ANDY Bichel has decided to re-charge his batteries for Worcestershire's double promotion bid rather than face his fellow Australians at New Road over the next three days.

His decision to stand down is backed by Director of Cricket Tom Moody, who is anxious for his side to get out of both the second divisions of the County Championship and Norwich Union League as soon as possible.

He said: "The decision was up to him really and he just basically felt -- and I agree with him -- that he's better resting up and saving himself for a game that means points for the County."

Bichel is at New Road this season as a replacement for Aussie pace ace Glenn McGrath who will be facing his former team-mates after experiencing a highly successful campaign for Worcestershire last year.

Moody, however, is delighted with the way Bichel has settled down with the County.

He is aware the Australian paceman could be called up by the tourists is they suffer injury problems. "It's a worry, but there's no point worrying months ahead of yourself.

"If he does get selected it means he's doing a wonderful job for us and he's performing which is what he is doing. He's been more than an asset to us."

Moody will be getting together with captain Graeme Hick later today to finalise the County's side although Paul Pollard and Stuart Lampitt both look unlikely to play. Pollard is trying to fully recover from hamstring trouble while Lampitt has a shoulder problem.

Moody said: "Lampitt is unlikely to play because we want him to get on top of his shoulder injury and we don't want to bring Pollard back into it too early. He's been out of the game long enough and if we can buy an extra week we'll do that and make sure he's 100 per cent for the rest of the season.

"The top six will no doubt be the same as we had for the Gloucestershire game and then we'll sort out the rest of the team today."

Possible contenders for a place include Kabir Ali, Chris Liptrot and James Pipe. Ali is back in contention following a stress fracture of the back while his fellow paceman Liptrot has already played in four County Championship games this term plus a Benson and Hedges Cup appearance against Warwickshire. Pipe has yet to play for the first team this season.