GLENN McGrath is aiming to make up for lost time with Worcestershire following his 17-day break "Down Under".

The deadly pace ace has been away on one-day international duty for Australia against South Africa and is now gearing up to boost his already impressive tally of wickets for the County.

Before jetting out to join the Aussies, McGrath had piled up a bumper crop of victims in both four-day and limited over matches.

In the first-class arena he has 62 wickets, 58 of them in the County Championship at a cost of just 14.50 each, while in all one-day competitions he has collected 27 scalps, 23 in the Norwich Union National League Division One at 7.60 apiece.

They are the kind of mind-boggling figures any bowler would be more than happy with -- but not McGrath!

He's convinced he can do even better -- and that's his main aim from now until the end of the season.

He said: "I've felt within myself. I could probably have bowled a little bit better every now and then and taken a few more wickets."

McGrath had originally targeted himself 100 first-class wickets, but because of the wet early season weather, coupled with missing two Championship matches while on his recent trip to Australia, the magical three-figure mark looks like being a daunting challenge.

He said: "If I'm going to get 100 now then I'm going to have to do something pretty special.

"I put more pressure on myself than anyone else can because I know what I expect and what I feel I can achieve. I go out there and hopefully achieve the goals I set myself."

McGrath, however, is delighted with his first taste of a rigorous county campaign.

"I've really enjoyed the summer especially in the month or so before going back to Australia. We played a lot more cricket than at the start of the season and the body's feeling as good as it ever has been.

"I think the more I've bowled and the more cricket I've played the better I have felt within myself. That was one of the theories I wanted to try out because Courtney Walsh has played for so long and just keeps going and going.

"I think that if you have a break then that can have an adverse effect whereas if you keep bowling day in and day out then that can be the secret behind it.

"When I was in the West Indies last year I had a quick chat with Courtney and he actually advised against it. He thought it would be pretty tough especially with the international schedules these days.

"But I felt it was something I wanted to do and have a go at and I've really enjoyed this year a lot more than I may have. It's been great.

"My action is not complicated, it's quite simple, I just try to work in straight lines and there's not too much stress going to any part of the body. I think that's really going to benefit me in years to come.

"The body feels great and that's the sort of measure I use. I don't say 'oh, I've bowled 20 overs today or 40 this match I can't bowl any more'. If I'm feeling great then I'm happy to keep bowling.

"I find when I reach a peak I can generally stay there and if you have two or three weeks or more off then you can come off that peak. If I can stay up there and keep it pretty steady I'm usually fine."

McGrath, though, is the kind of player who thrives on hard work -- and it certainly won't finish when Worcestershire's campaign ends next month.

"Once the season finishes here I have maybe a week and a half to two weeks before I'm playing again, so I won't have those pre-season problems you can have where the body is getting used to playing cricket again."

McGrath, however, admits that the wickets he's played on throughout the country this season have not made his job any easier.

He said: "I think the wickets you play on day in and day out here aren't, to me, good cricket wickets. The majority of those I've played on have been low and slow. The real fast bowlers don't really get a great deal out of them.

"Then, all of a sudden, you come to Test level with a good hard wicket. Then you get value for your shots and if the bowlers are prepared to put it in he'll get a bit out of it.

"For cricket I think the wickets should be good, hard, true ones with a little bit of pace in it so it comes on nicely as well.

"The Worcester wicket has been quite slow this year so to me it hasn't been conducive to hard, tough cricket. It's tough for the batsmen as well as the fast bowlers. I think a good hard wicket would probably be more beneficial to everybody.

"It's something they may have to work on in the future, but they can produce good hard Test wickets over here so I'm sure they can produce good wickets at county level."

McGrath says the best wicket he has played on this season was at Trent Bridge in early June. "There were plenty of runs scored, plenty of wickets to fall and it went the full four days."