DURHAM will decide this morning whether to pitch Danny Law into his first championship match of the season against a Worcestershire side bolstered by Allan Donald at the Riverside today.

All-rounder Law turned in a match-winning performance when Durham beat Worcestershire at Kidderminster last year, taking eight wickets in the match and top scoring with 64 in the first innings.

But he has missed the first five games this season with a back injury and had little chance to prove his fitness in the resounding National League defeat at Edgbaston last week.

"He has bowled a lot in the nets over the last couple of days without any discomfort," said coach Martyn Moxon. "But it's much different in a four-day game and his fitness would be a slight concern if we were to have another game like the last two, when we enforced the follow-on."

Donald is playing his only championship game during his two-week stint as deputy for Andy Bichel, who is with the Australian one-day squad.

As bowling the opposition out twice has been a bigger problem than scoring runs on recent good pitches, Durham will again field an extra bowler as they did at Lord's.

Law is competing with Marc Symington in an otherwise unchanged team as Paul Collingwood needs a few more days to recover fully from his knee injury.

There's no place in the squad for Nicky Peng, whose disappointing run continued with a duck for Tynemouth on Saturday.

Since his wonderful century at Derby he has totalled 40 runs in four championship innings and four in three National League knocks. He was also run out for one in the C & G match against Wales.

"When you go a few games without any runs you lose a bit of form," said Moxon. "He just lacks a bit of time in the middle and we were hoping he could get it in the second team against Lancashire. But they haven't played on the first two days.

"We are hoping he can get a bat tomorrow and he will be in contention for the first team on Sunday."

Durham would have completed the double against Worcestershire last season had Graeme Hick not scored a double century at the Riverside.

He scored 200 not out in a total of 356 for nine, but has had a lean time so far this season in a side who began as promotion favourites after recruiting two highly-rated batsmen in Ben Smith from Leicestershire and Stephen Peters from Essex.

They also signed former Yorkshire and Surrey off-spinner Gareth Batty, but the bowler who has been taking most of the wickets recently is 21-year-old seamer Kabir Ali.

He will team up with Donald and left-armer Alamgir Sheriyar in a potent attack looking to take advantage of any mositure in the pitch following the recent rain.

"The pitch looks pretty good - it has firmed up a lot since Monday," said Moxon. "Hopefully, at 35 Allan Donald is a bit past his best. We have told the players it's one international bowler for another, but we will treat him with the respect he deserves.

"Hick played a tremendous innings last year. But if we bowl as we have in the last two matches and keep the pressure on, any batsman will have to work for his runs."

Durham (from): J J B Lewis (capt), G J Pratt, M A Gough, M L Love, G J Muchall, D R Law, M J Symington, A Pratt, G D Bridge, A M Davies, N Killeen, N G Hatch.

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