STEVE Harmison is just about the last person Worcestershire would want to face after their recent traumas.

The former England paceman will be anxious to make his mark when he returns to first team action today against hosts who will surely have begged their groundsman to prepare a docile strip.

Several of them received nasty bumps and bruises last week on an Edgbaston pitch which was marked ‘poor' and earned Warwickshire an eight-point deduction.

Worcestershire boss Steve Rhodes felt the penalty should have been more severe for what he described as the worst pitch he had seen for a first-class match.

His team batted with only nine men in the second innings as they suffered their fifth successive championship defeat of the season.

They look certain to continue their yo-yo existence and preparations for today's match have not been helped by having to play a floodlit CB 40 game against Middlesex at Lord's last night.

Their request for play to begin an hour late at noon today has been granted with the time to be made up by extending only the first day's play.

Worcestershire were already without skipper Daryl Mitchell through injury when they went to Edgbaston, where the main victims were Vikram Solanki and wicketkeeper Ben Scott, on loan from Middlesex.

Both are expected to play but Harmison must see this as an opportunity to kick-start his season with a decent haul of wickets.

He bowled only two balls in the first innings and three overs in the second in the opening match at the Rose Bowl after suffering a small fracture in his left arm while batting.

Opening batsman Mark Stoneman, who broke a hand in that match, returns in the second team this week.

Durham expect Dale Benkenstein to be fit after withdrawing from Monday's CB 40 match in Edinburgh when he felt soreness in his right knee during the warm-up.

Gareth Breese has travelled with the team as cover and academy product Ben Raine, who has been in excellent form, has gone along for the experience.

Ian Blackwell will also play after missing both the weekend's one-day wins following the back spasm he suffered during last week's game against Somerset.

Durham: P Mustard (capt), M J Di Venuto, W R Smith, G J Muchall, B A Stokes, D M Benkenstein, I D Blackwell, S G Borthwick, C D Thorp, S J Harmison, R M R Brathwaite.