WORCESTERSHIRE hope to have Andrew Hall fit for selection by the end of the week.

The South African all-rounder, however, is ruled out of the Frizzell County Championship Division One match against Northamptonshire which opens at Northampton tomorrow.

Hall has missed the County's last four matches because of a back problem, but there is a chance he could be available for Sunday's totesport League Division Two match against Leicestershire at Oakham School.

Worcestershire's director of cricket Tom Moody said today: "He bowled yesterday in the nets, but obviously we aren't going to throw him into a Championship match. We are slowly building him back up this week with the intention of seeing where he's at come the end of the week."

Paceman Kabir Ali comes in for his first Championship appearance of the season after returning to action in the County's Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy third round victory over Somerset at New Road last Saturday following surgery to cure a double hernia.

Moody has named a 12-man squad and says: "It's more than likely we'll be playing two spinners given the history of the way the games have gone there over the last year."

Paceman Nadeem Malik is likely to make way for spinner Shaftab Khalid with Kabir taking over from Mark Harrity.

Moody, meanwhile, is anxious for his side to bounce back from their disappointing nine wicket defeat against Warwickshire at Edgbaston last week.

He said: "We've had a couple of Championship matches this year where we've been in strong positions and we've lost them very quickly. So that's disappointing and it's something we are very aware of and want to address very quickly.

"We're showing some excellent form in some of the matches we are playing, but we just need to get that consistency. Particularly in four-day cricket we need to win every day not just the first or the second day."

Worcestershire are currently second from bottom in the table, but have a game in hand over Northants who are just five points better off than Moody's men.

Worcestershire (from): Peters, Moore, Hick, Smith, Solanki, Batty, Bichel, Rhodes, Mason, Shaftab, Kabir, Harrity.