DIMITRI Mascarenhas expects to be fit to face Yorkshire at the Rose Bowl tomorrow.

Leading wicket-taker Mascarenhas suffered a back strain while bowling during Hampshire's 275-run demolition of Somerset on Sunday. It meant that he had to bat with a runner during Hampshire's second innings, but he received round-the-clock treatment from physio Patrick Farhart yesterday and is now set to play his 39th successive championship match for the county.

The 26-year-old has not missed a championship match for Hampshire for more than two years - since the opening game of the 2002 season against Kent at Canterbury - and that remarkable run should now continue against Yorkshire.

Manager Paul Terry has revealed that Mascarenhas might even have bowled against Somerset yesterday, had Hampshire's last championship match gone into a fourth day, but will wait until tomorrow morning before naming his team.

Lawrie Prittipaul is on standby in the unlikely event that Mascarenhas is not passed fit. But only one change is expected from the team that beat Somerset in three days, with Alan Mullally, pictured below, replacing the hamstrung Shane Watson, who is now battling to be fit for the start of the Twenty20 Cup on July 2.

Hampshire may be without Shane Warne but they will still have a stronger side than that which beat Yorkshire by 119 runs at Headingley last month, when Prittipaul played in place of the injured John Crawley.

Incredibly, a second victory against Yorkshire this week would be Hampshire's SIXTH in eight games. Before the start of this season Hampshire had needed 36 games for their previous six wins - a run stretching back to August 2001.

But stand-in captain Shaun Udal is backing his players to continue to show the rest of the county championship that this season's success is not all down to Warne. If Hampshire complete the double over Yorkshire this week, they will have won all three of the championship games that Warne has been unavailable for.

Udal added: "Warney's had a massive influence but people thought we would fold as soon as he went. We've shown resilience, fight and spirit which we haven't been known for in the past and that comes from Paul Terry and Bruce Reid, from the top of the club all the way down.

"The club have been trying to change the culture and it's working very well. We've won both our away games and have now won three out of five at the Rose Bowl and you can't ask for any more."

Michael Brown, Michael Clarke and Billy Taylor are the only three players set to feature against Yorkshire who were not at the club last year. "Michael Brown played a crucial role in the first innings against Somerset, when he scored 81, and he's done well," added Udal. "Michael Clarke hasn't done as well with the bat but has brought a toughness on the pitch and an extra edge and exuberance on the field.

"And Billy Taylor is one of the most spirited cricketers I've ever worked with. He gives us 120 per cent no matter what the circumstances."

Hampshire (from): Brown, Kenway, Crawley, Clarke, Kendall, Pothas, Mascarenhas, Udal, Tremlett, Taylor, Mullally, Prittipaul.