TWO players hoping to be in the England squad for the second Test against Pakistan will do battle at Southport and Birkdale Cricket Club today.

While Durham include Ben Stokes, Lancashire have been given permission to play Jimmy Anderson for the first two days, or the first two innings.

Both are recovering from injury and Durham will be under orders from the ECB to limit the amount of overs Stokes bowls each day.

They can, however, look forward to having Mark Wood available again after his stint with England Lions next week as Chris Woakes has nailed down the Test place which might have been available.

Durham will insist that Anderson is replaced by another seamer after Warwickshire flouted the usual convention of a like-for-like replacement by bringing in a spinner for Woakes at Edgbaston.

It could work in Durham's favour as Southport is known to take spin in the second innings. The last time Lancashire played there, two years ago, they beat Derbyshire by an innings with Simon Kerrigan and Arron Lilley bagging nine second innings between them.

Lancashire amassed 551 in that match and 421 against Hampshire in the previous year's match at Southport, when Kerrigan had seven wickets in a 122-run victory.

Other than the trip to Taunton early next month, this is Durham's only championship match this season not on a Test ground and they can expect strong support at a venue they have not visited before.

The first day's play starts at noon because of both teams having to travel from Twenty20 matches last night.

Paul Collingwood will return, providing his thumb shows no reaction to yesterday's net practice.

He is unlikely to bowl but, as in the last match against Hampshire, Keaton Jennings will provide a few useful overs if Stokes' input is severely limited.

Durham: P D Collingwood (capt), M D Stoneman, K K Jennings, S G Borthwick, B A Stokes, J T A Burnham, M A Richardson, R D Pringle, P Coughlin, C Rushworth, G Onions.