VIKRAM Solanki goes into Thursday's Benson and Hedges Cup semi-final showdown with Essex as Worcestershire's top run-scorer in the competition.

And with a showpiece final at Lord's at stake, he's desperately keen to boost his tally with a major innings at Chelmsford.

So far he has notched 195 Benson runs in six innings at an average of 48.75.

Following closely behind him is skipper Graeme Hick (140) and Andy Bichel (137) who produced a fine century stand in the County's eight-wicket win over Gloucestershire in the quarter-final at Bristol.

Solanki's healthy contribution to Worcestershire's successful Benson campaign has helped him battle back from a painful start to the season.

The 26-year-old couldn't wait for the new term to get under way and arrived in The Parks for the County's three-day match against Oxford UCCE full of confidence.

Things went well with a first innings score of 85 and then every player's nightmare struck -- injury.

A damaged finger kept him out of Worcestershire's opening two Frizzell County Championship Division Two matches against Gloucestershire at New Road and away to Northamptonshire.

It was a bitter disappointment for Solanki who is keen to scale greater heights in first-class matches than he did last season when he notched 802 at an average of 27.66.

He did, however, play a major role in the County securing promotion to the first division of the Norwich Union League by being his side's leading scorer in the competition with 502 runs.

This year he has set out his agenda for whatever form of cricket he is performing.

"I'd just like to be contributing to good wins and good cricket," said Solanki, who has registered 1,000 first-class runs in a season on two occasions, his best being 1,339 in 1999.

He added: "Everybody starts the season full of expectancy and we went down to Oxford and played well there, but it was obviously disappointing for me to miss out on the first two Championship matches.

"But injuries are part of the game and you have to do the best you can while you are injured. You do what you can to make sure you are sharp when you do come back."

A Gold Award winning 90 in the County's five-wicket Benson and Hedges Cup group victory over Glamorgan at New Road -- followed by an undefeated 48 in the following tie with Somerset at Taunton -- signalled that Solanki had put his injury behind him.

He's well aware that there is stiffer competition for places this year following the close-season captures of Ben Smith, Stephen Peters, Gareth Batty and Matt Mason.

He said: "There is a lot of competition, but that's only a healthy thing. The guys get on very well with each other and competition is really good for everybody.

"The side is very much capable of Championship promotion. Our make-up in the side and the depth is there and we have got quite a lot of the areas covered as far as batting and bowling goes.

"Obviously, I'd like to get more runs than last season in all competitions. But it's early days yet and hopefully if we keep playing the way we are we will put ourselves in some decent positions.

"Our side is just as balanced for four-day as it is for one-day cricket. We are a young side, but I'm not one of the younger guys any more.

"There's plenty of hunger and ambition and that's individual as well as team ambition for us to succeed, which is good."

Ambition is something that Solanki has in abundance. He made eight appearances in limited-over matches for England in 1999-2000 and getting international recognition again is always a tasty target.

"Everybody who is playing county cricket wants to play for England and I'm no exception," he said.