DURHAM'S vice-captain Jon Lewis has two matches to work the miracle of keeping them in division one of the PPP healthcare County Championship.

But the batting is weakened by the absence of deposed captain Nick Speak from the team to face bottom club Hampshire at the Riverside today and leaders Surrey at the Oval next week.

After his disastrous start, Speak had moved up to second in the Durham averages with 552 runs at 29.05, which is fairly modest and underlines the continuing weakness in the team.

Lewis, 30, who joined the club from Essex four years ago, is a popular player. But the same could have been said of Speak until some of his team-mates began to question his ability as captain and his man management

Matters came to a head with a big row during the defeat at Derby last week, but chairman Bill Midgley declined to elaborate, simply saying: "Results have been a bit disappointing and we have to look to the future.

"We could have won the last two matches and we thought we might stay up, but now we have made it very difficult for ourselves.

"Nick is contracted to the end of next season and we hope he will stay with us, but it is unlikely he will play again this season."

Midgley hinted that Durham could look for another Australian captain following the success of David Boon, although the situation is complicated by having to wait until March to discover whether Simon Katich is selected for the Ashes tour.

"We are talking to Simon and he needs to talk to the Australian Cricket Board," said Midgley. "The ball is in his court, but we haven't spoken to him about the captaincy."

With nine players out of contract at the end of the season, one or two, who have been approached by other counties, will be seeking assurances that Durham are mapping out a clear route forward.

The Durham board will discuss length of contracts, and how much money to offer, at a meeting tonight and they have until September 24 to submit to the ECB a list of those who have been offered a new deal.

Midgley denied there were any thoughts of bringing in former Middlesex and England off-spinner John Emburey as coach next season.

"We know he is looking for a job, but we haven't discussed anything with him other than whether he would be available to play for us against Surrey. Anything other than that is conjecture."

Neil Killeen will come into the team today for Melvyn Betts, who is ruled out by his knee injury, and Martin Speight is expected to replace Speak.

Hampshire's only win in the championship this season was against Durham on the sub-standard pitch at Basingstoke, but they have also beaten Durham twice in the National League and once in the NatWest Trophy.

Nothing less than 20 points will do for Durham as they are 16 points adrift of fourth-bottom Somerset, who have a game in hand. Somerset are at home to Leicestershire, starting tomorrow, and finish with trips to Lancashire and Derbyshire.

Durham: J J B Lewis (capt), M A Gough, S M Katich, P D Collingwood, J A Daley, M P Speight, A Pratt, J Wood, N Killeen, S J E Brown, S J Harmison.