STEVE Rhodes believes Wor-cestershire's capture of run-machine Phil Jaques will strike up one of the hottest opening partnerships in county cricket.

Australian 'A' star Jaques, highly sought after following an excellent summer at Yorkshire, penned a two-year deal to lead the County batting attack alongside Stephen Moore in 2006.

The 26-year-old's credentials in English conditions are indisputable, highlighted by impressive statistics at Headingley and during a 2003 stint with North-amptonshire.

At the White Rose county this summer, the aggressive left-hander amassed 1,359 first-class runs at 64.7 per innings, including four tons and six half-centuries.

And the New South Wales batsman, hotly tipped to soon make the breakthrough into the Australian Test side, was second to Michael Bevan in the Puma Cup with 1,191 runs.

If Moore, 24, another 1,000-up achiever in the last two years, maintains the high level of consistency that has cemented his opening berth, Worcestershire will pack a mighty punch in Division Two of both the one-day and four-day competitions.

"Phil should strike an excellent partnership with Stephen Moore and that's exciting," said County head coach Rhodes. "Stephen has been excellent over the last two years and can get even better.

"We've got two opening batsmen who can score heavily. Putting them together gives us the foundation to build good starts at the top of the innings.

"That goes a long way to winning games.

"Phil is prolific and has got particularly good career averages for Northamptonshire, New South Wales and Yorkshire.

"Stephen scored a large am-ount of runs last season and he is hungry to score more. He wants to get into the national side and it will only benefit him working with Phil.

"Between them, the left-hand, right-hand combination is crucial because it puts bowlers off their line and length. I can see them working well together."

Justin Langer was among other overseas names talking to Worcestershire over a possible move to New Road, but question marks were raised over the 34-year-old Test star's availability.

Although Jaques is awaiting his first taste of international cricket, Rhodes insists the County have signed a batsman set in the Langer mould.

Rhodes said: "In a lot of ways, Justin and Phil are almost copycat cricketers. They enjoy scoring big runs and work tremendously hard.

"Whilst Justin would have been an equally good signing, he could not commit at this moment in time.

"The great thing about Phil is that he's available for a huge slice of time. I imagine him being with us all season, al-though we know he is knocking on the door of the Australian side.

"His statistics speak for themselves. We are getting somebody younger and hungry to score runs."