DURHAM are praying for good weather and a big attendance as they prepare for five days of cricket at home to Yorkshire next week.

The England players may be absent, and both sides have injuries, but Durham coach Jon Lewis believes the standard will still be high.

“We are used to having good, fiercely-contested games against them and whoever plays it will be no different,” he said.

Paul Collingwood still refers to our match at Scarborough three years ago as the next best thing to Test cricket he has experienced.

“There are no big gaps in any of the tables at the moment, but a single week can make a big difference.”

The four-day match starts on Monday and is followed by a NatWest T20 Blast tie, starting at 6.30 on Friday.

“When the fixtures come out we always look to see when we are playing Yorkshire,” said Scott Borthwick.

“They are a bit short but they have great strength in depth. Like us, they keep producing good, young cricketers and they have Kane Williamson as their overseas man. He's one of the best batsmen in the world.

“We have been playing some really good cricket and putting teams under pressure. Given better luck with the weather we could have had a couple more wins.

“So hopefully it will stay fine and we'll have a good crowd who will get behind us.”