WORCESTERSHIRE have been facing a Somerset side in rude health.

Both overseas players are in residence, their England attack of Caddick and Johnson is restored to fitness and Ian 'The Blacksmith' Blackwell's profile has been deemed too round to fit into England's one-day squad.

Meanwhile, Worcestershire are shorn of their captain and emerging all-rounder to stretch an already thin squad to its limit.

Such inequalities are part of county cricket but the circumstances are deserving of a whinge so I'll get one in while I have the chance.

Incidentals such as rain, injuries and umpiring decisions we phlegmatic Brits are supposed to 'lump' but in a 16-match programme there is little time for these things to even out.

Nevertheless, Ben Smith's third successive Championship hundred kept Worcestershire in the game and protected a potentially long tail. This has marked a renaissance for Ben from the dark days of last summer.

Of all team games, cricket can be the loneliest because so many of its battles are fought in one's own mind. Last year Ben's response was to recognise that sometimes the bravest move is a step back, rather than forward. I am delighted for him.

The tail which he was protecting included Chaminda Vaas whose achievements with the bat would have drawn more attention were it not for how successful he has proved with the ball. A bit of an all-rounder then I guess!

Prior to the Somerset game his 20 wickets had come at a cost of 27 runs each and he has consistently topped and tailed the innings, complementing the other bowlers in an understated way.

After this week he makes way for Shoaib Akhtar, but Vaas has been an excellent signing. Instrumental in two Championship wins, he has shown that Sri Lankan cricket has more to offer than just Muralitharan.

The theory goes that the drier surfaces of mid-summer will suit Shoaib's raw pace and reverse swing. If he stays fit then I think the combination of the two could prove to have been an inspired choice by Tom Moody.

Certainly the crowds will flock to see him and, showman that he is, I suspect Shoaib will respond to them. That's in the future though and this week it is Grace Road, Leicester, and the smallest of all the county memberships.

Dinesh Mongia, the Indian batsman, is one of their overseas players, a choice based in part on an attempt to swell the crowds by inspiring the local Asian community.

Just which players are overseas and which are English qualified is difficult to tell with Leicestershire; certainly, they are unlikely to be affected by England call-ups.

Like the All Blacks naturalising any talented Fijians or Samoans, no doubt Leicestershire will claim the smallness of their local population as equalising factor, but the counties' first duty remains producing England players.