WORCESTERSHIRE are 'pretty confident' Andy Bichel will come off the casualty list in time to play in their Frizzell County Championship Division One match against Warwickshire which opens at Edgbaston tomorrow.

The Australian pace star has been sidelined recently with a slight groin strain followed by a bout of 'flu.

"He's having a fitness test today, but he seems a lot better and we're pretty confident he'll play," said the County's director of cricket Tom Moody.

Worcestershire will also be checking on the availability of batsman Stephen Moore who missed yesterday's totesport League Division Two victory over Yorkshire at Headingley because of a neck problem.

Still ruled out are all-rounder Andy Hall because of back trouble while paceman Kabir Ali is continuing his recovery from surgery to cure a double hernia.

Moody, meanwhile, hopes the County can reproduce the kind of form they showed against Gloucestershire during the next four days, but admits that the start of the Championship season has been frustrating.

"That's purely because of the weather for one, and secondly having a bye so early on in the fixtures and having the tourists match. You can't get points in tourists matches.

"So we have been sitting on our hands a bit and we've got players in form which we saw against Gloucestershire. They haven't had a chance to really get into their stride so hopefully the win over Gloucestershire will certainly get some momentum in our cricket for this season.

"I'm still very positive about the year. Nothing has changed from the way I thought at the start of the season. It's just a case of getting some cricket under our belt and the weather staying at bay and the players continuing their good form."

Moody says his troops will be heading for Edgbaston 'full of confidence' following last week's win over Gloucestershire.

He said: "We always look forward to playing against Warwickshire. We haven't played against them in the Championship for a while now and they are a good side -- a side you have got to respect.

"But having a win against Gloucestershire is going to give the team a lot of confidence and we will go up to Edgbaston with high hopes."

Worcestershire (from): Peters, Moore, Hick, Smith, Solanki, Kadeer Ali, Batty, Rhodes, Mason, Nadeem, Harrity, Bichel.