DURHAM are banking on the international pace partnership of Javagal Srinath and Stephen Harmison to unsettle Somerset on their batsman-friendly strip at Taunton over the next four days.

Srinath, who at 33 has been playing Test cricket for India for 12 years, should provide the accuracy and Harmison the outright pace as Durham open their Frizzell County Championship campaign against a side surprisingly relegated last year.

Although the England selectors have hinted they might award four or five summer contracts to the likes of Harmison and Lancashire's James Anderson, no decision has been taken yet and Durham are free to play Harmison as much as they like.

The same does not apply to the fully-contracted England players, which is why England were able to dictate that Marcus Trescothick should play against Gloucestershire last week but Andrew Caddick should continue to rest.

They want Trescothick to rediscover the form he lost during the winter, but he was out for nought and ten in the eight-run defeat at Bristol and Durham will hope to prey on his current fragility.

Coach Martyn Moxon said: "I've been very pleased with what I've seen of Harmison since he rejoined us. He bowled really well at Old Trafford last week.

"I remember Srinath bowling very well against Yorkshire at Middlesbrough during his season with Gloucestershire and he has always done well in English conditions.

"He's accurate and can bowl a bouncer, but he hits the seam as well. Vince Wells has told us he's also very good with young players, so we want ours to learn from him. They can talk to him about Tendulkar and the Indian spinners and pick up whatever they can."

Srinath was a teammate of Wells for five games last season, when he deputised for Michael Bevan at Leicestershire and took 30 wickets at 18.7, leaving him third in the first-class averages.

He has three championship games to make a similar impression with Durham before Martin Love arrives.

It is three years since Durham visited Taunton during their season in division one, when rain reduced the match to one innings a side.

Two years earlier Harmison made a big impression with four wickets in Somerset's first innings, but Durham lost by ten wickets.

Durham seconds began a three-day match against Durham University at the Racecourse yesterday and they will also play the Yorkshire first team at Headingley on Friday. Yorkshire want to use the match as a warm-up for their opening National League game against Warwickshire on Sunday.

Among those out to make an impression in Durham's second string is Ian Hunter, with Moxon saying: "We have done a lot of work with him during the winter and he's making progress, but I don't feel he's quite ready. He needs a few games away from the pressure of the first team and we'll see how he goes."

He also admitted it was a close call between Nicky Phillips and Graeme Bridge for the spinner's role in the first team, with Phillips just shading it in practice.

Somerset were second in division one in 1991 and won the C & G Trophy, only to be relegated in both the championship and the National League last season.

They have signed West Indian paceman Nixon McLean, a former Evenwood professional, plus Eastern Province batsman James Bryant, who is England-qualified, allowing them to retain Tasmanian Jamie Cox. Another new signing is 6ft 5in medium pacer Aaron Laraman from Middlesex, who is also a useful batsman. Mike Burns has taken over the captaincy from Cox.

Durham: J J B Lewis, M A Gough, G J Pratt, V J Wells, N Peng, D R Law, A Pratt, N C Phillips, N Killeen, J Srinath, S J Harmison.