THE doom-mongers are already starting to focus their attention on Worcestershire, but Steve Rhodes is confident his side can bounce back from a slow start to the season.

In six outings in all competitions so far this term, Rhodes' men have only notched two victories and one of those was over the students from Loughborough.

A resounding win over an under-strength Lancashire side apart, Worcestershire have been soundly beaten by Durham and Warwickshire in LV County Championship Division One.

Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire have both left New Road with maximum points in the Friends Provident Trophy.

Rhodes admitted results have not been as good as he would have liked, but insisted it is far too early for panic stations.

The County director of cricket said: "If you look at our last two results, it has been a bad week for us. But it is important to realise how early in the season it is - we are still only at the beginning of May.

"We had a difficult start to last season too and there is no reason why we cannot pick up from here - we must continue to believe in ourselves and each other.

"When you are trying to come out of a losing run, you need to bottom out first before you can get a winning run going.

"We need to scrape a draw somewhere or turn a likely defeat into a victory - then we can build on that.

"Things will start to go our way and the confidence will come flooding back. That is human nature, but at the moment the key is to keep working hard."

Worcestershire have been playing most of their cricket at New Road so far this season, but they are about to embark on a run of three away games on the bounce.

They travel to Yorkshire for a championship game which starts tomorrow, before playing the White Roses in the Friends Provident Trophy on Sunday.

The following Tuesday, they take on Lancashire in another four-day game and Rhodes believes the change of surroundings could be just the tonic his side needs to spark a revival of fortunes.

He added: "We are now heading off to Yorkshire for a championship game and a Friends Provident Trophy match.

"We will also stay up north for the Lancashire championship game the following week, so it will be a change of scenery for us after plenty of games at New Road in a short space of time."