MATT Pardoe could be handed his chance at opening the batting for Worcestershire at Warwickshire in LV= County Championship Division One today (11am).

The 20-year-old academy product has made a good start to life in the first team following his debut last month.

With skipper and opening batsman Daryl Mitchell out with an intercostal muscle tear, the New Road director of cricket Steve Rhodes is weighing up his options.

“We are still to finalise our plans but we could well see Matt move up to opening the batting in Daryl’s absence,” Rhodes said.

With Mitchell out for about three weeks, 23-year-old Moeen Ali has been handed the captaincy in the interim and faces his former club today.

Rhodes is also likely to give another Warwickshire old boy, Shaaiq Choudhry, a rare championship start.

“Shaaiq had a very good championship debut for us at Sussex a couple of years ago,” he said. “He hit 63 coming in at six and could well be given another opportunity against Warwickshire.”

The County are without a championship win this term, despite promising spells in the matches which have all ended in defeat.

The Bears sealed an 88-run success at New Road last month and Rhodes is keen to erase that memory.

He added: “It’s a game we would love to win.

“What happened here at Worcester is still quite raw and I’m very hopeful that we will show a big improvement. We need to stay in the game like we have done in every single match so far but this time finish it off, not drop our standards and have a great day three and four.”

With veteran seamer Matt Mason out for another week, Jack Shantry is likely to retain his place in the side.

Australian all-rounder Damien Wright is only six short of 400 first-class wickets.

Worcestershire (from): Cameron, Pardoe, Solanki, Moeen (capt), Kervezee, Choudhry, Andrew, Scott (wkt), Wright, Shantry, Richardson, Pinner.