VIKRAM Solanki and Kabir Ali are on the brink of winning their fitness battles.

Both, however, will still be on the sidelines when Worcestershire take on Durham Dynamos in a totesport League Division Two match at New Road tomorrow (1pm).

Paceman Kabir has yet to make an appearance this season after undergoing surgery for a double hernia.

Star batsman Solanki has been ruled out since badly dislocating a finger on his left hand while attempting to hold on to a catch in the gully against Sussex Sharks at New Road on May 2.

County director of cricket Tom Moody, however, has indicated that both players are well on the road to recovery and could be getting back into action within the next week.

Worcestershire, meanwhile, are unlikely to make many changes tomorrow from the side which beat Herefordshire in the rain-hit second round of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy at New Road last week.

Spinner Gareth Batty, however, will come in for his first league game of the campaign following his return from England duty in the West Indies which delayed his inclusion in Worcestershire's side until the current game with Lancashire in the Frizzell County Championship Division One at Old Trafford.

Moody is hoping the County will reproduce the kind of form they demonstrated against Sussex when they came out on top by 21 runs.

He said: "We are obviously very keen to continue to improve in one-day cricket.

"Last year was disappointing in some respects, but we looking for an improvement and hoping to get back up in Division One."

Worcestershire, relegated last season after finishing in bottom spot, are currently in mid-table after beating Sussex and having their other match against Nottinghamshire Outlaws abandoned at New Road without a ball being bowled because of rain.

Durham are two points worse off than skipper Ben Smith's men having lost two of their opening three matches, but they do have paceman Steve Harmison who was one of the stars of England's recent tour of West Indies.

Worcestershire (from): Peters, Hall, Hick, Smith, Bichel, Moore, Leatherdale, Rhodes, Mason, Nadeem, Batty, Shaftab.