DURHAM could be without both Graham Onions and Steve Harmison for their topof- the-table clash with Nottinghamshire starting at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.

Following England’s embarrassing performance at Cardiff, they could turn to Harmison to shake up the Australians in the second Test, starting at Lord’s on Thursday.

Selector James Whitaker was clearly impressed with Harmison’s opening sevenover burst which earned figures of three for seven at Headingley on Saturday.

The next two spells were less potent, but yielded a wicket each to give Harmison five for 60, his third five-wicket haul in his last four championship games.

He has given the impression all season that he was building to a peak for the start of the Ashes series. Instead of the Australians feeling the full force of his hostility, however, it was a Yorkshire team battling to shrug off the trauma of Taunton.

Harmison has never left any doubt of his determination to feature in the Ashes and, after his selection for England Lions against the Australians, he turned up at the Durham nets and announced that he would be gunning for Phillip Hughes.

Durham coach Geoff Cook said: “Steve doesn’t normally analyse opponents too much, but he had got hold of some video footage of Hughes batting and said there was no way he could play the short ball.”

Harmison removed the lefthander in both innings of the match at Worcester, only for the selectors to announce that they had other bowlers who could do what he had done.

They will now have to reconsider, and the expectation has been that they will turn to Onions, who despite not being on a central contract was not released to play for Durham at Headingley when he was left out of the side at Cardiff.

With Stuart Broad struggling with a calf problem, there is now every chance that Harmison will also get the call. He was unable to shift Andrew Gale on Saturday, however, as the powerful lefthander curbed the attacking instincts which have made him a one-day opener to score 84 off 271 balls.

His ninth-wicket stand of 84 with Ajmal Shahzad took the game away from Durham after Harmison’s burst in the morning had reduced Yorkshire from 71 for one to 93 for five. Adil Rashid played several audacious strokes in his 32 before being adjudged lbw to Ian Blackwell, who was otherwise out of luck until he picked up the last two wickets, notably when Gale survived a clear stumping chance on 66.

Shahzad was also dropped by Phil Mustard on 34 as Yorkshire totalled 313.