DURHAM could again go into tonight's Twenty20 Cup tie at home to Leicestershire without an overseas player.

But they hope to make a decision tomorrow about the replacement for Dewald Pretorius.

"We are looking at three or four possibilities and a lot of phone calls have been made around the world this week," said skipper Jon Lewis.

"We will have to make a decision and we should know something by Thursday."

Durham were quite keen on signing New Zealand's Jacob Oram, but he is injured.

They have also considered his Test pace colleague Daryl Tuffey and have looked at former Pakistani paceman Mohammad Akram.

But they are now leaning more towards an all-rounder.

Although Martin Love scored 55 on his comeback from a broken thumb in Sunday's National League win at Trent Bridge, Durham could stand by the team which beat Nottinghamshire in the opening Twenty20 match last Friday.

"Martin was not 100 per cent comfortable," said Lewis.

"It might not be worth the gamble, especially as this is not really his sort of cricket.

"Ashley Thorpe did really well in the first match and he also adds to our bowling options.

"The key is to have a good game plan and flexibility."

Love scored only eight runs in his first 11 overs at the crease on Sunday, which would not be any good in Twenty20 cricket, although Lewis stressed that the pitch didn't help.

In the extra 50 overs the same two teams totalled only 42 more runs compared with Friday night, but Lewis said: "It was a very slow pitch at Trent Bridge and we reckoned 200 would have been a good score."

Australians have a habit, however, of coming up trumps in any form of cricket, as two former Durham batsmen showed in Monday's Twenty20 matches.

Brad Hodge, who replaced Love late last season and will be in the Leicestershire team tonight, scored 97 against Yorkshire, while Simon Katich made 59 not out for Hampshire against Kent.

But he was upstaged by another Aussie, Andrew Symonds, who blasted 96 not out off 37 balls as Kent reached their target of 146 with an incredible eight overs to spare.

Other than a double hundred against Loughborough University, Hodge had hardly made a run for Leicestershire until Monday, when his runs came off 45 balls as he made the highest score in the competition so far.

Leicestershire's other overseas man, India's Virender Sehwag, is the one expected to provide the fireworks, but he has barely lit the fuse so far.

Durham have been unable to consider Danny Law for Twenty20 action because of a groin injury.

Durham (from): J J B Lewis (capt), N Peng, P Mustard, V J Wells, M L Love, G J Pratt, A M Thorpe, G J Muchall, I D Hunter N C Phillips, N Killeen, A M Davies