DURHAM will consider reinstating Andrew Pratt to his role as a pinch-hitting opener for tomorrow's National League match against Yorkshire at the Riverside.
That's one of the few options available to skipper Jon Lewis as he tries to find a way out of Durham's one-day slump, which has seen them lose all four games in division one.
Pratt initially made a success of the role when promoted midway through last season, hitting 36 under the Worcester floodlights followed by 86 against Derbyshire.
Then the runs dried up until he made 56 in the final promotion clincher at home to Worcestershire, only to suffer three failures in the Benson & Hedges Cup at the start of this season.
His brother Gary then took over at the top of the order, but in six B & H and National League outings he has a top score of 18.
"Gary has looked good in the championship, but he's been a bit disappointing in the one-day games," said Lewis.
"We could use Andrew where we used him last season, but there's not a lot of room for manoeuvre. It's tricky because we keep trying things and they don't work, so I won't make a change just for the sake of it.
"We'll probably give Marc Symington another chance at No 4 because he didn't do too badly in his first effort there on Wednesday.
"Nicky Peng looked better and it would be good if he could play one of the big innings he produced last year. We need that sort of spark because our one-day cricket is looking a bit flat.
"There's no lack of effort. A lot of our players are still learning their trade, but you can't use that as an excuse. Yorkshire are also not playing as well as they can and we need to get on top of them and keep them down."
Although Paul Collingwood has just about regained full fitness, he is not available tomorrow as he teamed up with the England one-day squad last night in Cardiff, where they play Wales on Monday.
Simon Brown and Stephen Harmison bowled in a two-day practice match this week involving second team players and the Academy boys, and Brown could be considered for the championship match starting at Worcester on Wednesday.
Ian Hunter saw a specialist on Thursday and it was confirmed that his abdominal injury is muscular, but he can still perform at only around 60 per cent in the nets.
The only change Durham are likely to make tomorrow is to bring in Nicky Hatch for off-spinner Nicky Phillips, whose three overs at Bristol on Wednesday cost 32 runs.
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