MARK Newton has his sights firmly set on establishing Worcestershire in the top flight of English first-class cricket.

The County are currently flying high in second place in division two of the Liverpool Victoria County Championship and look a good bet to secure promotion this term.

And the New Road chief executive believes the club is geared up for life in division one and -- if Steve Rhodes' men can achieve a high level of consistency on the field -- silverware wouldn't be far behind.

Newton also points to the hard work being done by Damien D'Oliveira with the academy as a major part of the club's vision for the future.

He freely admits that Worcestershire cannot compete with many of the established counties in terms of finance or supporter catchment area, but is convinced they would deserve their place in the top domestic tier.

He said: "Everything we try to do here is geared towards being at the highest level. But every season that we are in the top division, we are punching above our weight -- both in terms of finances and catchment area.

"The main aim is always to be in division one, and if we can stay there, titles will come -- consistency is the key.

"That is the tricky thing though, consistency. We really wanted to do well in the Twenty20 Cup this year and we worked very hard at it, but still went and lost our first five games.

"I believe firmly that the work Damien D'Oliveira is doing with our academy and Steve Rhodes' regime will be rewarded.

"We need to get a few more youngsters to come through from the academy. It is about getting a good blend of English players and strong overseas players -- it is very important that we get our English contingent right.

"Our scouts and contacts are constantly looking around the local leagues for young players who might be worth bringing into the academy.

"There are some very talented players in our 14, 15 and 16-year-old age groups at the moment, who may well take some time to come through.

"This is why we have brought in players like Roger Sillence to join the first team and hopefully we will be able to sign Moeen Ali too."

Ambitious Newton added promotion would not bring any direct financial gain to the County, but being a member of the top flight would increase the club's profile immensely.

He also revealed Worcestershire made a tidy £10,000 increase in Twenty20 profits on last season.

He said: "As far as promotion in the County Championship is concerned, there is no money in it directly for the club as all the prize money goes to the players.

"However, the bonus for the club is that we would expect higher attendances and higher levels of membership renewal and sponsorship if we were in division one.

"We will start to do our planning for 2007 at the end of this season and the position of strength we have with people depends upon our position on the field.

"In any competition we never budget for beyond what we know is going to happen and if we had got to the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 it would have been fantastic, but it was not to be.

"However, gate receipts for public ticket sales were up five per cent on last year.

"We had budgeted to make £88,000 from the competition, but we actually made £98,000 after VAT for the four home games we staged."