DURHAM will give a fitness test tomorrow to Neil Killeen before their totesport League match against Surrey at Riverside.
Killeen has been their top one-day bowler in the last two seasons and is still seen as having a key role to play, despite being well down the pecking order for a place in the championship side.
He suffered a calf injury in training yesterday, but even though Steve Harmison is not available for totesport games Durham still have plenty of options.
Victoria paceman Mick Lewis, who has been centrally contracted by Australia, will be in the team and his fellow Australian, Callum Thorp, is awaiting his first chance.
Mark Davies, who stood down at Leicester last Sunday, would be the obvious choice after his midweek heroics against Worcestershire, while Graham Onions and all-rounder Gavin Hamilton are also waiting in the wings.
Whether or not Durham's 100 per cent record faces a stern challenge will depend on how keen Surrey's big guns are to get back in the first division. Still awaiting the arrival of Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh, they conceded 334 runs against Yorkshire last week and lost by 41 runs, despite a blistering 89 from Ali Brown.
Their batting line-up also boasts Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash, as well as England one-day player Rikki Clarke.
Surrey have not been to Riverside since the start of the 2000 season, when Durham famously beat them in the championship with Nicky Peng scoring 98 on his debut, but Surrey won the Sunday match by 66 runs. They have been in different divisions since.
While he is delighted with Durham's start, which has seen them win their first two championship games for the first time, coach Martyn Moxon said: "We are not getting carried away at this stage.
"But two wins gives everybody a lift and I think the fans can sense that we have a good squad of players. We need to have a better season and we are seeing the positive effects of making quality signings like Dale Benkenstein. It gives us a better balance of youth and experience.
"I'm really pleased with the way we have gone about our batting on pitches which have been helpful to the seamers. The batsmen have kept their hands close to their body and not followed the ball. They have played and missed quite a lot but it hasn't fazed them."
Durham's win against Worcestershire was only the second time they have won a championship match in two days, the first being against Derbyshire at Riverside in 1999.
That was also a seven-wicket win when 22 wickets fell on the second day, Derbyshire being routed for 130 in their second innings by Simon Brown, Steve Harmison and Melvyn Betts.
The pitch for this week's game seems to have escaped criticism, although visiting coach Tom Moody wasn't happy with it.
Pitch inspector Chris Broad was there on the first day and declared himself satisfied, but Moody said: "We were outplayed on a very difficult wicket. We lost the game on the first afternoon, when we didn't bowl as well as we should have done. We should have bowled Durham out for under 200.
"We couldn't afford to bowl short on that wicket and Paul Collingwood punished us. We adjusted and bowled well on the second day.
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