JUST as when the inaugural Riverside Test took place in 2003, Durham will be competing for four days at the other modern county ground vying for Test status.

Liam Plunkett returns for their match against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl, hoping to discover the sort of accuracy which makes the hosts' Stuart Clark a constant threat.

Like Mike Hussey, the 31-year-old Australian was a relatively late arrival on the Test scene but made an instant impact, as he has with Hampshire.

He has 22 wickets in the championship at an average of 22.63 and his five-wicket haul against Surrey on Wednesday helped Hampshire to join Durham in the Friends Provident Trophy semi-finals.

Although Shane Warne also has 22 wickets, Hampshire are third from the bottom with one win from six games, with their batting taking most of the blame.

That's despite wicketkeeper Nic Pothas averaging 142.0 after being dismissed only three times in amassing 426 runs.

When Durham went to the Rose Bowl in 2003 losing the toss was a huge disadvantage on the new ground and Simon Katich scored 135 as Hampshire totalled 456. Durham were dismissed for 235 before, obliged to follow on, they hung on for a draw at 137 for nine.

They have improved hugely since then and on last year's visit, with Hampshire lying third, they beat them by 227 runs with Callum Thorp producing match figures of 11 for 97.

He also scored 75 in Durham's first innings but will be largely a bystander over the next four days as he has travelled with the squad purely to use the Rose Bowl's practice facilities as he recovers from his back injury.

Most eyes will be on Plunkett to see if he can get straight back to the sort of form he showed for Durham during the home win against Kent before going away on Test duty.

His England struggles suggest he might not be required again at international level for a while, so Durham will have to consider rotating their bowlers.

They face a tough decision today as the temptation to rest 38-year-old Ottis Gibson might be overcome by his all-round value to the side.

It would be equally tough to leave out Mark Davies, who was the best bowler with seven wickets in the match against Lancashire last week.

While Rose Bowl pitches have improved, Durham won't want to weaken the batting as they seek to counter the threat of Clark and Warne, and the prospect of a line-up which has Plunkett at nine and Paul Wiseman at ten will be appealing.

Durham (from): D M Benkenstein (capt), M J Di Venuto, W R Smith, G J Muchall, K J Coetzer, S B Styris, P Mustard, O D Gibson, L E Plunkett, P J Wiseman, G Onions, M Davies.

* Michael Lumb is set to be dropped from the Hampshire side for the LV County Championship Division One meeting with Durham.

Though the left-handed batsman - signed from Yorkshire in the winter - is named in a 12-man squad, he is unlikely to feature after averaging less than 30 in his first six games.

Lumb is expected to be replaced by Michael Brown in one of two changes to the team that beat Surrey by three wickets in the Friends Provident Trophy.