Aaron Finch wants to get one over on his big mate John Hastings on the way to helping Yorkshire beat Durham and take a significant step towards LV= County Championship glory.

Finch returns to the champions’ side at Emirates Durham ICG tomorrow having recovered from a bruised lung suffered while playing second XI cricket on Monday.

The Australian will bat in the middle order, and his availability goes some way to compensating for the loss of England duo Gary Ballance and Adam Lyth, who are on a pre-Ashes training camp in Spain.

Durham are nine points clear of Yorkshire at the top of Division One after eight matches - one more than the visitors have played.

And the winner of the Finch and Hastings inter-state Victorian battle will ensure their team takes a healthy position in the title race.

"I can't wait. It's going to be exciting,” said Finch. “Durham are in good form, but so are Yorkshire.

“The bowling attack of Durham is probably their strength at the moment. It will be a great challenge, especially to come up against one of my big mates, Johnny Hastings.

“There’s always a good bit of banter and a few ego points on the line.

"It swings and it seams there, so you have to be on top of your game. You have to be confident in your defence and when you attack, you have to look to attack hard. Not unnecessarily take risks, but you have to be really positive.

“On a wicket like that, if you look to hang around long enough, you are going to get a good ball. I think you have to look to score where possible. If that means taking the game on a little bit, so be it.

"Durham are a quality attack. If you can score runs in tough conditions against a great attack, it shows that you're not far off the mark. I'm confident in myself.

"It makes for a huge game and sets up the back half of the season really well for the team who wins. And we're really confident we'll do that.”

Finch was left out of Yorkshire’s team for their most recent win over Nottinghamshire at Headingley earlier this week because of his lack of red ball cricket since recovering from a torn hamstring and the pool of batsmen available for selection.

“It wasn’t in my plans (to miss the game),” he added. “But things have to be done in the best interests of Yorkshire, and I have no issue with that.

“When you look at Yorkshire at the moment, the young guys are playing so well. Jack Leaning got a beautiful hundred and Alex Lees was Young Cricketer of the Year last year.

“When you've got Gary and Lythy back, there's just no spot there. Whether you are overseas or not, you have to accept it at times.”

Will Rhodes is likely to return as a replacement opener for Lyth, while Jonny Bairstow and Adil Rashid are available.