Smith and Onions absent for Durham

Durham skipper Will Smith will miss his side's trip to Headingley to take on Yorkshire due to family reasons

LV=County Championship leaders Durham will travel to Headingley Carnegie without captain Will Smith or England seamer Graham Onions.

Smith will miss the match due to family reasons, while Onions, named in England's squad for the first npower Test against Australia, is unavailable due to international commitments.

But Steve Harmison, left out of England's Ashes squad, is named in Geoff Cook's 13-man party for Leeds.

Dale Benkenstein, the captain who delivered the championship pennant to Durham last season, assumes the leadership once again.

Opener Mark Stoneman is also included, returning from the thigh strain he picked up when Durham played Warwickshire at Edgbaston. He will vie for a spot with Kyle Coetzer.

Yorkshire have responded from their stunning championship defeat to Somerset by shaking up their pace attack for the visit of Durham.

Steve Patterson and James Lee have both been culled from the XI that allowed Somerset to chase down a mammoth 476 to win last week’s Division One match. They are likely to be replaced in the side by Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Deon Kruis, who are both named in a 13-man squad.

Adil Rashid, away with England Lions last week, will assume the spin bowler’s berth from Azeem Rafiq, set to play again for England Under-19s versus Bangladesh at Derby.

With wicketkeeper Gerard Brophy still sidelined by injury, Jonathan Bairstow continues behind the stumps.