BRAD Hodge has warned his Durham teammates that they need to be positive when taking on Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill over the next few days.

The comings and goings at Trent Bridge saw MacGill take 27 wickets at an average of 17.48 in three championship matches for Nottinghamshire as Nicky Boje's replacement.

Boje returned last week, but has now been summoned by South Africa to prepare for the ICC Trophy, so MacGill will play for the rest of the season.

Durham will face him in a floodlit National League match at Trent Bridge tonight, with the championship encounter starting on Friday.

"I've played against Stuart a lot and I have a pretty good record against him," said Hodge. "He's an interesting bowler who usually takes about five for 50 in nine or ten overs in one-day games.

"He will always give you some balls to hit, and I will tell the lads they just have to back themselves against him. If you let him dictate to you he will get you every time."

After Monday's six-wicket win against Somerset, this is another contest between two teams already relegated and as Durham finish their programme at Taunton they have a chance of ending the one-day season with three wins.

They have dropped Nicky Peng, whose poor form continued with a duck on Monday, and added Graeme Bridge to the squad, which also includes Ashley Thorpe and Ian Pattison.

Bridge is unlikely to play tonight, so Thorpe could come into the middle order with Gary Pratt moving up to open with Michael Gough.

Durham (from): N C Phillips (capt), M A Gough, G J Pratt, B J Hodge, G J Muchall, A M Thorpe, A Pratt, M J Symington, I D Hunter, N Killeen, A M Davies, G D Bridge, I Pattison.

l Yorkshire fans can expect to see a familiar face from the past in Leicestershire's line-up for the Frizzell County Championship match which begins at Scarborough today, writes DAVID WARNER.

Leicestershire yesterday completed the signing of former Yorkshire left-arm spinner Richard Stemp in time for the game.

Stemp, 34, joined Yorkshire from Worcestershire in 1993 and went on to take 241 first class wickets before moving to Nottinghamshire in 1999 where he stayed until the end of last season.

Leicestershire swooped for Stemp because they guessed that Yorkshire would be preparing a pitch at North Marine Road to suit spinners Richard Dawson and Andy Gray while they would be extremely limited in slow bowlers of their own.

Buoyed by the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy triumph, the County Champions are now concentrating their attentions on trying to avoid relegation.

Their first objective is to get off the bottom of the Division One table where they are half-a-point adrift of Somerset.

But to stand a real chance of making it they know they must win their last three matches - a tall order with a weakened team and the weather breaking down.

Chris Silverwood is out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury and Anthony McGrath is doubtful with a knee problem.

McGrath twisted a knee while turning sharply towards the end of the C&G final and missed the Norwich Union League game against Glamorgan on Monday.

Leicestershire now have Indian paceman Javagal Srinath bowling alongside Malcolm Devon and Phil DeFreitas and the last thing Yorkshire need is a green-looking North Marine Road pitch similar to those in recent years when they had plenty of fast bowlers of their own to exploit helpful conditions.

Leicestershire are not entirely free of relegation worries but they eased their position last week with an eight-wicket win over Sussex and a good result against Yorkshire would make them safe.

Craig White, who will play only as a batsman because of his side strain, returns for his first Championship match since the Roses game at Headingley in July, and he is likely to open the innings with Vic Craven.

l The expectation on Sachin Tendulkar in this week's Oval Test will be much the same as his previous 99.

Tendulkar, 29, will become the youngest man to bring up a century of appearances as India attempt to win their first series outside the subcontinent for 16 years.

England were the opposition the last time they managed it and despite Tendulkar's awesome individual efforts - only compatriot and childhood hero Sunil Gavaskar entered a 100th Test with more runs behind him - he has not enjoyed comparable team success.

Given their performance in the innings win at Headingley last week, however, hopes are high of ending their barren spell.

Nasser Hussain's England have been ravaged by injury and the momentum is building behind the tourists.

''Winning is all about delivering when the situation demands and I feel we have a better balanced team to deliver now,'' said Tendulkar.

''Whether it is England, Australia, Bangladesh or Kenya it doesn't matter, winning at international level is special and we want to carry on winning.

''It's not going to be easy, there are five days of cricket left and probably the most important five days of the series.

''We will have to play the kind of cricket we played for five days at Headingley.

''It's important, we have been trying for so many years to win a series overseas and now the time has come where we stand a chance and a fair chance, I would say.''

However, India have buckled under pressure in attempting to clear the final hurdle in the past 15 months.

In three tours, in fact, against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and West Indies, Sourav Ganguly's team have gone into a deciding Test with a chance of winning the series and failed

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