Cricket: Carter on target for comeback; CRICKET: Warwickshire seamer aims to return in tomorrow's Second XI match at Stratford.

Byline: By Paul Bolton

WARWICKSHIRE seamer Neil Carter is set to play his first cricket of the season in tomorrow's Second XI Championship match against Durham at Stratford.

Carter has missed the first six weeks of the season because of a knee injury which required minor surgery last month.

But Carter is nearing full fitness having spent most of last week bowling in the nets and he is expected to test his fitness by playing in the threeday game at Swans Nest Lane.

Having been forced to miss his first one-day game in almost four years, Carter is keen to get back into action as quickly as possible but he might have to wait for next week's non-first-class threeday game against Leeds/ Bradford UCCE at Weetwood in Leeds for his first team return.

The 32-year-old Englishqualified South African leftarmer also suffered a groin injury on Warwickshire's preseason trip to Grenada in March which forced him to miss the four domestic friendlies at the start of the season.

The injuries will have come as a particular frustration to Carter because he reported back for pre-season training in the best shape he has been since he joined Warwickshire in 2001 having spent part of the winter training with former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete Daley Thompson at a gym in London.

Warwickshire also return to LV County Championship action tomorrow with a game against Hampshire at Edgbaston.

Warwickshire dropped to third place in the table during a week off last week, with Durham nudging ahead of them after their victory over previously-unbeaten leaders Yorkshire.

Warwickshire are expected to stick with the squad that drew with Durham in a rainruined contest at Edgbaston two weeks ago with batsman Jonathan Trott returning to first team duty after he volunteered to play in last week's Second XI game against Hampshire at Moseley to find some form.

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BIG HIT ... Warwickshire's Neil Carter (above) is on the brink of a return from a knee injury