also named Gareth Breese in a 13-man squad in case Yorkshire have prepared a pitch to suit the spinners now they have Adil Rashid back in the side. But as that is unlikely, the one change in the Durham attack will see Harmison replace Callum Thorp or Mitch Claydon.

When the teams met at Riverside in the first championship game of the season a match billed as Vaughan v Harmison in the battle for an England recall ended with Onions impressing the most as Yorkshire hung on throughout the final day.

Despite Onions taking five for 56 in 28 overs of unrelenting accuracy and effort, Yorkshire survived on 193 for seven, helped by a placid pitch and a 35-minute shower.

In their first innings Yorkshire slipped from 247 for four to 272 all out, but despite the regular slumps which have infuriated coach Martyn Moxon they have one more batting point than Durham.

The problem for Yorkshire is the absence of any victories, and their traumatic defeat at Taunton last week set a club record of 18 games with a win.

With Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Tim Bresnan back to support Matthew Hoggard, it promises to be a battle between two talented seam attacks.

Liam Plunkett will relish the chance to build on his excellent return against Worcestershire, and with that match under his belt Mark Davies can be expected to play a bigger role for Durham.

Durham (from): D M Benkenstein (capt), M J Di Venuto, M D Stoneman, G J Muchall, K J Coetzer, I D Blackwell, P Mustard, L E Plunkett, M E Claydon, M Davies, S J Harmison, C D Thorp, G R Breese.