THE groin injury suffered by Marcus North is worse than first thought and the earliest he might return to the Durham side is Sunday's home match against Yorkshire in the totesport League.

He will be replaced by Ian Pattison for tonight's Twenty20 Cup game at Leicester in the only change from the side beaten in Friday's opening match at Trent Bridge.

With Nicky Peng also injured and neither Gavin Hamilton nor Liam Plunkett yet fit to bowl, Durham are again down to the bare bones.

With North's injury coinciding with Shoaib Akhtar's exit, Durham face two Twenty20 matches without an overseas player as Lancashire are due at Riverside on Friday.

There has also been a slight injury scare over Graham Onions, who has had sore shins. But he was kept out of Monday's match against Sri Lanka A and will play tonight.

Durham are hoping for a change of luck on Sunday, when the side could include Zimbabwean all-rounder Andy Blignaut, North and Paul Collingwood.

Durham have enquired about Collingwood's availability next week, but have not yet had a reply from the England management.

After Saturday's NatWest Series final there is a 12-day gap before the first Test against the West Indies at Lord's, and there seems no reason why Collingwood should be ordered to rest.

The least Durham can expect is for him to play in the home Twenty20 matches against Derbyshire next Tuesday and Yorkshire on the Thursday before facing division two leaders Middlesex in the totesport League on Sunday week.

That's the day the Test squad will be announced, and with Andrew Strauss now firmly established in the team the likelihood is that Collingwood will again be in the squad but not the team.

Durham have a home championship match against Derbyshire starting the day before the first Test.

Leicestershire will be captained tonight by former Durham player Brad Hodge, the Victoria batsman who was one of the stars of last season's Twenty20 Cup.

Hodge, who hit 97 against Yorkshire and was the fifth highest run scorer with 235, has taken over the captaincy following Phil DeFreitas' decision to step down.

Leicestershire reached the semi-finals last season after winning all five of their group games in a season which saw them relegated in both the championship and one-day league.

But Durham have yet to face them this season after Sunday's totesport match was washed out and this will be their first visit to Grace Road since a Benson & Hedges Cup tie early in the 2002 season.

Durham: J J B Lewis (capt), A Pratt, P Mustard, G J Pratt, G J Muchall, G R Breese, I Pattison, G D Bridge, N Killeen, M Davies, G Onions.

* Matthew Hoggard's knee injury should keep the Yorkshire and England strike bowler out of action for days rather than weeks, writes DAVID WARNER.

That was the good news yesterday from Yorkshire physiotherapist, Scott McAllister, when the results of a scan on the paceman's right knee revealed that he had jarred the joints but had done no serious ligament or muscle damage.

Hoggard sustained the injury in Yorkshire Phoenix's match against Middlesex Crusaders at Headingley on Sunday and there were fears at the time that had torn a cartilage.

But Hoggard may now be fit to play in Yorkshire's totesport League game against Durham at Riverside on Sunday when captain Craig White and Australian Ian Harvey are also expected to return.

Read more about Durham here.