DURHAM are in danger of ending the season as they began it - with their frontline seam attack crocked and the title hat-trick bid a distant dream.
They departed for Taunton yesterday without Steve Harmison, who has a foot injury, while there is still no news from the England hierarchy about a possible return to action for Graham Onions.
With Callum Thorp yet to recover from his calf injury, Mark Davies and Ben Harmison are in a 13-man squad to face a Somerset team who are only four points behind leaders Nottinghamshire.
Davies played in the first three matches of the season but failed to take a wicket before having a second ankle operation. He was reported to be still suffering some discomfort when he made his return in the second team two weeks ago.
Ben Harmison played in the innings defeat at Trent Bridge and the trip to Kent which followed, but had a top score of 18 and has since played little other than one-day cricket.
Tiffany Necklace Frank-Gehry Durham slipped to fifth at the weekend, Lancashire moving back above them by winning at Canterbury, while Somerset aremounting a very strong challenge for a title they have never won.
In their most recent win, against Essex at Colchester, they totalled 582 runs in their two innings, of which all but 211 came from Marcus Trescothick and James Hildreth.
Trescothick followed a third ball duck in the first innings by making 228 not out off 230 balls in the second, while Hildreth made 84 and 59.
At 25, he has leapt into England contention this summer with 1,302 first-class runs at an average of 68.52.
http://www.wubags.com/handbags-y/Durham also play Somerset at home in the final match of the season and as they entertain Nottinghamshire next week they still have a big part to play in the destination of the title.
Whatever happens over the next four days it is unlikely to be anything like a repeat of last season's encounter at Taunton, when Durham amassed 543 then dismissed Somerset for 69 with Onions taking six for 31 after hearing of his first England call-up.
Durham (from): P Mustard (capt), M J Di Venuto, M D Stoneman, G J Muchall, D M Benkenstein, I D Blackwell, B A Stokes, S G Borthwick, L E Plunkett, M E Claydon, B W Harmison, C Rushworth, M Davies.
Yorkshire's director of cricket Martyn Moxon says it would be a "disgrace" if the Tykes were not allowed to play a home semi-final in the Clydesdale Bank 40 at one of their preferred venues.
The Tykes have informed the ECB that if they qualify for the last four they would like to stage the match at Scarborough - because of a fixture clash at Headingley which is hosting the one-day international between England and Pakistan.
This would not normally be an issue, but it is thought that Sky Sports is claiming that it cannot screen live sport from North Marine Road.
ed hardy clothingIt could mean that Yorkshire are left without a venue to host the match, if they are to qualify as one of the two best finishes in the group stages to secure home advantage for the last four.
"If we do make it then it would be great to stage the game in Scarborough, " added Moxon. "If the players earn the right to have a home semifinal then it would be a disgrace if they could not have a home semi-final."
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