Worcestershire lost an early wicket after winning the toss and deciding to bat in their County Championship Division Two match against Glouces-tershire which opened at sunny New Road today.

Philip Weston was caught behind by Jack Russell off Jon Lewis for six, leaving the County on 16-1 in the seventh over.

Weston and Anurag Singh launched the County's innings against pacemen Lewis and James Averis.

Weston soon got off the mark when he turned Lewis to the leg-side and profited by three runs thanks to a wild throw by Chris Taylor. He soon collected another three runs when he clipped Lewis low past the slips.

Singh opened his account with a single before having the distinction of cracking the County's first boundary of the season by hitting Averis to the square-leg rails.

The County included three of their close season signings - Ben Smith, Stephen Peters and Gareth Batty - but were without finger injury victim Vikram Solanki.