Worcestershire Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes has named a 13 strong squad for the LV = County Championship match with Surrey – the final one at New Road this season – beginning tomorrow (10.30am start).
Rhodes has selected the 11 players in action during last week's defeat against Derbyshire at Derby plus all-rounders Moeen Ali and Brett D'Oliveira.
Moeen is included after ending his England commitments until November with Sunday's T20 international triumph against India at Edgbaston.
He has been made available by England for the final two county games of the season after playing in seven Tests, two ODIs in addition to the T20 this summer.
D'Oliveira signed a new two year contract last week and has been in good form with the bat for the Second Eleven, scoring 102 and 86 in the win over Hampshire at New Road as an opener.
Worcestershire will be looking to bounce back from successive defeats at the hands of Gloucestershire and Derbyshire – their first of the season after picking up seven wins from the opening 12 games.
Rhodes said: "The thought process is just the same as it's always been really, just to pick up as many points as we can.
"We are very much hoping we can have a really good game against Surrey now because we've played some really good cricket this year.
"The last thing we want to do now is to have any stumbling at the last hurdle and that's not really in our mind.
"It's about trying to get into a good position to win and if we can do that, we'll be picking up points along the way and putting ourselves into a good position to do the job against Surrey."
Worcestershire lead the Division Two table by seven points and are well placed in the race to clinch a spot in Division One.
Rhodes said: "I don't think it's wise for me to talk along those lines (promotion) because the one thing I've been stressing to the team is to really focus on the processes and the things we've done well so far this year and trying to lift the bar even more.
"We've got areas from the previous two games that we want to improve and, if we can focus on improving those areas and maintaining some of the other areas that have been good, that means the points will take care of itself."
Worcestershire's destiny is still in their own hands and Rhodes said: "That's testament to us putting a nice buffer between ourselves and other teams. It's been chiselled away at the moment.
"But it's entirely up to us and if we get a good result against Surrey then we are going to go a long way towards achieving the things we want to achieve."
Surrey were fortunate to escape with a draw in the match at the Kia Oval, with rain intervening after they had been forced to follow on, but they have shown improved form during the second half of the season.
Worcestershire (from): Mitchell, Oliver, Moeen Ali, Fell, Kervezee, Kohler-Cadmore, Cox, Leach, Shantry, McClenaghan, Morris, Choudhry, D'Oliveira.
LEADING POSITIONS
Worcestershire Played 14, Won 7, Lost 2, Drawn 5, Batting Points 35, Bowling Points 42, Points 214, Maximum 262
Hampshire 14, 6, 1, 7, 42, 34, 207, Maximum 255
Surrey 14, 4, 3, 7, 38, 38, 175, Maximum 223
Essex 13, 4, 2, 7, 28, 36, 163 Maximum 235
Kent 13, 4, 4, 5, 31, 33, 153 Maximum 225
