England have made all 11 of their contracted players available to their counties to take part in the fourth round of the C&G Trophy tomorrow.
But contracted players will be rested from the next round of Frizzell County Championship matches due to start on Friday.
That means Stephen Harmison and Jimmy Anderson will be in opposition at Riverside as Durham take on Lancashire tomorrow.
But Lancashire's other contracted England player, Andrew Flintoff, is still recovering from injury and remains doubtful for the second Test against Zimbabwe starting at Riverside on Thursday week.
Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak concedes there is a considerable amount of ground to be made up if the tourists have any chance of levelling the Test series.
Streak's team were beaten by an innings inside three days of the first Test at Lord's - a similar result to that three years ago on their last tour - when they failed to come to terms with the English surface and weather.
So inept was their batting, in fact, after misuse of the ball in exceptional bowling conditions, that it is hard to ponder any other result than an England win as Chester-le-Street makes its international bow.
Streak, 29, is one of only three players to have more than 20 caps in the Zimbabwe party. But he issued a stern warning to his juniors if they are not to face further humiliation.
''It will be difficult to come back from this but we have got to pick ourselves up, there is a lot of work between now and then,'' he said.
''We have a young side but they have to learn quickly from these experiences and show a bit of character. We don't have the time to not learn from these experiences.''
Streak was one of only two survivors of the Lord's embarrassment in 2000 - Grant Flower the other - and that side turned things around to dominate the rain-affected Trent Bridge Test.
However, the class of 2003 have only this week's match with Middlesex to right their wrongs.
''The long and short of it is that with our bowling we didn't get enough in the right zone and create enough pressure,'' Streak said.
''We gave too many four balls which released any pressure we built and allowed them to keep ticking over.
''All three days we saw that there was help there, the ball was swinging around and there was always a little bit of seam movement. If you allowed the ball to swing by pitching it up and getting players on to the front foot you always had a chance.
''The England bowlers worked together and that is something we need to emulate.''
Nevertheless, centurion Mark Butcher and debutant Anthony McGrath highlighted the virtue of patience on a track which offered movement.
Extra batsmen might be required to bolster the top order against the new ball but Streak said: ''We are going to have to look at that.
''We showed that on wickets that swing and seam you cannot play with hard hands and I think that this was the big difference between the sides at Lord's.
''There were a lot of soft dismissals throughout for us and we have to learn from that.
''A lot of guys were sparring at balls they needn't have played at, well outside off-stump, and they will have to learn to leave better and play straighter.
''If you are following the ball after it's tracked off the wicket you are always flirting with danger.''
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article