DURHAM expect to have Melvyn Betts back for the match against Somerset starting at the Riverside tomorrow, but Steve Harmison is still not fit.

For the moment, Durham are still hoping rest will cure Harmison's shin problem and there are no thoughts that he might need the sort of operation which cured Andrew Caddick's similar ailment.

"The scans and X-rays have not shown anything serious, but he's still feeling sore," said coach Norman Gifford.

Harmison came back too quickly - against the physio's advice - after limping off at Basingstoke last month and again had to retire during the match against Yorkshire at Headingley.

He has missed the defeats by Leicestershire and Lancashire and had he been firing on all cylinders Durham would have wanted him in their line-up for the crucial match against Somerset.

Now it looks likely that Betts will come in for off-spinner Nicky Phillips and there is a chance that Martin Speight will play purely as a batsman in place of Gary Pratt.

Neither Jimmy Daley nor Muazam Ali made runs for the second team last week, when Speight hit a century.

While Andrew Pratt will continue behind the stumps, his brother Gary joins Nicky Peng, Ian Pattison and Mark Davies in the England Under-19 squad for the one-day internationals against Sri Lanka.

The first two matches are at Cardiff tomorrow and Saturday, with the third at Hove on Monday.

"It's unfortunate we can't give Gary another game straightaway," said Gifford. "He should be available for our next match against Kent, but we will have to see how the batsmen get on against Somerset.

"It's a big game - we need to win our home matches."

Durham's other home games are against Hampshire and Kent, who have won their last two matches to push Durham back into the third relegation spot.

Kent also have a game in hand, and with the bottom two, Derbyshire and Hampshire, still to visit Canterbury, Durham need to take advantage of Caddick's absence to win one or both of their matches against Somerset.

Durham are 15 points behind their visitors and a repeat of the maximum haul of 20 points from their last home match against Derbyshire would be very welcome.

l Australian Test star Mark Waugh is willing to have his financial records scrutinised to prove he has told the truth about his dealings with an Indian bookmaker.

Waugh had dismissed comments by former Pakistan captain Imran Khan, who has expressed doubt about the explanations given by Waugh and team-mate Shane Warne over their involvement with the bookmaker.

The two leading Australians were fined by the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) after admitting accepting money in 1994 from the bookie known as 'John' in return for weather and pitch information.

Imran questioned their explanation in a TV programme broadcast in Sydney on Monday.

''With hindsight it makes no sense,'' Imran said. ''Why would the bookies just give money to anyone for just giving a pitch report?''

Imran called on the ACB to re-open their inquiry into the Warne-Waugh affair but the ACB said there was no point unless fresh evidence came to light.

Waugh agreed, saying: ''I've been through two inquiries, the Pakistan judicial inquiry and the (ACB's) O'Regan inquiry last year, and as far as I'm concerned that's plenty.