WORCESTERSHIRE are confident Shane Lee will overcome a neck injury to play in their crucial Frizzell County Championship Division Two match against promotion rivals Derbyshire which opens at Derby tomorrow.
The Australian all-rounder is having intensive treatment after going on the casualty list during the County's rain-affected draw with Nottinghamshire at Kidderminster. He went off after bowling just three deliveries, including a no ball.
Worcestershire's Director of Cricket Tom Moody said today: "He badly wrenched his neck and has had a lot of treatment. He'll continue to have treatment but he's only just getting full movement back in his neck."
Moody, however, is confident the 29-year-old will be available and has named an unchanged team.
Derbyshire are one place behind the County in fourth spot, a position which Moody believes in very much down to the efforts of Dominic Cork.
He said: "He's had an excellent season. He's such a good contributor both with bat and ball and he's played a big part in their success this year.
"They have got a stronger side this year, but there's still a lot of cricket left. Any one of the teams can fall down very quickly out of that top group so it's important you maintain trying to get a few wins together and certainly not losing any.
"The wicket at Derby is generally a reasonably good one, but it also swings around and there's a little bit of movement early.
"But I think as long as we get the ball in the right areas early on then hopefully we can exploit that and make in-roads into their batting."
Two County bowlers hoping to reach milestones during the match are pacemen Alamgir Sheriyar and Kabir Ali.
Kabir is two wickets off completing 50 first-class scalps for the season while Sheriyar needs a further five .
Derbyshire are just three points behind the County who are 19 points away from table-topping Middlesex and 6.50 adrift of second-placed Essex.
After their trip to Derby, Worcestershire's next Championship game will be against Middlesex, starting at New Road on Tuesday, August 27.
n Worcestershire: Peters, Singh, Hick, Smith, Solanki, Batty, Rhodes, Lee, Kabir Ali, Mason, Sheriyar.
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