LEFT-ARM spinner Mat-thew Rawnsley and paceman Duncan Catterall are among five players being released by Worcestershire at the end of the season.

The others are Depesh Patel, Nathan Round and Gurdeep Kandola.

Rawnsley, Catterall and Patel are not having their contracts renewed for next year, while second eleven players Nathan Round and Gurdeep Kandola will have their registrations released.

New Road chief executive Mark Newton said today: "We have decided to reduce the size of our squad from 23 players to either 19 or 20 next season. We wish all five players well for the future and thank them for their services to the club."

Rawnsley has made just three Frizzell County Championship Division Two appearances this season and two in the Norwich Union League Division One. He also played in the tour match against the Indians.

Catterall has played in only one Norwich Union League game, while Round, Patel and Kandola have failed to break into the first team this term.

The latest clear-out follows the retirement of Paul Pollard and Stuart Lampitt, who is taking up a full-time post as Cricket Development Officer for the Worcestershire Cricket Board.

Meanwhile, the County hope to have wicketkeeper Steve Rhodes back for their crucial Championship match against promotion-rivals Nottinghamshire which opens at Trent Bridge tomorrow.

He has missed Worcestershire's last three matches because of a torn thigh muscle sustained in the six wicket Championship defeat against Middlesex at New Road.

"It's more than likely he'll bit fit," said the County's Director of Cricket Tom Moody today.

Third-in-the-table Worcestershire go into the match just four and a quarter points clear of fourth-placed Notts who have a game in hand over skipper Graeme Hick's men.

Moody said: "The beauty of it is that we control our own destiny. We play Nottinghamshire and then Derbyshire next week who are both among the leading five going for a top three spot.

"I'm looking at it positively. It's in our own hands and if we play two weeks of solid cricket we'll be where we want to be at the end of the season."

Worcestershire (from): Peters, Singh, Hick, Smith, Solanki, Leatherdale, Batty, Rhodes, Pipe, Kabir Ali, Mason, Sheriyar.