AN astonishing claim by West Indian legend Brian Lara that he is in talks with Durham about playing for them in August was yesterday denied by the county.

Queenslander Martin Love is returning to Durham for a second season and will be available for the whole summer.

"There is no truth in this whatsoever," said Durham chairman Bill Midgley. "The only possibility I am aware of is that a promoter has asked us if he could stage a match between two invitation teams at the Riverside in August and Lara might be involved in that.

"At the moment I wouldn't be too optimistic of that coming off. It would be a question of who's available and how much they want to be paid, although that's out of our hands.

"The promoter approached us, but I'm not sure whether it's a kite-flying exercise. There has to be something in it for us, but it could be attractive as a festival game towards the end of the season, along the lines of the old Callers-Pegasus Festival games at Jesmond."

Lara is reported to have said: "I am in discussions with Durham at the moment and I might play some games for them in August.

" I like it up there, my girlfriend is from Durham, so that is something I would like to do."

Lara hit his record-breaking score of 501 not out against Durham at Edgbaston in 1995 during his season with Warwickshire.

Lara, 32, enjoyed a successful series against Sri Lanka recently, scoring 688 runs in three Tests, but is currently battling to get fit for the home Test series against India after suffering an arm injury.

He said: "I am going through physiotherpay at the moment and working my way back into the nets very gradually. I have still got three weeks before the first Test and I am hoping to be fit and ready by then."

l Darren Lehmann's temporary replacement with Yorkshire at the start of the season will be fellow Australian Simon Katich, who played for Durham in 2000, when he topped 1,000 first class runs.

Yorkshire acted swiftly yesterday when it was announced that Australia's tour of Zimbabwe would go ahead on April 13, despite the politically unstable situation in the host country, which has been suspended from the Commonwealth.

The tour means that new captain Lehmann will be unavailable for Yorkshire until around the second week in May, but they are confident they have a solid replacement in Katich.

The left-hander plays for Western Australia, where Wayne Clark was coach before taking charge of Yorkshire a year ago, and the pair spoke on the telephone yesterday before the deal was clinched.

"Simon is a great guy and I have known him well since he came into Western Australia's side about eight years' ago," said Clark.

"He is a very determined batsman and I went for him because of his strength of character and the fact that he never gives up. He will fit very well into our championship-winning team."

Katich's season with Durham means he is well used to English conditions and his 1,089 first-class runs at Riverside gave him an average of 43.56. A fine one-day batsman, he scored 598 runs for Durham in the National League, averaging 46.

During that season, Katich enjoyed only limited success against Yorkshire. He scored just one in the opening Benson & Hedges Cup match at Riverside, while in the championship clash at the same venue he was dismissed by Darren Gough for four and five. However, in the return game at Headingley, which ended in a draw, he hit a solid 55.

Katich, 26, has been in and out of Australia's Test squad but his only Test appearance to date was at Headingley last year when he replaced injured skipper Steve Waugh. Gough bowled him for 15 in the first innings and he had still to score in the second when Australia declared.

Yorkshire chief executive Chris Hassell said: "One big advantage of signing Katich is that he will most probably be able to stand in for Lehmann again towards the end of the season if Australia want Lehmann for the ICC Knockout Trophy in Sri Lanka.

"None of the South Africans we were interested in would have been available then.