DURHAM paceman Stephen Harmison will hear today whether he is to spend part of the winter helping England try to win the Ashes.

If the selectors feel that raw pace might be the key to unsettling the Australians, they could find room for both Harmison and Glamorgan's Simon Jones.

Or they might take both mainly as a learning experience as the frontline attack, fitness permitting, seems certain to comprise Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff and a spinner.

Alex Tudor will also go as back-up, with the threat to either Harmison or Jones coming from Dominic Cork and Craig White.

But it is impossible to see Cork's bowling troubling the Aussies in their own backyard, while White's continuing injury problems are likely to prevent him from bowling at the required pace.

Harmison, who was out for six weeks with a side strain, has taken only 19 championship wickets at an average of 35.05 this season. Last season, in roughly twice as many overs, he had 35 at 36.05, so there has been no particular improvement as a result of his winter at the ECB Academy.

Another option is to send him back to the academy and have him on stand-by for the Ashes squad, with everything hinging on what kind of impression he has created with Duncan Fletcher and Nasser Hussain in the last few weeks.

For Durham there are times when he barely looks worthy of a county contract, but the occasional unplayable delivery keeps everyone hoping for more.

The danger is that if he bowled at the Australians as he did at Trent Bridge over the weekend he would be eaten for breakfast.

Durham's match against Nottinghamshire was abandoned yesterday, with no play possible on the final day. More than two days were lost to the weather, allowing Durham to escape with a draw when an innings defeat looked likely.

Gordon Muchall is expected to be named in the ECB Academy squad today, but Paul Collingwood will be working on his fitness at home this winter after being pulled out of the England squad for the ICC Trophy in Sri Lanka because of his neck problem.

Probable squad: N Hussain (Essex, capt), ME Trescothick (Somerset), MP Vaughan (Yorkshire), MA Butcher (Surrey), JP Crawley (Hampshire), GP Thorpe (Surrey), AJ Stewart (Surrey, wkt), JS Foster (Essex, wkt), A Flintoff (Lancashire), AF Giles (Warwickshire), RKJ Dawson (Yorkshire), D Gough (Yorkshire), AR Caddick (Somerset), MJ Hoggard (Yorkshire), AJ Tudor (Surrey), SP Jones (Glamorgan), SJ Harmison (Durham).

Read more about Durham here.