THE arrival of both of Durham’s overseas players this season will be delayed, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul not now expected until July.

The West Indies have arranged four One-Day Internationals at home to India on June 25-July 5, so Chanderpaul, who is currently representing his country against England at Riverside, will not be available until the Championship match against Yorkshire starting at Headingley on July 10.

Durham were already resigned to David Warner, their Australian Twenty20 signing, missing the first two T20 games on May 25 and 26 because of his Indian Premier League commitments with Delhi Daredevils.

As they prepare for their final two Friends Provident Trophy group games with no chance of progressing to the quarter-finals, Durham are looking to atone in the T20.

“It’s been very educational to get out of the old northern group in the Friends Provident and see how counties in the south are putting together teams with speed and agility,”

said coach Geoff Cook.

“Gloucestershire have good skills and are very athletic.

We have talented cricketers who are not the most mobile.

We have got by in the last two years and done really well, but these things need reviewing all the time.

“We did better at Headingley on Wednesday with a more mobile team, and that will come into our thoughts for the Twenty20. We have four or five free days after next Wednesday and we will use that time to prepare, which we haven’t usually been able to do in the past.”

With four seamers injured, plus Graham Onions on Test duty, Durham have again included Luke Evans and Will Gidman in their side for today’s game with Surrey at The Oval.

Cook has named the same starting XI that lost to Yorkshire by two wickets on Wednesday night, a result that confirmed the North- Easterners’ impending departure from this year’s Friends Provident Trophy.

Steve Harmison misses out again, but while the paceman is struggling with a shin problem, Durham officials are hoping a period on the sidelines will negate the need for an operation that could rule him out for up to three months.

Durham’s only win in six FPT games this season was by one run at home to Surrey, for whom Mark Ramprakash scored 109 not out and followed up with another century in Wednesday’s win against Gloucestershire.

They will attempt to make it two successes from seven today, and will hope that Kyle Coetzer and Phil Mustard can get them off to a decent start with the bat as they open together for the second time this season.

Durham have struggled to score on a pair of placid pitches in the last week, but with the wicket at The Oval likely to be more conducive to runmaking, Cook will be looking for a significant improvement on the 166-run total his side posted on Wednesday.

Neil Killeen has yet to play this season because of a calf problem, but will start his comeback with a game tomorrow for the Academy team, which also features his stepson, Jonathan.

DURHAM (vs Surrey): P Mustard, K Coetzer, W Smith (capt), I Blackwell, D Benkenstein, G Muchall, G Breese, L Plunkett, W Gidman, M Claydon, L Evans.