WHILE most are happy to sit in the stands as Worcestershire take on Australia at New Road, one man has the best seats in the house - more than 100ft in the air.

Philip Stapleton is the crane operator on the Premier Inn hotel development at the county cricket ground and took these pictures for your Worcester News today as Worcestershire’s bowlers took on the Aussies in their warm up for next week’s opening Ashes Test.

Work began on the four-storey, 120 bedroom hotel and restaurant earlier this year with a £7.5m investment from Premier Inn's parent company Whitbread boosted by more than £2.5m from the cricket club.