AS the Durham players began an extended break following their three-day hammering by Yorkshire, coach Martyn Moxon warned: "Doing nothing is not an option."

Moxon said there would be changes for the next four-day match starting at Cardiff on Wednesday week and admitted: "By then we could be well adrift at the bottom."

Batting has always been at the root of Durham's problems, and it is happening again. Despite having played the most matches, they have fewer batting bonus points than any other county.

When they finished bottom two years ago they had 21 batting points from 16 games. It went up to 31 when they finished fourth bottom last season, but that was still seen as inadequate and now they have 13 points with half their games gone this year.

While other counties always seem to have two or three batsmen averaging over 40, Durham are struggling to get anyone above 30. Gareth Breese tops the averages with 32.20, but without his 165 not out at Taunton he would be averaging 15.7.

Moxon watched the A team playing British Universities at Stockton yesterday and is keen for the fringe members of his squad to play in the three-day game against the MCC at Longhirst Hall, near Morpeth, starting on Monday.

"The first-team batsmen have had plenty of chances and it's important for the others to get a game," he said.

"There are people like Kyle Coetzer knocking on the door and in the second half of our championship programme we will have to look at a few options.

"After the Yorkshire match I told the players to go away for a few days, clear their heads and think about how they are going to change things. Talking is no good, we need some action.

"Our batting in four-day cricket has been poor, especially at home. There's no doubt we have some talented players, but they are not producing what they are capable of.

"We have talked about batting on Riverside pitches but it's the same for both sides and batsmen just can't afford to go out there with any negative thoughts.

"In the Yorkshire match the ball turned a bit more than usual at Riverside, but that's not a bad thing. We seemed to get out mostly to the ball that went straight on."

While Yorkshire's off-spinner, Richard Dawson, took nine wickets in the match, Breese had match figures of one for 152 and Moxon added: "I don't think we have seen the best of Gareth's bowling yet.

"He's a bit down about it because he knows he can do better. He's still getting used to English pitches and trying to find the right pace to bowl at against batsmen who are looking to attack him."

Left-arm spinner Graeme Bridge played yesterday and will feature against the MCC, after which it is hoped he will have had enough bowling after recovering from his broken finger to be in contention for Cardiff.

Much the same applies to pacemen Liam Plunkett and Graeme Onions, who will put pressure on Neil Killeen. While he is not the luckiest of bowlers, Killeen's current championship average of 50.72 is unlikely to keep him in the team.

"We were on a tight budget this season and hopefully that will change," said Moxon. "Ideally we want to bring on our own players, but we also want to win so we are exploring all options.

"We are talking about overseas players for next season, but we won't be going back for Herschelle Gibbs.

"I would not be against having two top international players for half a season each, but I'm not a fan of having three or four overseas men over the course of a season. Ideally we want two for the full season, but it's not easy."

Read more about Durham County Cricket Club here.