DURHAM coach Geoff Cook is confident Steve Harmison can stage a repeat of last season, when he came to the fore after being out-bowled by Graham Onions in the early games.

Onions is division one’s leading wicket-taker with 15 at 16.4 after two matches, while Harmison comes next for Durham with six at 39.5.

But with Onions now on England duty as Durham start a four-day match against Sussex today, Cook believes Hove is a good place for Harmison to return to last season’s prolific wicket-taking.

“He has generally bowled well there and took a hat-trick when we won at Hove last year. He still has the twin targets of doing well for Durham and getting back in the England team for the Ashes.

Hopefully he has the energy to do that.

“It’s a heck of a workload at the moment, moving from four-day to one-day cricket and neither Steve nor Callum Thorp are in the first flush of youth. So it’s a testament to their work ethic that they are willing to put so much in.

“The four seamers have bowled well as a unit in the first two championship games, and now we have Liam Plunkett back in for Graham.

He’s been showing signs of increasing confidence.”

Gareth Breese is again with squad and could replace one of the seamers if the pitch has been prepared to suit the spinners.

While Cook travelled with the kit on the team bus yesterday, the players flew to Gatwick. They will travel on the coach to Bristol for Sunday’s Friends Provident Trophy match against group leaders Gloucestershire, then back to Hove for a floodlit FPT match next Monday.

“I’m not one to complain but this is a ludicrous schedule,”

said Cook. “When the draft fixture list comes out counties are asked for any observations.

But it’s a tough task fitting everything together and it’s very rare that these things are rectified.”

Cook also chose not to complain about Sussex failing to make practice facilities available for Durham yesterday afternoon, when the hosts wanted to practise themselves following their journey back from Monday’s FPT match at Riverside.

Durham are finding that, as champions, opponents are less willing to help them. But Cook said: “It’s not a major problem. We’ve had a lot of cricket recently.”

Sussex expect their official overseas player, Yasir Arafat, to arrive shortly to take over from his stand-in, Australian all-rounder Damian Wright.

They are bottom of division one with 14 points after one draw and one defeat, while Durham lie fourth after letting only one bonus point slip away in their two draws.

Durham (from): W R Smith (capt), M J Di Venuto, M D Stoneman, G J Muchall, D M Benkenstein, I D Blackwell, P Mustard, L E Plunkett, C D Thorp, M E Claydon, S J Harmison, G R Breese.